It’s Tomato Jungle Season around here now. We figured this would be a good time to give some quick tips on pruning your tomato plants so you get the most out of them. Pruning will increase airflow, giving leaves and fruit more room to breath. Most importantly, it allows the plants to concentrate their energy on creating bigger, better tomatoes!
All of the plants we plant and sell are indeterminate, this means they will grow as tall as they possibly can. So, some sort of support is necessary. We hang strings from the top of the hoop houses, but a tomato cage or stake would work fine too. Next we train the plants down to two to four main leaders. These are like the brain of the plant. To determine the leaders we look for the ones that are the thickest, and have the most well established blossoms. Once the leaders are chosen, the rest are suckers. Suckers grow from the armpit of the leaders. See picture below.
Suckers get their bad rep because they can suck the energy out of the plant. If left unkempt, tomato plants could have many,many leaders but still a limited amount of energy to produce fruit. By removing suckers the tomato plant only has to focus on a few leaders and their fruits. This results in large fruits and yields.
Once you’ve decided on the leaders and have removed the suckers, make sure to also clean up the bottom of the plant. We like to remove the bottom 4 inches or so of foliage so the plants have more airflow and there is less room for disease.
There is a ton of information out there on tomato pruning. And of course, feel free to reach out to us with any questions! Happy Gardening!
[…] Overall biodiversity is certainly important and something that takes time. Occasionally a little boost is needed. Aphids will be around to one degree or another every year. The parasitic flies which prey upon them also are always around, leaving a mummified aphid as their calling card. Some years the pest pressure can be too much and biodiversity needs some encouragement. Releasing two batches of said flies both at SLG and SLGNW, will hopefully help to tip the scales in our favor. In more crop focused farm news things are really starting to show that summer is barely a week away. With cukes and squash showing up, the pea plants which looked a bit desperate in May now only remind us how much work harvesting we will have soon enough. The heads of lettuce this spring have been epic, we should hopelfuly have them for the next few weeks. The beautiful colors that the flowers grace us with are beginning to dot the landscape. What else is to be said, we’re smiling like a happy farm dog in the field. Have a great weekFor those doing some gardening check out some tomato pruning tips here https://starlightgardensct.com/tomato-pruning-refresher/ […]