Are my tomatoes slow or am I imagining it?

For growing inside a greenhouse I leave more than 4 trusses (that advice was for outdoor plants).

Basically you are trying to 'stop' the plant so that the final truss has time to mature/ripen before the first frosts OR if your plants hit the top of the roof. I train my plants up the sloping roof to the apex, they are nearly there now so I'll 'stop' them then, they will have around 8 trusses on them, but there is still enough time for them all to ripen before the end of september when it starts to cool down.

Even if the last few don't ripen they can be picked and brought into the house to ripen on a sunny windowsill or in a drawer with a banana, so greenhouse tomatoes should give a much longer season than outdoors.

There are other ways to train them to get the extra trusses, for example: once they hit the roof strip off lower leaves unhook the string and lay them down, but that is quite a tricky technique.

I only take off the lower leaves when the first truss has finished and keep the rest, it's the leaves that provide the energy for the fruit to grow so don't take away too many. On the other hand improving air-flow is a good idea as is keeping humidity down as blacktulip says.

I've had Blight a couple of times in the greenhouse in recent years, even being ultra careful with hygiene and only using tap water, it's heart-breaking to see your hard work lost in a couple of days.

So stop wetting down, use tap water carefully direct to the roots, keep vents open at this time of year. Improve air-flow by any means (I've got a cold air fan going at 5 mins on/off 24 hours a day) - it's better to have a vent directly opposite the door at the other end to get a through flow.

Finally you can spray with Bordeaux Mixture as a prophylactic, whilst it is 'organic' it does cover the plant with a blue tinge and if that gets on the fruits it needs cleaning off with vinegar before eating - a bit of a hassle so I don't spray unless there are warnings in my locality, sign up here:

http://www.blightwatch.co.uk/

 

@Beckie76 just had another thought, rather than Bordeaux Mixture which is both expensive and difficult to source you could try Aspirin like I am trying for the first time this year.

It sounds cranky but there is scientific evidence, get the soluble aspirin 300mg tablets - mine cost 39p for 16 tablets at Superdrug which will be enough for this season:

http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/fo...to-prevent-blight-and-improve-flavour.115244/

 

I'll keep a few aspirins back for myself just in case

 

It's a mega-bloom - basically several flowers combined in one, they are just what we are looking for in the biggest or ugliest tomato competition.

 

@pete and @Beckie76 - ignore my idea - I found Blight on my outdoor tomatoes this morning, I'm going back to Bordeaux Mixture :(