Am I meant to remove these little branches that grow in the corner of the big ones from my tomato plants?
Am I meant to remove these little branches that grow in the corner of the big ones from my tomato plants?
by Chance-Science-6691
19 Comments
BurningBridgeTroll
Yes, it helps the plant grow if you prune its armpit branches.
AVeryTallCorgi
Those are new vines, each one will grow long and produce fruit. Whether you trim them is up to you and how you plan on supporting the plants
MetaphoricalMouse
ahhh a debate old as time. i do it when they’re young and on the bottom of the plant to increase air flow
Davekinney0u812
That looks like an indeterminate variety and they shoot out suckers that many folks remove. You can leave them but they need support.
As for indoor growing, it’s tough to get them sufficient light.
As for growing in pots, indeterminates don’t thrive and there’s a variety called dwarf that were bred for container growing. Smallish plants but regular sized fruit.
If you want to do a bit of research, Craig LeHoullier is considered an expert and he’s got a lot of info out there.
207Menace
Those are suckers. If you leave em in water you can make new tomato seedlings also.
Prestigious_Poetry_9
My father taught me this. His father taught him. Remove it. My only basis is that my dad is a natural green thumb and he produces enough tomatoes for 3 families from two plants.
Miss_Jubilee
I was today years old when I learned…! Haha I keep hearing people talk about removing suckers from tomato plants, but trees get suckers around their bases, so I was confused about where/what exactly the suckers were. I’m glad this was asked and answered!
HiwayHome22
Yes
Accomplished_Radish8
I’ve done both, leave them and remove them. I got lots of tomatoes when I left them, but I got better quality tomatoes when I removed them (and still got more than I needed). I think there’s a maximum amount of tomatoes a plant can grow without sacrificing some quality. I don’t know what that maximum is, but it makes logical sense to me that with fewer tomatoes, the plant will more efficiently provide those tomatoes with nutrients rather than trying to get nutrients to 10x the amount of tomatoes.
iGeTwOaHs
I personally only trim the lowest 2-3 sets of these “Suckers”. It’s said to promote larger fruit production
three2won
I grow my cherry tomatoes vertically on strings so I trim the suckers and focus on the main stem
MusaEnsete
Depends if they’re determinate or indeterminate, but I usually remove those, especially on staked indeterminates. Here’s a good guide: [https://imgur.com/a/XzhKvmy](https://imgur.com/a/XzhKvmy)
Angelrawww
Suckers ! I pluck them when the plant is still small and before it’s produced anything. It’ll make the plant focus more on growing up than wide
gottagrablunch
I trim them until the plants get angry and produce suckers at a rate greater than I can keep up with. I still try but it can be a full time job!
AuntySeptoria
I always remove it for tomato varieties that make only a few large tomatoes per plant, like beefsteak and black krim, and leave it for cherry tomatoes so they can bush out and make a lot of flowers. I found the problem with leaving the suckers isn’t so much production, but that the tomato plant becomes too large, is more prone to breakage, and is harder to support upright. I only have limited space to grow my plants, so I need to keep everything as tidy as possible.
scoottzee
If your tomatoes are indeterminate, that looks like a great spot to let the plant split into a “two leader” tomato! This basically gives you two big beautiful plants in 1. Do a bit of research on this method if you are interested in stepping up your tomato game!
Tspfull
you do NEED to remove them. you MAY remove them if you want to keep the plant from getting too big to manage. but you absolutely do not NEED to do it. and if you have the space I would not remove so you can have the most fruit.
Tiny-Albatross518
Well that’s a sucker.
First: is this a determinate tomato? If it is you probably don’t want to remove it because that type of plant will grow to a set contained shape, like a plan. Removing much of anything will reduce production.
If it’s an indeterminate tomato that means it’s going to try and grow infinitely. It can’t of course but that’s the way of an indeterminate. When growing this you have to make pruning choices. If you’re a farmer this can be a field tomato and it could take up a huge amount of space. If you have a big arbor maybe you prune it to a couple main stems to make it fit. Or you could prune to one stem.
Most people will prune indeterminates to one main stem. That one single stem will produce less than a sprawling plant in a field. The reason you go single stem is you can get many more plants in a limited space. So you get many more plants producing a little less but on the whole you get more.
You also want to consider the old saying “grow tomatoes not leaves” a tomato will channel its energy to grow fruit and leaves and stems. You can influence the energy allocation by pruning. If you prune off the extra stems ( suckers) and some of the extra leafy branches the energy of the plant will flow into the fruit.
That’s why it’s done this way.
For me I grow indeterminate. I prune pretty hard. No branches in the bottom ten inches and certainly no ground contact to prevent soil borne disease.
I prune to one stem and I keep them tightly packed to have many. Every sucker comes off. Suckers are a new stem. They will eventually grow fruit as well but they grow so much vegetatively first it’s a real drain.
As they grow I leave some of the leafy branches. You need leaves of course but it’s not a hedge. I leave enough for photosynthesis but not more. I want extra resources in the fruit.
It sounds like a lot maybe? But it’s simple. No ground contact, no suckers, not too many leaves.
letsgetregarded
There’s different plant types with tomatoes. Sometimes you do want to remove. But sometimes you do. Depends on what kind of tomatoes.
19 Comments
Yes, it helps the plant grow if you prune its armpit branches.
Those are new vines, each one will grow long and produce fruit. Whether you trim them is up to you and how you plan on supporting the plants
ahhh a debate old as time. i do it when they’re young and on the bottom of the plant to increase air flow
That looks like an indeterminate variety and they shoot out suckers that many folks remove. You can leave them but they need support.
As for indoor growing, it’s tough to get them sufficient light.
As for growing in pots, indeterminates don’t thrive and there’s a variety called dwarf that were bred for container growing. Smallish plants but regular sized fruit.
If you want to do a bit of research, Craig LeHoullier is considered an expert and he’s got a lot of info out there.
Those are suckers. If you leave em in water you can make new tomato seedlings also.
My father taught me this. His father taught him. Remove it.
My only basis is that my dad is a natural green thumb and he produces enough tomatoes for 3 families from two plants.
I was today years old when I learned…! Haha I keep hearing people talk about removing suckers from tomato plants, but trees get suckers around their bases, so I was confused about where/what exactly the suckers were. I’m glad this was asked and answered!
Yes
I’ve done both, leave them and remove them. I got lots of tomatoes when I left them, but I got better quality tomatoes when I removed them (and still got more than I needed). I think there’s a maximum amount of tomatoes a plant can grow without sacrificing some quality. I don’t know what that maximum is, but it makes logical sense to me that with fewer tomatoes, the plant will more efficiently provide those tomatoes with nutrients rather than trying to get nutrients to 10x the amount of tomatoes.
I personally only trim the lowest 2-3 sets of these “Suckers”. It’s said to promote larger fruit production
I grow my cherry tomatoes vertically on strings so I trim the suckers and focus on the main stem
Depends if they’re determinate or indeterminate, but I usually remove those, especially on staked indeterminates. Here’s a good guide: [https://imgur.com/a/XzhKvmy](https://imgur.com/a/XzhKvmy)
Suckers ! I pluck them when the plant is still small and before it’s produced anything. It’ll make the plant focus more on growing up than wide
I trim them until the plants get angry and produce suckers at a rate greater than I can keep up with. I still try but it can be a full time job!
I always remove it for tomato varieties that make only a few large tomatoes per plant, like beefsteak and black krim, and leave it for cherry tomatoes so they can bush out and make a lot of flowers. I found the problem with leaving the suckers isn’t so much production, but that the tomato plant becomes too large, is more prone to breakage, and is harder to support upright. I only have limited space to grow my plants, so I need to keep everything as tidy as possible.
If your tomatoes are indeterminate, that looks like a great spot to let the plant split into a “two leader” tomato! This basically gives you two big beautiful plants in 1. Do a bit of research on this method if you are interested in stepping up your tomato game!
you do NEED to remove them. you MAY remove them if you want to keep the plant from getting too big to manage. but you absolutely do not NEED to do it. and if you have the space I would not remove so you can have the most fruit.
Well that’s a sucker.
First: is this a determinate tomato? If it is you probably don’t want to remove it because that type of plant will grow to a set contained shape, like a plan. Removing much of anything will reduce production.
If it’s an indeterminate tomato that means it’s going to try and grow infinitely. It can’t of course but that’s the way of an indeterminate. When growing this you have to make pruning choices. If you’re a farmer this can be a field tomato and it could take up a huge amount of space. If you have a big arbor maybe you prune it to a couple main stems to make it fit. Or you could prune to one stem.
Most people will prune indeterminates to one main stem. That one single stem will produce less than a sprawling plant in a field. The reason you go single stem is you can get many more plants in a limited space. So you get many more plants producing a little less but on the whole you get more.
You also want to consider the old saying “grow tomatoes not leaves” a tomato will channel its energy to grow fruit and leaves and stems. You can influence the energy allocation by pruning. If you prune off the extra stems ( suckers) and some of the extra leafy branches the energy of the plant will flow into the fruit.
That’s why it’s done this way.
For me I grow indeterminate. I prune pretty hard. No branches in the bottom ten inches and certainly no ground contact to prevent soil borne disease.
I prune to one stem and I keep them tightly packed to have many. Every sucker comes off. Suckers are a new stem. They will eventually grow fruit as well but they grow so much vegetatively first it’s a real drain.
As they grow I leave some of the leafy branches. You need leaves of course but it’s not a hedge. I leave enough for photosynthesis but not more. I want extra resources in the fruit.
It sounds like a lot maybe? But it’s simple. No ground contact, no suckers, not too many leaves.
There’s different plant types with tomatoes. Sometimes you do want to remove. But sometimes you do. Depends on what kind of tomatoes.