Can I help my greenhouse toms?

Can I help my greenhouse toms?

- Anne Swithinbank’s

Q My greenhouse tomatoes in growing bags are starting to look miserable. Apart from feeding, which I have been doing, is there anything I can do to keep them going a bit longer? Ada Montgomery, Epsom, Surrey.

A As with many crops, end-of-season tomato plants can look sorry for themselves, especially in a greenhouse. Trained to 6ft (1.8m) or more as cordons (by having their side shoots removed), plants often exhaust themselves by setting many fruit trusses and are stressed by high temperatures. Roots soon run out of space in growing bags, and even those planted in borders can be affected by dry soil at lower levels.

By summer’s end leaves might be curling, with yellowing between the veins, but plants can still support ripening fruit, and trusses will keep on developing into September. Look at the plants to find out what will help them ripen and deliver a good batch of late fruit. Perhaps there are also lessons to learn for next year.