Tomato suckers...

[MRAHoffman]

who prunes Tomato suckers and HOW do you do it correctly? Thank you. Take care and God bless.

[fixer]

I wish I could help you. I have never pruned a tomato. That is not to say it doesn't need to be done, only that I don't do it.

[Debbie-cat]

When I prune my tomatoes I pinch off the sucker leaves that appear between the main thickest branches. I don't think there really is a right or wrong way to do it. It enables all the energy to produce more and bigger fruit than if you didn't.

[Nemeweh]

I do mine the same way as Debbie Cat. Sometimes, if they're on the bigger side, I stick them in water til they root, then give someone who wants one a new tomato plant.

[frugalfranny]

This is something new I might have to try this year.....thanks for posting this.

[Charles C]

Hmmmm tomato suckering is the subject. Never have pruned tomato(uh as in removing suckers) plants, always figured they needed all the nourishment they can get, and I'd rather spend my time trimming the deseased and lower branches as the tomato plant grows. If you have time to pull off suckers you aren't spending your time in useful production, unless you want to do as Nemeweh does and produce more plants.

Later in the season, most tomato plants start getting musty, using organic fungicides and removing old growth will prolong the quality of your tomato fruit.

[frugalwarrior]

You pinch off the suckers so they don't sap the plants energy. The plant will then put all it's energy into the tomatoes. Same reason you don't want to overfertilize. (too much plant greens,not enough fruit). Also, another Grandma trick. As the season ends,dig down around the plants in a circle at about a foot out to stop root production (your not digging up dirt just poking downward). The plant will then concentrate on the ripening on the last few.(unless your looking for green tomatoes at the end,then-never mind)

[Charles C]

frugalwarrior, most years in the past I've raise from 3-5 hundred tomatoe plants. If removing suckers benefited, to my satisfaction, an increase in tomato production, I still couldn't do it with all those plants. With small plots of tomatoes, all I can see it doing is possibly directing nutrients to a select few tomatoes, which might increase their size.

Personally I raise different varieties to accomplish this. Burpee's Superbeefsteak, and Beefmaster are two of my favorites for huge tomatoes.

I raise Jetstar and BigBeef for red main crop tomatoes. Each plant gives me more than 20 pounds of nice tomatoes or they would be replaced by another variety.

Lemon Boys and Pink Girl give color variety.

Also I always include some Roma's and Cherry tomatoes.

At the end of the season, I always have a long hose handy on nights, that are going to produce frost( not freezing, forcast for freeze and all tomatoes are picked green) I get up well before dawn and hose down the plants of any frost, and do so well into sunup or the plants and fruit will be damaged.

Using this method, I have tomatoes on my corner table into December.(I could sell them longer but get tired of carry them back and forth at dawn and dusk) Also have tomatoes for all my kids and grandkids till Febuary.

I don't know why but even the ones I pick green are better than what we buy at the store.

This is only my personal experience, I am no expert, I do roam the internet looking for new and different things to try.

Next year if thing go well I'm going to try a tunnel of sorts over the tomatoes. Which could extend my season and might allow me a greenhouse method of insect control, with CO2, I've read that 20% will increase production, which doesn't interest me much, but at night if covered and the CO2 is raised to 50% you kill all the insects without damage to the plants.

Yeah at 65 years old my mind wonders a bit too much sometimes, letting things like just about losing my whole garden to deer, almost put me out of gardening. While not an expert, I like to do it, and the neighbors around here think I'm some kind of garden guru, they are always asking me for advice.

Have a nice day

[dmarie]

Have a question i have 9 tomato plants all with a ton of yellow flowers and only 1 or 2 actual tomato's on two plants.this has never happen to me before any suggestions? granted the heat here has been horrible i'm thinking this might be something any suggestions I will take and love.

[KeithBC]

who prunes Tomato suckers and HOW do you do it correctly?

There is one exception to pruning the suckers that I discovered by accident. When I grew tomatoes in a frost-prone climate, I would leave the suckers on after I first put the plants outdoors in the spring until there was absolutely no chance of frost. That means well after the "probably last frost day" that the weather office predicts.

I found that a light frost would kill the main leaves, but not the suckers. The suckers were therefore insurance against frost damage. If the main leaves got frostbitten, I'd prune them off and let the suckers take over as replacements.

Of course, once all possibility of frost was over, then I'd prune them off, same as anyone else.

[Charles C]

dmarie, well you are having a record heatwave, that's what my daughter tells me. Was 104 degrees F where she is yesterday.

That's hot even for here. When it's hot and still in the summer, I used to get Heatwave or Sunleapers. However I now just gather my tomato plant into its cage and shake it quite a bit. Short of reading up on hand polination, there is nothing else I know you could do to get fruit set.

The whole country is reporting a shortage of honeybees, or was at the last time I heard. Yes bees can and do polinate tomatoes. Don't know which kind are most effective, but I've had Red and Lemonboys cross, when seperated. My only answer for this is bee polination?

Don't know what your nightime temperatures are but think, they would be more crucial to fruit set.

Heard that we are in an El Nino climate. Anyone think this has anything to do with the strange weather. Didn't have many days in Kansas over 90 degrees in July. Strange weather, and good luck.

[Charles C]

dmarie was just reading my post , I should do spell check sorry, correction. "pollinate"

[dmarie]

day before yesturday 116 yesturday 118 today 104 as of 4:30 will are told it will go down to 90's later in the week I hope lol Ty charles i'll try see if i can find a bee guy around i noticed i haven't been stung once this year and usually i'm on my 3rd by now.