Tomato Plant Types - Vine Tomatoes Or Bush Tomatoes

Vine tomatoes are also known as indeterminate tomatoes or sometimes cordon tomatoes. These are the varieties that need to be pruned in order to limit the growth to a central stem consisting of around 4 to 6 trusses.

The actual number of trusses you decide upon is really dependent on whether you are growing your tomato plants inside a greenhouse or outside and how long a growing season you have. This is because the more trusses you cultivate then the more time you require for the fruit to ripen, having the plants in a greenhouse will extend your season somewhat giving you the option of going for a higher number of trusses, likewise if you live in a sunnier climate where you enjoy the benefits of a longer summer period.

The required number of trusses is achieved by pinching out or pruning the side shoots and then, when there are the required amount of trusses, the main stem is cropped off at the top. If you don't do this then you will end up with an indeterminate amount of growth with lots of small fruit that is unlikely to ripen. The plants will also be prone to problems as the side shoots will run along the ground where they can pick up and are likely to contract disease.

Another way of controlling the growth of these plants is to cultivate them in pots or grow bags, but as one would expect growing in containers is a little more labour intensive particularly when it comes to a watering system.

Bush tomatoes are the alternative tomato plant and are known as determinate because their growth is self limiting and as the name suggests are bush like in appearance.  The main disadvantage with this type of plant is that they tend to produce all their fruit within a very short time frame producing a short lived glut of tomatoes. Not great for the home gardener as you can end up with lots of tomatoes you cannot use fresh and have to turn to ways of preserving the fruit such as making chutney for instance.

For this reason many home gardeners tend to stick to the vine tomatoes that fruit regularly over the whole season, particularly when they have a reasonably long summer period.