Maskotka tomato seeds

The free Maskotka tomato seeds have almost all germinated and I've planted them up in a mixture of John Innes No 2 and 3 (as that was what I had to hand). They have shot up to almost a foot tall and are rather thin and weedy. Should I pinch out the tips to encourage bushiness? Or will they eventually decide to cascade if I leave them alone?

Sounds to me as if you have overfed them using what you've got to hand- is not always best practise-and it is too rich a mixture

As has been said on this forum before treat tomatoes mean and they will repay you-at a foot tall and thin and weedy does not sound good.

Be brave -cut back by half-do not feed- do not let them dry out but do not be generous with water-side shoots should appear to carry the flowers and eventually fruit

Thanks. I should add, my main crop tomatoes are doing well. I have them, as usual, planted in green plastic haloes in growbags, and have just started removing the first sideshoots. Never having grown tumbling tomatoes before, I'm just not sure what to expect.

I was very surprised when I first grew Maskotka, I was expecting compact neat little plants like Tumbling Toms. 

Whilst mine don't get as long as you describe & still tend to have very strong stems, they do get much, much longer than tumblers. I was sure I had the wrong seed in the packet, but they eventually flopped over the side of the basket & miraculously the stem did support a very good crop. 

I'm using the rest of the seed up for the 3rd year, but probably won't buy more, because of this. I didn't pinch out any growth, but if your are very long & weak it does sound like your only option. 

Hi Out there! I am growing Maskotka for the first time so any info would be useful in addition to whats been said.  I presume I leave the side shoots in place rather than take them off as you would with upright toms?  During the recent stormy weather I did support them with a stake as they were in danger of snapping off, so I shall leave that in place and let them tumble from then on - that will be ok wont it?

They are a bush variety, so yes you just let them grow-they seem to have a cascading habit so you might need to support them to keep the fruits of the soil,

I'd just like to report that my Maskotkas have now keeled over and are looking much more as I'd expected them to. The flowers are beginning to form nicely too. I hedged my bets by nipping out half of them and leaving the others to do as they pleased. The ones I left seem to be very slightly ahead of the nipped-out ones but I suppose that's to be expected. We'll see if it makes any difference to the crop.

Thanks for that!  Have cut grow-bags in half & stood them on end as suggested by Gardeners World mag, I think, so the plants shouldn't reach the ground, with luck.  I have plenty of flowers which are setting well and the plants looked very healthy - so now its fingers crossed