G(caps)rowing your own tomatoes is easy, and just a couple of plants will reward you with plenty of delicious tomatoes all summer. In order to grow a healthy tomato plants without deficiencies or diseases and harvest great-tasting organic tomatoes, it's important to choose the right variety, plant and grow them correctly, and give them the best possible care as they are growing. Many beginner gardeners are intimidated by the thought of pruning tomato plants. But don’t worry, I’m going to make this super easy for you. In this blog post. I’ll guide you step by step and let you know why you should prune tomatoes, which types need it, when to do it, and how, so keep reading.
Pruning Tomatoes
Should I prune my tomatoes or not? The frequent question and debate in the tomato growing world!
Let me tell you? You can do both!
You can choose to either heavily prune, minimally prune, or not prune your tomatoes at all. The decision to prune or not is personal, depending on how much effort you care to invest, the type of tomato grown, and how you plan to support it.
Why you should prune tomatoes?
Pruning tomatoes helps in many things:
Regularly pruning tomatoes is very beneficial to the plant, and can result in even more fruit. Here are a few reasons why it’s too important to prune tomatoes regularly!
- Keeping the plant healthy by improving air circulation.
- Increasing the amount of sunlight reaching the inner leaves.
- Fewer leaves and many fruits. With fewer leaves, pruned tomato plants are less dense, allowing more air to move through the plants. In wet climates, tomato leaves are susceptible to diseases that need prolonged moisture to develop. Plus, fewer leaves make it easier to spot insect pests that might otherwise be hidden by a thick canopy. Additionally, pruning back much of the vegetation allows more sunlight to reach the fruits and therefore increases the rate at which the fruit ripens. This is the best way to keep your plants healthy, and maximize yield.
- Higher Yields. If you don’t prune tomatoes, they’ll spend a lot of energy on growing leaves and suckers. This can take away from fruit production, meaning you won’t get as many tomatoes at harvest time.
- Disease Prevention. Proper pruning tomatoes improves airflow, and helps to prevent fungus issues, and will also help to prevent blight, and other soil-borne diseases.
Before pruning, know your tomato types!
If you're growing a determinate variety, too much pruning is counterproductive. Determinate tomato varieties grow into a bush. They don’t usually set their fruit until the branches are fully grown, and the plants naturally direct their energy toward fruiting without needing as much intervention.
When to prune tomatoes?
Pruning tomatoes at the right time directs energy toward creating and ripening fruit instead of making more leaves. Overall, you will probably have fewer fruit on a pruned tomato plant, but it will be bigger. As a tomato plant matures, its lower leaves begin to yellow. When you notice this color change, you can start pruning. At this point, the plant should be between 12 and 18 inches. I advise pruning in the morning after any dew or overnight rain has dried off the foliage. It helps to prevent spreading plant diseases.
How to prune tomatoes
Tomatoes are definitely a favorite crop to grow in the summer, but it can be hard to know how best to take care of them, and how to prune them. Knowing how to prune will help you get maximum yields and keep your disease pressure down, so you can enjoy fresh, juicy tomatoes all summer long. There are many reasons we want to prune our tomato plants. We prune the plants to eliminate chances for disease. All leaves that touch the soil should be removed. When watering the plants, and If they drop into the wet soil, they'll get water on them then they will act as a ladder for many diseases to climb up into the plants. All leaves that appear damaged, yellowing, spotty, or dying should also be removed, they can be the beginnings of blight and
Pruning Tomato Suckers
What is a sucker?
A sucker is a new branch that sprouts up in the crotch between an existing leafy branch and the main tomato stem. Suckers are immature fruit branches. If they are left unpruned, these suckers will eventually grow into full-sized branches, adding lots of foliage and, eventually, a few fruits. This will also result in a tomato plant that quickly outgrows its space in the garden. Pruning suckers reduces overall yield, but can increase fruit quality, and if allowed to grow, these sucker branches will eventually produce fruit.
- Suckers under 2 inches long can simply be pinched off with your fingers.
- For larger suckers, use a pair of clean pruners, disinfecting them is important to protect your tomato plants against spreading diseases.
- Make clean cuts, without ragged edges or splits in the vine.
- Whenever possible, remove the suckers when they are small.
- Be careful not to remove the suckers all at once, which can put stress on the plant.
By pruning away the suckers, you do get fewer fruit from one plant. But your tomatoes produced will be larger, juicier, and superior in flavor. This could be especially helpful if you’re growing big heirloom tomatoes that need a lot of energy to ripen.
Propagate Tomatoes From Suckers
Once you’ve removed a sucker, you can use it as a cutting to grow even more tomato plants for free! One of the greatest things about tomatoes is their adventitious roots. This means they have the ability to grow roots at all points along their stem.
- If the suckers are longer than 6-inches, they are the perfect length to replant.
- If there are any leaves on the stem, remove them, and root the cutting in water or soil.
- When using water, ensure that no leaves are submerged and that only the bottom section remains in the water.
- Once they develop roots, plant the stem in its own pot of soil.
- Once the plant has established itself, you can transplant it outside.
Pruning Tomato Leaves
Indeterminate Tomato plants can grow really large. Their leaves can take up a lot of space, and they might even shade the tomatoes so that they can't ripen properly. That's why we need to prune some of them, to give the tomatoes plenty of light. Towards the end of the season, you should remove any excess leaf growth and branches that do not have any fruit on them to allow the plant to focus its energy on the remaining parts.
Watch Know How To Prune Tomato Plants For A Lots Of Fruits Not Leaves Video
When pruning tomatoes, the ultimate goal is to help the plant yield as much ripe fruit as possible, and makes tomato plants more manageable and compact.
You don’t have to worry too much about over pruning, indeterminate tomatoes can handle a pretty heavy trim. But the most is important to know is how to prune tomatoes in order to ensure you’re doing what’s best for their health, and for maximum fruit production. If you’re excited to grow several varieties vertically in a limited amount of space, heavy pruning and training can make it possible.
Home-grown tomatoes are a source of pride, a thing of beauty, and beyond-description delicious. If you have any tips for pruning tomatoes, we'd love to hear them - please share them in the comments below.
Happy Gardening!
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