My garden rearranged and ready to produce fruit

Ok Joy,
SINGLE STEM 101
Go look at your vine from the base and select a single stem and follow it straight up -- only follow the main stem. You'll see a basic pattern of leaves, leaves, leaves, cluster of tomatoes. Then, leaves, leaves, leaves, cluster of tomatoes.

Now, look at that stem again and see how in some places it forks off into a "vee" and sets up yet another stem to the side with that same pattern. It has it's own tip. You can see how that second fork could have been cut off when the plant was little, leaving only the one main stem.

Now, look at that stem again and see where there's a new branch tip coming out of the "vee" of a branch (at the point where it's attached to that main stem)? That's called a "sucker branch." Notice how the suckers that have gotten larger than life have begun to form yet another stem with another new tip? If these "suckers" are pinched off when they're small, there won't be all that side stemming going on. It is thought that all this peripheral branching and "vee"-ing diverts the energy that otherwise would have gone straight up that one main stem, to those branches and clusters of fruit.

Someone explained on another thread, that pinching the suckers and all those side shoots might have several benefits: pruning will result in a neater vine (because it's relatively straight). Consequently, you can put more tomatoes side-by-side in your available space, since you don't have all that extraneous foliage going off in every direction. Also, you WILL have fewer fruit per vine but, because the energy is concentrated up that one main stem, the fruits should be LARGER and more uniform. Disease spread can be better managed due to less intertwining foliage. Finally, trimming to one stem assists with bug and pest management since there is less foliage and fewer places for them to hide -- you can easily see your sets of leaves up the main stem and you can see hornworms and stinkbugs more easily.

Now. Go look at you vine, see if this explanation makes sense when you look at your vine, and LMK. If it doesn't, I'll try again with fewer words!

Linda

Gymgirl, fascinating discussion of single-stem pruning. So the idea is that you only have one big central stem with lots of single branches coming off the main stem? I can see how this would aid with getting air circulating, as well as in spotting pests.

Gymgirl, I am a little confused, Are you saying that the side stem should be allowed to grow until it begins to "vee" then pruned at that point so that, in effect, you have a short branch left growing off the main stem? I find that suckers develop at every ( what my father-in -law calls) "male leaf junction" so I simple snap them out as they begin to develop; as you state the bloom stalk will develop in" leaves, leaves, leaves, cluster of tomatoes" sequence so it is very easy to spot the obvious bloom stalk which is left.to grow. When I prune like this my leaves grow huge, the bloom stalks grow about a foot long with tomatoes all along it, but there is no side branching for additional leaf growth.
(http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=6560317)

When you snap the extra stem out just as it starts to grow, as the plant grows, there really is no tedious extra labor involved.

Know what? As I think about it, allowing a few sides stems to grow to the first bloom stalk stage might not be a bad idea. I would have more bloom stalks, more leaf surface, yet controlled growth pattern. You have given me an idea that I just might experiment with!!

This message was edited May 21, 2009 12:14 AM

This message was edited May 21, 2009 12:19 AM

Gessieviolet,
Your picture already looks exactly like what I explained. Yeah, I agree with your FIL that

;

That's what I did when I pruned. Some had gotten past me, were large, and gotten to the bloom stage AND, were producing more side shoots on those side "bloom" stalks. They were growing in every direction! So, I did a radical pruning to get back to my main "Bloom" stalk.

...

Gessie, that's a great idea and one I could try, too. But diligence is needed to keep those suckers pinched along the side bloom stalks, otherwise the branching jungle begins!

"By George, I think we've got it!" (famous quote from a tomato gardener in the process of pinching off yet another sucker...)

P.S. Gessie, On another thread I read that someone's sucker shoots had tomatoes developing on most all of them. So how do you know when one a those side shoots is gonna produce more tomatoes or just more foliage? Please advise.

This message was edited May 21, 2009 10:40 AM

Gymgirl: I'm going to try that one some of mine, as some are just getting way too thick and way too tall. Thanks for giving that advice.
I had heard that sometimes the foilage will hinder the sun getting to the actual fruit and that we didn't really need all that foilage.
joy

Gymgirl: With pruners in hand, went out and started pruning, good thing I did too, following your advice, hope I did it right, I saw this little bug on my pepper plant in the process and tried to nab him with my forefinger and thumb, that little sucker twisted right around on the branch each time I tried, he is a quick little sucker too, so, not only am I pruning today and probably going to find buggies hiding under the leaves; but, I'm spraying tonight again. My peppers are getting bigger and my eggplants are flowering, I must get these tomatoes moved where I can stake them up properly, the lay flat bag tomatoes are getting huge also, a few tall varieties made it into those lay flat bags and it is impossible to stake them on the table, so will have to lay down more weed cloth and then stake them there or cage them, that will work then. LOL My garden is really taking off now, the reason I haven't been on the computer lately.
joy

"So how do you know when one a those side shoots is gonna produce more tomatoes or just more foliage?"

Each sucker growing from the leaf base is simply ANOTHER plant attached to the main stem using the original root system for nourishment. You can, actually, very easily root these for additional individual plants, by placing in water or potting mix. As these stems grow, (on the mother plant or as new plants) the sequence of " leaf, leaf, leaf, cluster of tomatoes" continues. So fruit could develop on the stem. Am I as clear as mud?

Glory be!! I just went out to photo my plant to illustrate what I'm writing about and realized a couple of things I had never paid attention to:
(1) the bloom stalk DOES NOT grow from a leaf base. (2) It is separate growth that may develop leaf bracts of it own. They are different from the leaf stalk in that they form a kind of unit with the fruiting limb. My guess is that this unit is what the above poster was referring to. On my plants there is the bloom stalk which began as you see here, a single leaf developes near the base of the bloom stem as it elongates, and finally when the bloom stem reaches it's end another few leaf BLADES develop indicating it is finished growing. There are fruits all along the stem BETWEEN these leaf bracts. Did I stir the muddy water even more?

This photo clearly shows how easily the bloom stalk and leaf stem can be differentiated. In the lower right, coming from a leaf base is a sucker that I will remove, in the upper center of photo is a bloom stalk that will develop as described (notice it grows directly from the main stem not from leaf).

I just went snipping crazy like a barber and hope that works. LOL I'm done now with all but the tomato tree and my baby. That I need help with as the cage has to come off so I can do those, then maybe I won't have to anchor it to the ground anymore or have this concrete block in front of it to keep it from blowing down. This wind and rain is terrible, gotta lay more weed cloth as the old weed cloth has torn in too many places and there is grass coming through. Then, some of my stalks of corn has blown sideways. Then, tonight, sevin spray, followed by triple action plus tomorrow night. Then, more pics.
joy

Gessie,
Crystal clear!

I'm understanding from the other poster that perhaps she allowed some of the suckers develop until they formed another bloom stalk. Any of the suckers will do that if you let them grow. It's all that additional side branching and suckering that produces the unruly foliage. There's a pic out there somewhere of what the tomato plant components look like. I'll see if I can find it.

Ok, this is Cricketsgarden's illustration of how she prunes her mater vines to one stalk.

This message was edited May 21, 2009 3:32 PM

Gymgirl: Ooops, I might have over barbered on mine a bit? Will that be okay you think? I can see some tomatoes now, which I couldn't before though. I can't spray tonight, it's gonna rain, and probably will all weekend, got the pruning done though and got the tomatoes staked up. I moved all the lay flat bags of tomatoes over to the weed cloth I put on top of the old weed cloth that was tearing up, and then placed the stakes. My daughter and I lost one little tomato during the transporting of such; but, I had to open it and look inside it, the walls seem to be forming like they should. Everything looks good so far.

joy