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Pruning tomatoes is a necessary and fun task for me. If you hate doing it to keep your plants healthy and free of pests, you might as well keep buying ‘poison’ from the store. Just saying. This article will give you a quick guide on how to prune tomatoes like a pro. Because, honestly, it’s not that hard. Just follow a few do’s and don’ts, understand the basics, and you’re good to go.
We’ll talk about how to prune tomatoes, why it’s important, when to do it, common mistakes to avoid, and the two types of tomatoes. So, put on your 80’s roller skates, and let’s Bounce, Rock, Skate, & Roll!
Table of Contents
Types of Tomatoes
There are two types of tomatoes in this world: determinate and indeterminate. They share some similarities, but they also have their own characteristics. All tomato varieties fall into these two categories.
Determinate Tomatoes
Determinant tomatoes usually ripen at the same time and then the plant will typically retire. This makes determinant tomatoes wonderful for canning. They will grow approximately 4 ft. tall, making them ideal for growing in containers.
Pruning and removing suckers isn’t needed for determinate tomatoes because they usually stop growing by themselves. However, you can do a bit of pruning below the first set of flowers. If you prune anything above the first set of flowers, you’ll get fewer tomatoes during harvest time. Just to be clear, the first set of flowers are the ones closest to the soil.
Indeterminate Tomatoes
Indeterminate tomatoes are tomato plants that keep growing and producing fruit throughout the growing season until killed by frost. Unlike determinate tomatoes, which stop growing once they reach a certain size, indeterminate tomatoes continue to grow taller and require regular pruning to manage their size and improve fruit production. They often need support, like trellising, stakes or cages, to keep them upright.
Our favorite tomato to grow on our farm is amish paste. This variety tends to have less liquid which is perfect for making and canning tomato sauce!
How to Prune Tomatoes
Lower Leaves
When tomato plants begin to mature, observe not only the whole plant but also the lower leaves. Prune the lower leaves up the stem about 3-4 inches. It’s better to keep the leaves from touching the ground to avoid diseases from the soil. Even if you think your soil is perfect, it can still have problems. This is why we never overhead water our tomatoes and always mulch the soil to prevent backsplash.
Backsplash happens when water splashes up from the soil onto tomato leaves and stems, spreading potential disease. If needed, prune just below a node on a stem that’s grown long enough to touch the soil.
What Are Tomato Suckers
No, I’m not calling you a sucker! I’d never call my friends that. On a tomato plant, several branches grow out from the main stem. Where a branch meets the main stem, more growth appears, known as a sucker. Suckers are like new plants.
If you let them grow, you’re allowing a whole new plant to grow from the main trunk, which takes energy away from the main plant and its fruit. The good news is you can plant suckers to grow more tomatoes; they will turn into new plants.
Make it a habit to check your crops regularly because within a week, a sucker can grow so big that you might not recognize it as one. They grow fast and big. After many years of growing tomatoes, I can easily spot a sucker, even if it has been left to grow for too long.
Height
This is something I would generally advise against, but indeterminate tomatoes can sometimes reach the top of my trellising system. Occasionally, I will prune some of the tops off, but as little as possible. I plant tomatoes so close together that sometimes they need a bit of a haircut. If they do, I prune on the topside of a node.
If you search “Lower and Lean” on Google, you can learn how to do it and never have to worry about pruning the height of your tomatoes. I love growing tomatoes with lower and lean trellising but haven’t set it up at our new location yet.
Why Pruning Tomatoes Is So Important
So that is how we go about pruning tomatoes. Tomatoes play an important role on our farm. They provide beauty, healthy fruits, and can provide a habitat for beneficial life when grown properly with companion plants. When you learn the ins and outs of growing tomatoes, you will feel the happiness during the journey.
I challenge you to start growing tomatoes to fill your pantry with canned stewed tomatoes, sauce, and juicy tomatoes to slice and add to all your favorite dishes. Let’s help each other gradually move away from the store-bought junk we all know about. We can all benefit from a gentle push toward the hope and freedom of having fresh, homegrown tomatoes instead of relying on store-bought cans of garbage.
Let us, Thrive, Preserve, & Regenerate, Together.
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