A Couple Brief Notes on Tomatoes

Am having a problem with some of my container tomato plants, so I'm trying an experiment.  The problem is:  a few of them start out great, but when they finally get to the largest container, they get very "leggy" and spindly.  It might be due to insufficient light.  Until very recently, it has been too chilly here to put them outside.  Now that it's hot, it's usually too windy.  [I can't afford any decent tomato cages, and have been too busy to make my own from cut willow saplings.]  My suspicion is that they are growing in height like crazy, trying to "reach" all the available indoor light...even when they are near a window and it's a sunny day.  [I can't afford "grow" lights either.]

Have you ever noticed that no matter how short weeds are cut, they will just keep producing flowers?  That thought prompted my experiment.  Am now taking "cuttings" from the tops of my problem tomatoes.  Each one of those cuttings can be placed in a regular water bottle and they will grow roots from the end & lower sides of the stalk.  After that, each one can be placed in a container with potting soil.  The experiment is:  will the original problem plants now stop growing in height (if I keep cutting off the tops) and instead "flesh out"... eventually producing flowers.  [It isn't time for them to do that yet, they aren't old enough; but when they do, I don't want those flowers on 5 to 6-foot high plants with spindly stalks.:]

Time will tell.  If anyone knows some other cause of "leggy" tomatoes, please let me know.  All I can figure is that it's insufficient light.  Plus, from Botany studies years ago, I know that cutting green plants triggers them to produce flowers at shorter heights.

Happy Trails, and Be Well