Pruning Tomatoes

[so lucky]

What are your thoughts on pruning tomato plants? Do you leave one main stalk or allow them to branch off wherever they want? Or something in between?

 

[897tgigvib]

I only prune them if I have to. Very little. But there are others who are so adamant that pruning is important, they'll help themselves to prune your tomatoes.

Actually, if space is the limiting factor, side shoots can be pruned leaving only the central stalk to grow up and up and up. It works, but some plants will make a split "fork", then you have 2 stems growing up.

Also about space limits, if the tomato plants are getting huge and outahand, going well beyond the cage and ya can't find a way to tie them all up you can trim them back.

There is another time to prune tomatoes. If you are perennializing them. A week or so before bringing them inside prune them back to the main stalks and mostly defoliate it. If it does not survive this it'd probably not be a good candidate for perennializing. Give it fresh potting soil heavy on Bone Meal as you pot it in the good potting soil. It should make beautiful growth at the nodes. Once it gets settled prune it back again to 1 to 2 feet with a few good stems with the lush growth. This'll need to be repeated every 6 weeks because a well grown inside tomato plant will really grow. Watch for whiteflies all winter until time to plant it outside. It may give you a couple tomatoes inside, nice, tender pretty tomatoes, but only one, maybe 2.

Everybody has different views on pruning tomatoes. Boy have I grown tomatoes. Big ones. In Montana.

 

[catjac1975]

I rarely prune. It's a lot of work. I get more tomatoes than I can use, gve away and freeze. If I were low on space I would prune the bottom shoots nd the succers,

 

[Ridgerunner]

First, a conventional wisdom thing. Supposedly you should not prune determinates. They are supposed to have a predetermined number of blooms on them, so if you prune you reduce your yield. Indeterminates are supposed to just keep growing, so pruning is not supposed to reduce the yield like it does with determinates. I have not grown determinates in comparison situations, so I don't know if there is any truth in this or not.

Another conventional wisdom thing. If you prune you reduce the number of tomatoes you get but the ones that remain get bigger. Again, I have not run comparisons so I can't say if there is any truth in this or not. Maybe on determinates or if you severely prune?

If I raise them on a trellis, which is basically a fence, I pretty much have to prune. I just don't have enough room on the fence to tie all the branches. If I cage them, I don't have to prune. I've got a lot more room to tie the branches.

If you live where it is wet a lot or you have problems with mold or mildew, you might want to prune to open them up and allow them to dry out better. Opening them up could help reduce disease.

Don't overprune. If you open them up too much, you might allow some tomatoes to get sunscald.

I generally prune early in the season so they put more energy in producing that central stalk. But pretty soon I quit if I cage them. Summers are not usually wet enough around here for mold or mildew to be a problem.

 

[desertlady]

I pruned mine when they get too Big ! But I like to prune them about the end Of July so they can produce more tomatoes for the Fall .. :weight

 

[chris09]

I prune every time I weed the tomato rows. I either steak or grow my tomatoes on a cattle panel trellis and I will prune off all suckers and leave only the main and secondary leader I've had very good results doing this and have had very health plants.
Here is a video that Growing Wisdom did at Johnny Seeds on Pruning Tomatoes.

http://www.5min.com/Video/Growing-Wisdom-How-To-Prune-Tomatoes-32831030


Chris

 

[digitS']

You have gotten very good advice and it is probably good sense to just decide how far and on which side of the fence you are going to come down on, So Lucky.

I don't prune thru the growing season. However, the warm-season vegetables aren't likely to make much robust growth and I generally have a lot of room for them if they do.

When the season is coming to an end, I may prune back the tips on the indeterminates that seem to think that it is suddenly, a good time to really grow.

Steve

 

[silkiechicken]

When the season is coming to an end, I may prune back the tips on the indeterminates that seem to think that it is suddenly, a good time to really grow.

Steve

That's because near the end of the "season", the temps are ideal for tomato growth. LOL The whole two weeks of summer.

 

[so lucky]

Hmmm, this has been helpful. I usually don't prune my tomato plants, and end up with a jungle and a jumble. Glad I asked all you learned gardeners what you like to do. This year I have pinched off the side shoots on my indeterminates, and now will continue to sucker them. I liked the video--the "trellising" looked simple enough, and not as restrictive for the plant as rigid staking. I think I will try that.

 

[897tgigvib]

This year I have only one Tomato plant.

I have to keep it hidden from the Gophers. My Gophers use sight to spot fruit!

So, I plan on making a cage for it only about a foot square, with white plastic around it on all sides.

I know this is WAY different, but it's the way I'm doing it. Don't want the Gophers to know its there.

Stealth gardening.

So, I am going to be pruning it to be a vertical plant. I'll probably only go with 5 feet tall or so. Gotta make slots that I can tape closed after opening in the plastic for doing things like pinching off primary side shoots and harvesting.

I do not want to resort to putting Clevland the GOPHERGITTER in the garden. He is really being such a good indoor cat, and enjoys being an inside cat. Besides, he'd do collateral damage getting the Gophers.

So yes, I will be pruning Tomatoes this year. Have to.