Cherry Tomato pruning help required.

I'm growing Cherry Tomatoes indoor near a window. This particular variety, grows easily but spends a lot of its energy growing tall. What is the best way to prune it so I can keep it short and still produce lots of tomatoes. Right now it bends to one side due to the sun shine being on one side. The curling of leaves happens sometime in the evening. Not sure why but the plant recovers eventually. There are no suckers yet so I guess I should wait before I start pruning but I may have to stack it if I dont cut soon. What is the best thing to do? Also FYI, its started from seed a little more than a month and a half back.

I always wait until after the first bloom has appeared, but I've only pinched side stems.

Hi Vanita, you have to pinch out the growing tips to help reduce the height, by doing this, you remove the tender top or end of the stems by nipping this between finger and thumb.
When you reduce the height, this can encourage NEW side shoots to grow from the axel at the leaf joint / stem. keep removing these side shoots as they will take away energy from the plant that is trying to form flowers / fruit.
When the first bunch of flowers form, I like to start to feed the plant with a Tomato feed, I give half dosage per week for about 3 weeks, then as more flowers appear and fruits are forming, I increase the dose to full strength, ALWAYS be guided by the dose that is given on the Package as over feeding will cause too much green and less fruit, it can also cause the roots to pack up as they cant support the higher amount of foliage.

TRY to make sure you water every day at the same time, say early Morning or last thing at night, this gives the plant continuity for a steady flow of watering, I like to leave 2 inches of pot above the soil so that when I water, I fill up the pot with water and allow this to drain into a saucer, when watered at night, this water in the saucer has been used up by the plant and soil, IF any water is still left in the saucer I remove it as the plants should NOT be left sitting in water for any longer.

Because your growing the Tomato's indoors, you need to make sure the flowers are being pollinated by insects or you need to do this yourself either by giving the plants a GENTLE shake, this helps spread the pollen around each bunch of flowers, OR you need to tickle each flower with a very soft brush (thin Ladies Make-up brush is good) you gently dab the brush bristles onto a flower and then do this on the next flower till all the flowers that are open have their pollen placed on all the flowers that have opened up. Be watchful as each flower is only open for a day maybe 2 at the most and they are tiny flowers.
After polination you should see tiny fruits forming after about 2 weeks, important to stick to the feeding and watering regime as the flowers will die off and no fruit will be formed.

Hope this helps you out.
Kindest Regards.
WeeNel.

In general tomatoes do need to be pollinated but will self-pollinate ... so they really don't need another tomato plant or any insects for pollination to occur. The stigma is inside the anther cone where the pollen is located.

Some tomato varieties such as 'Legend', 'Siletz', and 'Oregon Spring' are parthenocarpic and do not require pollination. They will make fruit with little or no seeds.

Thanks Weenel and CG. Heres a pic. Appreciate if you could tell me where to pinch because the last time I cut of the top, no new leaves came and I had to throw the plant as the weather worsened.

Yes CG, I usually keep all the chopping for time after the flowers have bloomed but this time I want to start pruning a little early so I don't have to deal with a very tall plant in a small pot. When the weather is better it may be moved outside in a bigger pot but till then, while it is too hot outside, I want it to get stronger in a smaller pot.

Actually weenel, I think I have been lucky with this variety because the wind is enough to pollinate but if they do start blooming inside (which I doubt due to less sunlight directly hitting it), I'll try to pollinate them myself.

I usually don't feed them anything except crushed eggshels that I mix in the soil. This time I have started feeding it with whey to help the acidity and I will probably add some food in the soil when I'm repotting it in a bigger container.

Nice looking plant. I would pinch it about the middle. Yes, somewhat acid soil is good for tomatoes and keeps them from tasting so bland.

I would nip just the top, smallest, new leaf and the bit of stem between that one and the next leaf down. This is pretty conservative. Then keep the plant in the brightest light possible. When the leaves are farther apart like this it suggests the plant is not getting enough light.

If new growth does not start lower down, then perhaps pinch the stem just one more leaf down.

Hi All,

It's been a little over 2 weeks and my plant is already 3ft above soil. (I just did not prune but staked it first and re-potted as the roots had started getting visible.

The good news is it has also already formed it's third set of tomatoes). After the second set I did pinch one set of the smallest leaves besides the tomato branch but it continues to grow tall.

There have been a few suckers I pinched out some but I am letting others grow as the plant has quite a gap between the leaf sets and the central stem is also too thin (I think it does get thicker as it supports more stuff around it).

Diana, you are right about the light. I have kept it indoors as it's too hot outside (the night temperatures are just not cool enough. I don't think it likes the direct sun. This is what it looks like after a while in full sun (1st picture). Should I be worried as starting today it stays outside and the night temperatures are still not cool.

Cville gardener, I have a question for you, you said you pinch side stems. I did accidentally break the side stems but no suckers have appeared in the area. Is there anything I can do encourage more suckers at this stage because the leaf branches are quite thin and flimsy and I managed to accidentally break two of the lower branches.

Many plants produce a hormone in the uppermost buds that inhibit more branches from growing very much from lower in the plant. (Not sure if tomatoes do this)

If you pinch out the top of the plant (an inch or two? a bit more?) then those hormones are gone long enough for side shoots to get a start.

Not sure of this phenomenon. Any idea what this is called?

Heres a pic of another plant I accidently broke while repotting. It seems to have produced enough side shoots from everywhere possible. I am waiting to see how and how much it grows now.

I wish I cud find a way to make the stem thicker and stronger. As far as the top pinching is concerned, I think I'll wait till there are more leaves above the third set of tomatoes because so far it has supported the height well. Just hope the stem got stronger for now without pruning.

Sorry heres the pic.

More light will make a thicker, stronger stem.

Look up 'Apical Dominance'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apical_dominance

This message was edited Sep 27, 2014 6:57 AM

You can get the stem to strengthen with a breeze. I set up a fan by all my seedlings that are not outdoors. This will help make the stems stronger and aid in pollination. That's what is used when tomatoes are grown in a greenhouse. No need for insect pollinators, (I've heard that most pollination has already occurred before the flower opens) all they need is movement of the flowers.

Hi Everyone,

My plant has been sitting out for quite a few weeks now and it's managed to grow big enough (over four feet above soil) to support itself on the small stake I used to initially make it stand straight (I don't think I can re-pot it without damaging some of the roots), So, I guess it has to stay in this pot. I've even let some suckers grow which have buds on but still small.

Now I have a different problem now that it's outside, it is still leggy but some leaves have dark shriveled patches and the flowers won't open completely, no new tomatoes forming. I thought it is heat stress so I moved it a bit to the corner where it does not receive direct sunlight. You see the whether has cheated on us here, the night time temperature was expected to go down by early to mid October but it is still too hot. I don't know whats bothering it. I do see some microscopic black fly gnats around the plant sometimes but don't understand whats all causing this. It may be probably heat stress? Any ideas? What can I do for it while the temperature is still around highs of 34 - 36 deg C (though it feels like 41) and lows of 29 deg (at night).
http://www.accuweather.com/en/ae/dubai/323091/weather-forecast/323091

Diana - thanks for the link.