Pruning is a straightforward procedure if you wish to do so. Look for tomato “suckers,” which emerge in the “V” area between your tomato plant's main stem and the branches. If left unpruned, these suckers will gradually develop into full-sized trees, producing a lot of foliage and maybe a few fruits. It will also result in a tomato plant that rapidly outgrows its garden space.
Cut these suckers to prune. Suckers under two inches long can be removed with your fingertips, but for more giant suckers, use a pair of sterile pruners, disinfecting them as you pass from plant to plant to prevent disease transmission. Delete suckers when they are tiny wherever possible. Removing a significant volume of vegetation at once may be stressful to the vine.
Low-hanging branches that are near the ground should be staked or discarded. Leaves that come into contact with the ground can become infected with bacteria, fungi, and viruses, spreading across the plant.
That's what there is to it. Pruning is a task that can be completed while watering or weeding, resulting in healthy indeterminate tomato plants and larger fruit with minimal effort.
When planting, remove the lower leaves so that the plants can be buried firmly in the dirt. If you're planting a Bonnie tomato, make sure to follow the instructions on the wrapper.
Remove any flowers present at planting time (even though they were present when you purchased the plant) so that energy is directed toward leafy growth rather than fruiting at this early point.
Early & Middle Season
Remove flowers until the plants are 12 to 18 inches long, allowing the plants to direct more energy to the roots. Remove all leafy suckers under the first fruit cluster so that the fruit production is not slowed. Suckers are the tiny shoots that form where the leaf stem connects to the main developing stem (called an axil). Many gardeners in northern areas go much farther, eliminating all suckers as they surface.
However, in warmer climates, experts also suggest Missouri pruning, which involves pinching off the leaflets on the end of each sucker and leaving just the two base leaflets in place. If these leaves grow in size, they cover the fruit and shield it from sunscald. To avoid leaving a bleeding wound on the stem, cut suckers when they are tiny enough to pinch with your fingertips. If you cut them, make a clean cut as close to the main stem as possible without destroying stem tissue with a sharp knife or pruner blade.
Late Season
Tomato plants are frequently already filled with fruit as the growing season comes to an end. Remove the rising tip of each main stem about four weeks before the first predicted fall frost to accelerate ripening late in the season. This method of pruning, known as “topping,” allows the plant to avoid flowering and producing new fruit, instead directing all sugars to the remaining fruit.
It allows the fruit to ripen sooner, and it increases the likelihood that green tomatoes picked before frost can ripen when brought indoors. It will be challenging to get yourself to do this, but it will be worthwhile if you want ripe tomatoes! Of course, if you want your tomatoes to stay green for frying and jelly, you can skip this phase.
What To Do With Large Plants
Growing and pruning to a vertical stake could be out of the question this year. Still, both determinate and indeterminate varieties benefit from eliminating lower leaves to prevent soil-borne diseases from splashing up into the foliage. You might have seen leaf streaks and blotches on the lower leaves already. Remove any leaves in contact with the soil and begin pruning up to a foot from the ground.
Many tomato diseases, such as septoria and early blight, can be found in soils, especially in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and upper Midwest. If the plants grow taller, you can remove lower leaves up to 18 inches from the ground to prevent disease transmission. To prevent disease transmission, work while the leaves are dry.
Remove any leaves from the middle of cage-supported plants to improve ventilation, which can help deter and delay disease outbreaks. According to research, the leaves closest to a fruit cluster are the ones that transfer sugar to the fruit, so when thinning, avoid removing leaves immediately above and below the cluster. As a result, the leaves above can shade the ripening fruit, while the leaves below can give sugars to it.
The next time you plant,
Pruning is most effective on plants that are healthy and vigorously growing. Start with young tomato plants to give your tomato plants the best chance at tremendous growth. Then, make sure to grow them in well-draining, nutrient-rich soil and fertilize them regularly. Ryhom can teach you more about pruning tomato plants.
Louie is the father behind the travel blog Browseeverywhere.com. He has a background in photography, E-commerce, and writing product reviews online at ConsumerReviews24. Traveling full time with his family was his ultimate past-time. If he’s not typing on his laptop, you can probably find him watching movies.
