Pruning tomato plants

Tomato gardeners have the same dilemma every year; in addition to keeping the bottom 18” clear of branches, should the plants should be pruned. First of all; it’s not necessary. On the other hand, pruning does enable larger tomatoes, although there will be less of them. Generally speaking, a plant produces X weight of tomatoes. You can have fewer larger ones or more that are smaller! Pruning is said to improve flavor and also helps stop excessive growth.

As for when to begin pruning, suffice it to say plants must be at least 1’ tall and preferably 2’. Prune early in the morning on a non-rainy day. There’s less chance of spreading disease.

Most pruning involves removing sucker branches. Regular branches tend to be horizontal. A sucker branch comes out at the base of the branch at roughly a 45° angle. Ironically, it’s less of a shock to the plant to just pinch of the sucker tip rather than clip at the base.

There’s another type of pruning that few, including me, have the courage to use. This is root pruning. You stick a spade in the ground a few inches out from the plant bas, severing outstretched roots, forcing the plant to mature. Use this method when fruit has developed but not ripened.

A final method is top pruning, which is done roughly a month before first frost. Clipping the plant top above the last flower roughly a month before first frost forces the plant to mature unripened fruit on the vine.

When should you NOT prune? With determinate tomato plants, remove early suckers, but later, don’t prune above the first flower cluster, as this will reduce produce volume. Also don’t prune in really hot weather to avoid sunscald. Finally, never cut the main stem except when top pruning.