{"id":4413,"date":"2026-10-03T20:41:05","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T20:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/?p=4413"},"modified":"2026-10-10T20:24:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T20:24:48","slug":"why-determinate-tomatoes-grow-6-feet-tall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/why-determinate-tomatoes-grow-6-feet-tall\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Did My Determinate Tomatoes Grow 6 Feet Tall? (The Shade Mistake)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<div class=\"kk-star-ratings kksr-auto kksr-align-left kksr-valign-top\"\n    data-payload='{&quot;align&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;4413&quot;,&quot;slug&quot;:&quot;default&quot;,&quot;valign&quot;:&quot;top&quot;,&quot;ignore&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;reference&quot;:&quot;auto&quot;,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;count&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;legendonly&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;readonly&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;score&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;starsonly&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;best&quot;:&quot;5&quot;,&quot;gap&quot;:&quot;5&quot;,&quot;greet&quot;:&quot;Rate this&quot;,&quot;legend&quot;:&quot;0\\\/5 - (0 votes)&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;24&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Why Did My Determinate Tomatoes Grow 6 Feet Tall? (The Shade Mistake)&quot;,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;_legend&quot;:&quot;{score}\\\/{best} - ({count} {votes})&quot;,&quot;font_factor&quot;:&quot;1.25&quot;}'>\n            \n<div class=\"kksr-stars\">\n    \n<div class=\"kksr-stars-inactive\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"1\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"2\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"3\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"4\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"5\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n<div class=\"kksr-stars-active\" style=\"width: 0px;\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n                \n\n<div class=\"kksr-legend\" style=\"font-size: 19.2px;\">\n            <span class=\"kksr-muted\">Rate this<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"tldr-box\" style=\"background: #f4f9f4; padding: 20px; border-left: 5px solid #4CAF50; margin-bottom: 30px; border-radius: 4px;\">\n<h3>\ud83d\udccc Quick Diary Summary: Mid-July Harvests<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>\ud83e\uddc4 <strong>The Whole-Bulb Garlic Trick:<\/strong> You don&#8217;t always have to separate garlic into cloves. If you plant a whole garlic bulb directly into a strawberry bed (as a companion plant), it will grow a cluster of slightly smaller bulbs that are just as good as single-clove plantings!<\/li>\n<li>\ud83e\udd52 <strong>Spider Mites Moving In:<\/strong> Spider mites often start in strawberry beds and migrate into the greenhouse to attack cucumbers. If your cucumbers are infested late in the season, just thin them out and save only what you need for fresh eating.<\/li>\n<li>\ud83c\udf45 <strong>Tall Determinates:<\/strong> Determinate (bush) tomatoes are supposed to stay short and compact. But if you plant them in the shade (or heavily shaded greenhouse edges), they will stretch and grow as tall as a person searching for light.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"forum-post\">\n<div class=\"author-header\">\n<div class=\"forum-avatar\">R<\/div>\n<div class=\"author-meta\">\n<div class=\"author-name\">Russi (Anna) <span class=\"author-stats\">\u2b50 Pro Grower (1,275 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"author-geo\">\ud83d\udccd Ramenskoye, Moscow Reg. (USDA Zone 4b) | \ud83d\udcc5 July 13, 2021<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<p>I checked my garlic yesterday, and it is definitely ready to be pulled. I pulled just enough to make two jars of pickled garlic for now.<br \/>\nIn the photo, the bunch on the left is garlic that I planted as one whole bulb directly into my strawberry bed. The garlic on the right was grown traditionally from single cloves in a dedicated bed. Honestly, there is almost no difference between the two!<\/p>\n<p>Spider mites have attacked the cucumbers in my greenhouse &#8211; it looks like they crawled over from the strawberry beds. I&#8217;m just going to aggressively prune and thin them out, leaving only enough cucumbers for fresh eating. We don&#8217;t really eat pickled cucumbers in the winter anymore, so I&#8217;ll just make two large jars for the two of us and that will be enough.<\/p>\n<p>My tomatoes are doing great, with 2 or 3 full, large clusters per plant. I&#8217;m not pruning the leaves heavily, I only removed the bottom 3 leaves because <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/tomato-leaf-mold-in-greenhouse\/\">Leaf Mold<\/a> is starting to appear. We shaded the greenhouse with spunbond fabric when the heatwave started. I fed them twice with Monopotassium Phosphate and Potassium Nitrate. I also topped (cut the growing tips off) all my indeterminate varieties, taking off about half a meter of growth.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;d love to switch entirely to determinate (bush) varieties, but how can I give up my favorite indeterminates like <em>Malachite Box<\/em> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/yablochnyi-lipetskiy\/\"><em>Apple Lipetsky<\/em><\/a>? Or the massive fruits hanging on <em>Chernigov Bull&#8217;s Heart<\/em>? Sigh&#8230;<br \/>\nThe <em>Italian Heart<\/em> tomato doesn&#8217;t even fit in my hand! \ud83d\ude01<\/p>\n<p>Here is a view looking up into the greenhouse jungle, with <em>Apple Lipetsky<\/em> in the foreground.<\/p>\n<div class=\"forum-images\" style=\"margin-top: 15px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto; border-radius: 8px; margin-bottom: 10px; display: inline-block; width: 48%;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/uploads\/monthly_2021_07\/IMG_20210712_141103.jpg.511157f3ef47798aa329857d84f6380f.jpg\" alt=\"A huge Italian Heart pink tomato resting in a gardener's hand\" \/><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto; border-radius: 8px; margin-bottom: 10px; display: inline-block; width: 48%; margin-left: 2%;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/uploads\/monthly_2021_07\/IMG_20210713_123610.jpg.7009db7202822b990d5c2d420a5d445a.jpg\" alt=\"Looking up through a dense jungle of tall tomato vines in a greenhouse\" \/><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto; border-radius: 8px; margin-bottom: 10px; display: block;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/uploads\/monthly_2021_07\/IMG_20210713_123516.jpg.6bcfd7562da348724649a9b5d99aea8b.jpg\" alt=\"Harvested garlic bulbs: whole-bulb planting vs single-clove planting\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"forum-post\">\n<div class=\"author-header\">\n<div class=\"forum-avatar\">A<\/div>\n<div class=\"author-meta\">\n<div class=\"author-name\">Aleksan9ra (Ludmila) <span class=\"author-stats\">\u2b50 Expert \/ Author (15,056 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"author-geo\">\ud83d\udccd Moscow Region (USDA Zone 4b) | \ud83d\udcc5 July 13, 2021<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<blockquote><p><strong>Russi wrote:<\/strong><br \/>\nI&#8217;d love to switch entirely to determinate (bush) varieties&#8230;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Anya, why switch completely? You can just do 50\/50. Or try some semi-determinate heirlooms. But if you aren&#8217;t having any actual problems with the tall ones, maybe you shouldn&#8217;t change anything at all!<\/p>\n<p>I also haven&#8217;t removed many leaves, only at the very bottom, but the tops are an absolute jungle. I&#8217;ll have to strip them all by the end of the month anyway, there is no point keeping them; there aren&#8217;t even any fruit sets up there, just blossoms.<\/p>\n<p>Leaf Mold is rapidly climbing up my plants too! The doors are wide open, the beds are mulched, the weather is dry, and the nights are warm&#8230; yet here it is. Although, to be fair, it started later this year, and right now it&#8217;s just spots on the leaves.<\/p>\n<p>I started digging up my garlic; I think it&#8217;s the perfect time, keeping it in the ground any longer is risky. The roots are short and dry, and the top wrappers are even starting to darken. I only have 3 rows total, I&#8217;ve cleared one already.<\/p>\n<p>Anya, I want to try your &#8220;wet soak&#8221; method for storing garlic this year. How exactly do I do it? Do I just fill a bucket with cold water (or does the temp matter?) and leave the garlic soaking in it until evening? Is that right?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"forum-post\">\n<div class=\"author-header\">\n<div class=\"forum-avatar\">R<\/div>\n<div class=\"author-meta\">\n<div class=\"author-name\">Russi (Anna) <span class=\"author-stats\">\u2b50 Pro Grower (1,275 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"author-geo\">\ud83d\udccd Ramenskoye, Moscow Reg. (USDA Zone 4b) | \ud83d\udcc5 July 14, 2021<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<blockquote><p><strong>Aleksan9ra wrote:<\/strong><br \/>\nDo I just fill a bucket with cold water&#8230; and leave the garlic soaking in it until evening?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Luda, I wish I knew exactly how long to soak it! I have a terrible memory. I read about it last year, soaked it, and never wrote down the exact time frame. Now I can&#8217;t even find where I read it. But I can tell you that the soaking method 100% saved my harvest! Yesterday I was pickling cucumbers and used some of last year&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/store-garlic-for-a-year-soak-storage\/\">&#8220;soaked&#8221; garlic<\/a> &#8211; it hadn&#8217;t sprouted at all, even after a full year. For the garlic I just pulled, I decided to soak it overnight.<\/p>\n<p>As for tomatoes, you really can&#8217;t predict them. I planted some determinate varieties on the edge bed: <em>Pink Guy<\/em> and a hybrid called <em>Cezarine<\/em>. Since they are determinates, you aren&#8217;t supposed to prune their suckers. Well, because they were in the shade, they shot up as tall as I am! You can&#8217;t even walk down that aisle now. I just tied them up in giant bundles as best I could.<\/p>\n<p>And yes, Leaf Mold definitely started later this year.<\/p>\n<p>Also, Luda, my garlic stems always seem to stay white near the bulb&#8230; here is a photo from last year.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/uploads\/monthly_2021_07\/IMG_8913.JPG.83677b271a68a9783af108a2bc90d1ca.JPG\" \/><\/p>\n<p>By the way, how do I save my cabbage?! The caterpillars have taken over, cabbage white butterflies are flying around in flocks. My mixture of tobacco dust and wood ash isn&#8217;t doing a thing &#8211; the caterpillars are literally just crawling right over it! \ud83d\udc1b<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"editor-note\" class=\"editor-note\" style=\"background: #eef7ff; padding: 20px; border-left: 5px solid #2196F3; margin-top: 25px; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.6; border-radius: 0 4px 4px 0;\">\n<h4 style=\"margin-top: 0; color: #1565c0;\">\ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83d\udd2c Editor&#8217;s Botanical Note: Whole-Bulb Garlic and Tall Determinates<\/h4>\n<p><strong>1. The &#8220;Whole-Bulb&#8221; Companion Trick:<\/strong><br \/>\nAnna planted a whole garlic bulb directly into her strawberry patch without separating the cloves. Why do this? Garlic is one of the best companion plants for strawberries, as its strong sulfur compounds naturally deter spider mites and certain fungal diseases. By planting the whole bulb intact, the resulting garlic plants grow tightly together in a clump. The individual bulbs will be slightly smaller than single-clove plantings, but the total weight of the clump is identical, and it saves you the tedious work of peeling and spacing cloves!<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Why Did the Determinate Tomatoes Grow So Tall?<\/strong><br \/>\nDeterminate tomatoes are genetically programmed to grow to a certain height (usually 3 to 4 feet), stop, and put all their energy into ripening fruit. Anna noted she didn&#8217;t prune the suckers (which is correct for determinates), but they still grew over 5 feet tall. Why? <strong>Phototropism.<\/strong> Anna planted them on the &#8220;edge bed&#8221; in the shade. When a sun-loving plant is shaded, it panic-stretches its internodes (the space between leaves) trying to reach the light. This creates a tall, weak, stringy plant, defeating the entire purpose of growing a compact determinate variety. Always give determinates full sun!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\ud83d\udccc Quick Diary Summary: Mid-July Harvests \ud83e\uddc4 The Whole-Bulb Garlic Trick: You don&#8217;t always have to separate garlic into cloves. If you plant a whole garlic bulb directly into a strawberry bed (as a companion plant), it will grow a cluster of slightly smaller bulbs that are just as good as single-clove plantings! \ud83e\udd52 Spider &#8230; <a title=\"Why Did My Determinate Tomatoes Grow 6 Feet Tall? (The Shade Mistake)\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/why-determinate-tomatoes-grow-6-feet-tall\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Why Did My Determinate Tomatoes Grow 6 Feet Tall? (The Shade Mistake)\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4413,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[529,806,645],"tags":[1116,1117,1115,1118],"class_list":["post-4413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-growing-tomatoes","category-grower-diaries","category-onion-and-garlic","tag-companion-planting-strawberries","tag-indeterminate-vs-determinate-tomatoes","tag-planting-whole-garlic-bulbs","tag-spider-mites-on-cucumbers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4413"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5044,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4413\/revisions\/5044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}