tomato pruning

I'm told I should prune my tomatoes and I'm not sure which leaves are the suckers. I don't want to prune the wrong leaves off. I'm very new at this.

I just cut off the bottom leaves when they start touching the ground. I don't "prune" any of my veggies.

I do pinch off the suckers that sprout out where the limbs meet the stems.
Those growths will never bear fruit and take nourishments from the plant.

See this thread for similar discussion.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1097782/

TxEvelyn, suckers will bear fruit. Most of the time I pinch the suckers but some get by me. I always leave the suckers that form first on the bottom limbs.

Tomatoes are a lot like weeds and would probably be invasive if they could handle freezing temperatures so I think the main reason anyone pinches suckers off is to keep plant size under control, and possibly to focus the plants energy on fewer but hopefully larger tomatoes. Suckers may rob nutrients from fruit production but I'm reasonably sure they wouldn't exist if the plant didn't consider them beneficial. And as Jim41 stated above, suckers will most definitely bear fruit. I rarely mess with them unless the plant is outgrowing the available space.

If I "miss" a sucker and it got too big, I just snip it and root it to make another plant.

Here's one from my Chocolate Stripe.

My dad always planted his fall tomatoes like that. He would just pinch off a sucker and stick it in the ground.

Is it o.k. for plants to look a little wilted in the middle of the day, when the hot sun is shinning on them? Then later in the evening , they go back to looking normal? I worry when I see my plants wilt like that/.

yes it's the heat of the day in the eve when the sun has crested and off the plants if you have not had rain you can water them liberly (good) and by moenin they will have perked up and soked up what they needed just dont over do it as the excess will cook them as the excess evaperrates as the sun comes up .

Last year I had a group of tomatoes that I de-suckered and took off the lower limbs, and another group where I left them alone.

The former had terrible blossom end rot, the latter barely one fruit had BER.

This year, I'm leaving them all to do their own "thing" - so far the tomatoes that have "set" have no sign of BER - although that could change. They are also planted in an area where the soil stays wet. I mixed the native clay with coir and compost, added organic fertilizer, mycorrhizae, lime, crab meal and seabird guano into a ridge and set transplants into the ridge.

When the tomatoes started to "set" I gave them more fertilizer, lime and guano.

I can tell from walking the paths between the tomatoes that the ground is "wet 'n squishy" so the roots should be able to get plenty of water.

The plants have not set a great many tomatoes (yet), but if they don't get BER, I'll be happy.

Misty,

Since you live in FL, you'll want to be careful not to prune your tomatoes too much. By leaving on extra foliage you give shade to other parts of the plant and help prevent sun scald on the fruit -- especially important in warm climates.

If you decide to prune, you can try a couple of different methods. You can prune out the suckers that appear at the juncture between the stem and a new branch. It's good to do this as soon as they appear on your plant so you need to be watchful.

If you're intimidated about pruning your tomato plant's suckers, then go to this link. It provides a series of photos that show you how to prune suckers.
http://www.tomatodirt.com/pruning-tomato.html

You could also leave the suckers on and simply prune their tips (called "Missouri pruning.") That would stimulate growth but still leave lots of foliage to protect your plants in the Florida heat.

Later in the season, you can clip the tips of the plants to encourage more growth and a strong finish to your crop.

Hope this helps!

"If I "miss" a sucker and it got too big, I just snip it and root it to make another plant."

could you explain that a little further? What is the technique to properly removing a sucker and replanting it? We have some additional space in our garden that I could do this with.

cut it off and stick it in the ground. my first year I got way too ambitious and started my seeds in early February. Due to the lighting situation indoors they became tall and "leggy" so sometime in April I cut the tops off and replanted them. Tomatoes are very weed like and cuttings root rather easily (I didn't lose a single one and had no idea what I was doing)

EDIT: To be more specific, you would cut it off near the the base of the sucker (where it's coming off the main vine). Ideally with a razor blade and at a 45 degree angle and plant it in the ground. Unlike a lot of plants tomatoes can be buried as deep as you want so if the sucker is long and has several leaves on it already you can strip them off leaving just the top few leaves and bury it up to the top leaves...it will develop roots along the stem. Keep it moist, since it has no roots it cannot tolerate soil as dry as an established plant. You'll know it worked once the cutting starts growing (or failed when it flops over and dies).

This message was edited Jun 16, 2010 1:27 PM

Don't forget to water it if you cut it off and stick it in the ground! LOL

I thinned out some volunteers and whacked the tops off of a few I yanked out. I gave them to my massage therapist about 3 weeks ago. She said she's already getting maters!

"my first year I got way too ambitious and started my seeds in early February. Due to the lighting situation indoors they became tall and "leggy" so sometime in April I cut the tops off and replanted them."

Hm. I just plant them up to their little necks *G*. Mine were a bit tall, and the average 14" plant stood 4-5" above the soil when I was done. I left about three branches. Strip off the leaves that would be under ground, and the plant will root along the entire stem. I wouldn't "waste" the original roots.

Okay, I get it. Trenching is fine, and I do it when they're not going into hay bales, which make the digging a non-issue :)