Apparently you're supposed to pinch mater plants once they get to a good height. Well, I did not do that and now I've got 4 plants that are over 10 ft. tall that are bending over and falling down. Planted in a cage and then added a 5 ft stake and twine but now I'm trying to figure out what to do to help them out. So many mater's on them I don't want to lose them. Any advice? If I can keep them standing I'll have so many tomatoes that I can can enough for 2 or 3 years. Never seen a plant get this big.

chainsaw.....

2 X 4 X 10 and a ladder ?

And some pics cause i'd love to see it.

Never heard about pinching tomato plants, I would like to hear more. My tomato plants always outgrow my cages.

Indeterminate varieties should have the suckers pinched. Will help to top them when they get to tall too. Thought that was common knowledge.

I got some that are too tall and some look like Bonsai.

I'll see if I can't rig something up to get it to stand back up and take some pics after this storm passes through, it's raining a bit here. I'm not even sure if I planted determinate or indeterminate, honestly but I did pinch off the suckers. Just not sure how to support these since metal cage with the stake didn't work. Maybe I'll find me some scrape lumber to see if I got any 8-10 ft long to drive in from a ladder. It's the damnedest thing I've ever seen. I've grown lots of maters but they never got taller than me and I'm over 6' tall.

This is the correct answer. I’ve never heard of anyone pinching the tops off a tomato plant.

So what is one supposed to do with a plant that's 4 feet taller than me. How do you support that monster?

Not saying you guys are wrong, I've only dabbled in gardening and know nothing. But I'm just curious what I should have done to keep these unruly things in check.

I'd cut the top off myself.

Less Nitrogen fertilizer. The plants stop bearing from the bottom up to the top, so if you cut the tops off, you're gonna run out of maters before the summer is over.

Consider it a blessing and not a problen ☺

I doubt, I’ve had my worst year... idk what’s going on in my dirt but it’s going wrong for
the whole dang crop

I didn’t know anything about pinching suckers off tomato plants before reading this thread. Glad I did since mine usually get head height or taller. Right now mine are looking good and about 4-5 ft tall. Hopefully with this tip I can keep them manageable this year. On the other hand I’ve got a zucchini plant that is out of control lol.

More light is what they need. They arent growing in a shaded area are they? The only time I ever had any tomatoes get really tall, they were in my back yard with trees all around them. Mine got 14ft high. They were just trying to get to the light.

Yep

X2

All of my cherry tomato varieties are 8 ft tall or more. I cut bamboo stakes about 8 ft long and tie them off to those (4 per plant). I train them to grow to seven feet, then turn at the tie point and grow back down to the ground. After I tie them, gravity does the rest. The sun sugars are so tasty that I think that is the only cherry variety I will plant from now on. I also have 2 eggplant plants for the wife that are insanely tall and the birds have made nests in both of them. I want to remove the nests but the wife had a fit about that idea.

You can buy 10ft t post they are used for deer fencing I think tractor supply can order them for about $10 each or could I know Ken cove can. Drive two of those and a 1-1/2” pvc t on top and slide a piece of lmt through it and you have something to tie them off too. Also if you cut the main stall they will stop growing up and fruit more

I use concrete reinforcing wire for tomato cages. I've never measured any but I guess my cages are around 5 feet tall. I just let the tomatoes grow out of the top and back towards the ground. I have stacked 2 cages on top of each other but I decided a step ladder shouldn't be a garden tool.

I don't get enough sun, here is my Leroy Brown plant at 6 foot 4. I have an abundance of bamboo which comes in real handy for the garden. Guess I wasn't expecting it to outgrow the bamboo! You can drive some down on both ends and tie string too.
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Well Fur, you hit the nail on the head. I never checked the fertilizer my dad gave me because he said it's what he always used. Well turns out he bought the wrong miracle grow and it's crazy high in nitrogen. I switched to just using triple 13 for everything else and leaving the maters alone. There's always next year. I might still play with them to see if I can save some.

too much N

I use the same thing. Some I have had for 15-20 years.

I use a heavy guage hog wire the same way. Once they grow out the top just let them reach for the ground. They'll be fine.

I always pinched the tops out of my plants. It forces them to bud.........er, produce better