Can tomatoes have two main stems?
Berkley
Posts: 428
in Fruit & veg
I'm growing alicante tomatoes in grow bags in a warm, sunny position (that is, when it's warm and sunny). They have several trusses of toms, but although I look at them every day and remove side shoots, several plants now seem to have branched out into two main stems - each with fruit trusses on. Should I let them both develop and continue to remove side shoots on both? Both "main" stems are healthy and it would seem an awful shame to remove one......do tomatoes usually do this?
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Hi Berkley, They do sometime 'bifurcate' like this. As long as they have plenty of room to let air circulate, I always leave them be. Severing what is effectively a second main stem will take longer to heal than a nipped-out side shoot, so is more likely to become infected. Just make sure you support both stems so that they don't break or split when the fruit gets heavier.
One of my tomatoes acidentally had its main stem snapped off - I've left it alone, will one of the other shoots take over as a leader, or will it just remain short?
If you have a side shoot then yes-I've done that
Thanks, will leave well alone and see what happens then.