After all of last season growing nothing but weeds I made a few changes this year and have started to grow healthier, larger plants than I ever could’ve imagined. I just left town for about 10 days and returned to this jungle, everything more than doubled in size while I was away and now I’m not sure where to start on pruning. I know the basics, remove suckers from indeterminate, remove low hanging branches off the ground for airflow, aim to have one main stem- but it may be too late for that.
Garden Info:
Zone: 6b
8’x4’ bed, 60/40 soil compost mix
Varieties growing from back left clockwise:
– Celebrity (D)
– Big Boy (I)
– Garden Fresh (D)
– Red Deuce (D)
– Cherokee Purple (I)
– Brandiwine (I)
My goal is to grow the most, healthy fruit possible. I’m not worried about having the biggest or the absolute best. So I’m hoping not to trim them down to nothing and just do what is truly necessary.
So where do I start? All advice welcome. TIA
by Got_wake
8 Comments
Start by removing any leaves that touch the ground. Remove the whole leaf branch. Also remove any branches at all that are less than 1 foot from
The ground.
Then it’s up to you.
https://preview.redd.it/0ywzb60fwb5f1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a11f401c062c7de8b118e9f5c6507330e98aec78
This is the condition I left them in, if that helps decipher the mess
Edit: this is the BEFORE picture, included to show the individual plants and spacing and not just a pile of leaves. I’d cry if I trimmed back my plants this far
I will offer some other advice that will help. The tomato cages are good for spacing but what you’ll really want to get are some long stakes and soft plant wire. Put that stake pretty close to the base of your plant and tie up the main stem in multiple places. You want your plant to grow up, not out. As is your plants are falling over and turning into bushes. This will also help with airflow.
Otherwise your plants all look super healthy so keep doing what you’re doing 👍 you will be rewarded for your efforts!
Those plants are a little close to start with and always prune leaves that grow towards the middle of the plant, touch the grown or turn yellow. However, I live in a hot weather climate and large fruit won’t set after it gets over 92-95f during the day so during the fruit setting portion of the summer which is like May-June I don’t prune much beyond what’s mentioned above bc it’s essential to set as much fruit as possible right now.
oof! yeah I agree with nss68. Start at the bottom. any leaves touching the ground. any damaged leaves. if you want controlling it any suckers that show up from here on out (the ones that show up at a 45 degree angle between the main stem and a leaf branch) to keep it from sprawling. and take notes for next year. Did you love the organized chaos? or you want to plan more? looks good by the way
Indeterminates should really be grown on a stake or on a [grid trellis like I do](https://www.reddit.com/r/tomatoes/comments/1kqwo5l/just_wanna_share_my_favorite_way_to_grow/), not in a cage. Even if you prune them to one stem like you say, they just aren’t suited for growing in cages and pruning will be a chore and the whole plant will be a mess to deal with in a cage if you leave for long periods of time and only tend to them ever couple weeks. Plus they grow MUCH taller than the cages you have anyhow. They will just flop over the top of the cage eventually and take the cage with it lol. The earlier start pruning and the more frequently prune the easier it is to keep them tidy and controlled…but on a stake or trellis.
With the Determinates is not much pruning needed except to clip off any leaf stems that have leaves touching the soil to help prevent disease (you should also to this with Indeterminates). You can prune Determinates but you risk getting less tomatoes. I have never pruned a Determinate myself. I see no need for it.
8’ 1×2 stakes pounded into the ground as deep as I can get them are what I like for indeterminate plants. Might go the cattle panel route someday too.
Next year if you want to grow in a raised bed I would recommend looking at dwarf varieties as they grow maybe 5’ tall, don’t require much pruning, produce fruit all season long and there are many choices of plants. Look up Dwarf Tomato Project and Craig LeHoullier if interested
Remove low branches that contact or are very close (within 4-6 inches) of the ground. Remove any suckers that you do not plan to keep as a growing tip /leader (if they are indeterminates). I usually let 2 or 3 leaders grow. I leave the main growing leader and let the next one or two below the first fruit cluster grow out as 2nd or 3rd leaders. After that i will keep all other suckers pruned off. Also a little tip would be to prune the suckers off sooner so it doesnt become a mess (you can cut them as soon as you can pinch them off when they are like an inch or two long), but more importantly, to avoid wasting all that plant energy on growing out suckers that you wont keep anyway. This way the plant will put all of its energy into growing out the main leaders you plan to keep. Aside from that, just let them grow and do their thing! I use bamboo stakes because the cages tend to crowd the plant if you allow multiple leaders and plan to grow it tall. Determinates work in cages because they bush out and all the suckers form and sort of tangle into the cage. But if you want to grow a double leader system i usually only use half a cage to support the lower part of the plant and i let bamboo stakes do the rest. I cut the cages in hald with a grinder. This way i can spread the 2 leaders out and give them each a little space w/o having to try and weave them out of the openings on the cage. Thats just what works for me. I know plenty of folks who dont use cages at all and use bamboo stakes only. Or the overhead string support system. Either way i find that cages will crowd the plant if you are growing indeterminate varieties and plan to have 2 or more leaders. A single leader plant can grow right up through the cage no problem. But it will likely need a taller support and you can use a bamboo stake for that too right up the center.