Just sharing! Advice appreciated but not needed, just wanted to share something dumb I did LOL š
Brand new gardener this season!! Iām especially proud of these cherry tomato plants that were tiny at purchase and have grown like craaazy these past couple of months!
(Pre-misinformed tomato haircut) Recently, I saw that my tomatoes were getting smaller (the three big ones were ones I leftover from last weekendās harvest, and the smaller ones are from yesterdayās). I figured itās because the plants 1) need more nutrients and 2) were putting energy into growing leaves rather than fruits.
(Process of tomato haircut) I remember reading something about snipping off suckers to channel energy into fruits so I took my garden shears and snipped a bunch of leaves without flowers off. I did, however, leave the tiny emerging leaves with flowers. They looked cute š„¹
(Immediately after tomato haircut) TikTok seemed to have read my mind and showed me a video of what an actual tomato sucker is. I LEFT ALL THE CUTE LIL SUCKERS ON AND SNIPPED OFF LEAF STEMS š Based on my research my tomato plant will be ok, but will just have less photosynthesis power. And having less foliage might help with diseases/pests too.
But TIL to never go ham with shears & my plants til I thoroughly research online š
(Photo of tomato plants right now, post haircut. )
by mooreactsonly
8 Comments
You get a little lesson of what not to do next time but don’t worry! It seems like suckers can fruit tomatoes too! They will fruit a larger yield of smaller fruits while main stems will fruit smaller yields of larger fruits, so it seems like you just gave yourself a few impromptu grape(ish) tomatoes!
āI should shave my armpits.ā (Cuts off arms to allow armpit hairs to bush out.)
I do this intentionally sometimes. Itās not terrible. Your suckers will definitely bear fruit! Depending on the size of your plant, leaving suckers may just mean smaller tomatoes (dispersing energy to more fruits) but sometimes everything is justā¦. Normal š.
Also, chopping the stems with just leafs (under stems with fruit) is good practice.
Pro tip if you ever want more plantsā¦ leave a sucker for a bit and then chop it and throw it in water. Itāll root quickly and then you can transfer it to soil. Tomato sucker propagate easily!
Suckers are just insurance policy for if the plant loses its main grow point,
so they will now do what they are designed to do..
Don’t worry too much. I think people get a little psycho with tomato pruning. I’ve been growing about 20-25 tomato plants every year for the past 14yrs. Some years, the plants are carefully pruned and controlled, other years, they get away from me and the green house is a godamned jungle. I haven’t seen huge differences in yield either way. But pruning certainly makes them easier to harvest and easier to detect/treat diseases and/or insect issues.
Random but I’ve been looking into steel planter boxes and I like how yours look! Mind sharing what you bought?
What are suckers
Honestly, I always leave my suckers on my tomatoes and cut most of the leaves because yes, they help with photosynthesis but the leaves on the suckers work just as sufficient. Instead of putting energy into growing more leaves, Iād rather have more tomatoes. I also know people say the fruit is smaller when you donāt cut the suckers but that hasnāt been my experience.