For the last few years we have been growing more and more tomato plants in our polytunnel. This has led to us figuring out ways to fit more onto a bed without overcrowding it and also how to train the tomato plants to go up, along and back down.
Not only is doing this a bit of a pain with risk of snapping the growing tip from the plant, but also means we are up a ladder with each plant tying the ends to the wire a couple of times before the plant comes back down… We are then trying to stop it attaching itself to the other plant. Then when we have tomatoes on that part we are picking them from up a ladder.
On busy harvest days this can be up and down a ladder or even jumping up and down on a stool over 200 times… Exhausting and takes up valuable time.
This year we are excited to be using the brilliant Qlipr Trellising System for our tomatoes. The system allows us to use the “lower and lean” system (or the “hook and wicket”) with ease and without any ladders, training plants over the top, or jumping on stools to harvest.
The Qlipr Trelissing System is really simple and is made up of a wire “hook” and two padded clips per plant. The hooks are variable heights depending on your polytunnel, you simply hook the wire hook to your wire rail running across the top of your tunnel “the wire or string you would normally tie up your plants to”, then you tie a piece of string from the bottom of the hook to the plant.
As it grows up you clip it to the wire hook with the padded clips which can easily move it around the plant. Already it’s a quicker system as the string or chord is tied at head or hand height rather than up a ladder.
When your tomato plant gets about half way up the wire hook part of the qlipr, you have likely used two clips.. One at the top of the wire hook and one toward the bottom. To lower your plant you simply unclip the bottom clip, and slide the top clip along with plant down to the bottom of the wire hook. This then lowers the plant the desired amount.. You can then slide the wire hook along your top wire that it is hooked too, so that the wire hook is now over the top of the new laid down part of the plant.
Continue that throughout the season and you will have a sort of zig-zagged laid down part of the plant that is pruned and not producing. Which will mean your producing tomatoes part of the plant is always at hand or head height, and you will be able to continue to do this getting more and more tomatoes from your plant. It’s no longer about how much space you have and more about how long your climate allows you to keep your tomatoes going for.
Check out the short animated video below to see how it works:
We are filming videos on how to use these in our polytunnels this year so please do hit subscribe on our youtube channel and we will have more, fully produced videos, very soon.
Get more information or get your Qlipr Trellising Kit here: https://reagtools.co.uk/products/qlipr-trellising-system