Pruning tomatoes

I do some gardening on the side, at this time I have 13 tomato plants(2 of which grew on their own from last year's crops). I've always had different information on pruning tomato plants, but I think I've finally gotten it done right, this time! I usually buy indeterminate plants, these are the plants that keep on growing all season long. If you are using containers, etc., you should get determinate--these plants stop at a pre-determined(by genetics) height and usually have a set amount of branches, etc.

Our garden is done in raised beds with drip irrigation. When I plant the tomatos, I also use the plastic red mulch to keep down the weeds. There are many different types of mulch you can buy, black plastic is probably the best known and I don't know if there is actually any difference, except that we still have the red left from a couple of years ago, so why buy new?

Tomato plants are actually vines and, left to their own devices, would grow more like squash... milling around the ground. Works ok with squash, pumpkins, etc., but tomatoes don't have the fruit for it, know what I mean? Tomato plants have to be staked to be able to give us the fruit that we so covet.

Also, tomato plants are turbo-charged sugar machines. For the first month or so, all of the sugar that's produced goes toward new leave growth. During this month, tomato plants double their size ever 2 weeks or so. Eventually the plants make more sugar than it can use and then branches begin to grow and to flower. At this time, it is very important to stake/support the plant or it begins to lay on the ground, which, in turn increases the tendency to branch. If the plant is an indeterminate, it can easily cover a 4 X 4 foot area and just a big mess!
To assist with the photosynthesis and lessen the risk of disease, plants need plenty of room and keep off the ground. When the plant is on the ground or its growth is extremely dense, there is too much shade on the leaves and this greatly reduces the production of sugar. These shaded leaves will use the sugar that is produced to try to stay healthy (which usually just prolongs the inevitable and it will yellow and fall off) instead of using the sugar to produce fruit. A plant that is properly staked and pruned will produce larger fruit as much as 2-3 weeks earlier than a plant left to its own devices.

So....how do we "properly" prune a tomato plant?
First, remove all of the stems and suckers below the first flower cluster. Yes all of them! Anything that is lower than that first flower is not assisting with the flower/fruit production and is wasting the energy needed for the fruit. Also, these leaves are usually the ones that do not get enough sun and then use the energy for their own propagation.

You also have to make a decision. Do you want to only allow one stem or do you want some branches? I haven't been able to get rid of all of the branches...yet...but I've gotten a bit better at getting rid of much of the extra foilage. The best tomato growth is off of one stem--the original one and this will result in large fruits that are produced until frost.
Pruning also assists plant health. The leaves of a pruned and supported plant dry off faster, so bacterial and fungal yucky stuff have less of a chance to spread. Soil is less liable to splash up onto staked plants and this also makes it harder for bacteria or fungul stuff to get on the higher leaves.


1. Suckers

As the plant grows, side shoots, or suckers, form between the leaves and the main stem. If left alone, these suckers will grow just like the main stem, producing flowers and fruit.
Suckers begin to appear from the bottom of the plant up. For a multi-stemmed plant, try have all stems about the same size, although the main stem should always be stronger, because it has to feed the entire plant for the next five or six months.
There are different ways to deal with a sucker; easiest being to just pinch it off, preferably in the morning. The best time to do this is when the sucker is still small, just one or a couple of leaves. Grab the base of it between your thumb and index finger and bend it back and forth or just pinch it off. It should just snap off.

Most gardeners avoid cutting the sucker with a knife or scissors, because of the possiblity of infection. If the sucker is larger and becomes too tough to snap off, however, you'll have to use a blade.

2. Vines and leaves
Keep tomatoes free of side stems below the first fruit cluster. After the fruit begins to develop, these bottom vines are just feeding off energy that the fruit needs. Also, since they are low, its easier for diseases to get splashed on the leaves and cause you problems!
This is the first year that I feel I've somewhat mastered the puning of tomatoes and I'm hoping these guidelines help you and me! Good gardening!