Greenhouse vining crop expert Andrew Mefferd offers tips on pruning greenhouse tomatoes, including the importance of regular pruning. He suggests using sharp, clean pruning shears to ensure the right tools are used. Before making any cuts, it is crucial to determine if you are growing an indeterminate or determinate variety of tomato plant. Indeterminate varieties grow like those that produce more foliage.
Both bottom and top pruning are essential steps in growing tomato plants from seed. Bottom pruning helps avoid gardening headaches and encourages larger fruit production. Remove all suckers from the main vine stem, extra flowers from clusters with more than the desired 4-7 fruits setting, browning or pest-damaged leaves, and small branches from shoulder points off the main stem.
A month before the first expected frost or when the plant hits the roof of your greenhouse, remove the plant’s terminal shoot. Go through a couple of times a week snapping them off, starting at the bottom and working your way up. If done regularly, it is a quick job with only 1 or 2 new shoots.
To know when to start pruning, wait for the stems and leaves below the first set of flowers to turn yellow. When the plant reaches the overhead support, the top can be removed to stop further growth, or the vine can be lowered to allow the plant to continue growing. Clip away any leaves touching the soil and continue pruning up to a foot from the ground.
Many tomato diseases, including septoria and early blight, can be prevented by proper pruning.
📹 How to Prune Tomatoes for Maximum Yield and Plant Health
IN THIS VIDEO → Felco 2 Pruners: https://growepic.co/3sreBIm → Full Article: https://www.epicgardening.com/tomato-spacing/ …
📹 How to Prune Greenhouse Tomatoes
Greenhouse vining crop expert Andrew Mefferd provides instructions and tips on greenhouse tomatoes, including how to prune …
Back when I was in my 30s, I had several very large Beefsteak tomatoe plants in my garden. It came to the end of the season and temps were dropping, but my plants were FULL of green tomatoes. So I dug them out and tied a rope to the roots and hung my plants upside-down from the rafters in my garage! They continued to grow, ripen and produce fruit for months! I was able to pick tomatoes anytime I wanted to. 😋 Best year ever!!😂
I’ve been growing these tasty treats for over 50 years. Hint! Take a two-liter pop bottle and cut off the bottom. Remove the cap and bury the container at a 45-degree angle so the small end is adjacent to the root ball. Add a small rock to the inside of the container to give it some weight. When you want to water your plant just add the water to the open end of the bottle. This saves water and your tomato plants will thank you by bearing a great crop. Don’t forget to pinch those suckers. I live in Michigan and I get my plants to reach 14 feet or better. If you want to fertilize just add the nutrients to the bottle and then add the water. I have been using this method for decades and no one can match my yield. Good luck.
I once had a tomato plant in a container that the dog knocked it over and broke off a large sucker. The main plant was about 3 feet tall and the sucker was about 2 feet. I planted the sucker in another container as deep as I could. I got more tomatoes from the 2nd plant than I did from the original one.
THANK YOU!!! I am in east central Wisconsin, my growing season is generally Memorial Day through mid-September. This year I jumped the gun and planted my garden in mid-May, had a close call with cold temperatures one night, but otherwise all is good! Anyway, after years and years of gardening with mediocre results, this year I changed out the whole garden. New raised boxes, fresh growing medium. I started my tomato seeds indoors in early April, planted very cute plantlets. I have never pruned my tomatoes, thinking more plant, more fruit. Every year I had leaf wilt, not too many tomatoes. So after perusal your articles, I am being relentless with pruning. Suckers and lower leaves are being removed weekly, and I have the most beautiful tomato crop I have ever grown! The plants are all healthy, fruit is being set and I should be enjoying my first tomatoes in two weeks! No sign of blight or any other disease! I am very thankful.
I just watched your article and went out and pruned my tomato plants for the very first time. I’m a first year gardener and was just letting them run completely wild, but several were not doing so well and when I read up that not pruning could cause bad things, I looked up our article to find out how to do it. Thanks for the helpful info!
I just love the morning rutine, few silent minutts before kids get up. Look over our plants, water if needed and take away some weeds. Its therapy tbh. Im testing iout different stuff, from raised beds, buckets, trying to make new trees, and now also hydroponics. All for learning. As a family we love to watch it grow and looking forward to start planning next season. Because next year we will have a plan behind it all and start much earlier. PS forgot to mention, i just love the website, its what got me started in the first place
I’m a first time gardener this year and I also live in San Diego!! I knew that tomato plants needed to be pruned and I’ve watched a few other articles on that but was still confused about what exactly I’m supposed to prune so I’ve just kind of left my tom plants alone. But I know they need a little bit of pruning now so thanks to you I think I understand so much better than before. I love all of my plants so much and want to take the best care I can for them to really thrive. Thanks for being to the point in your vid and very clear! I appreciate that so much!!
It would be great to do a follow-up article where you have two plants each, of both determinate and indeterminate varieties, that had been treated the same way, to show the difference between the benefits of pruning vs non-pruning. This article was done in March, perhaps next season you could do a season follow-through article to show pruning throughout the season.
Love your voice and well-thought-out articles. Here’s the saying I live by, “if it’s furry, you can bury (the stem)” and that holds for any stem that is furry. Furry stems grow roots. Edited to add that after adding a bit of bone meal and worm castings to the hole, I will also plant tomatoes horizontally up to the first set of leaves for a much stronger root system. Once it’s grown, I prune the bottom foot of leaves/stems and underplant. I also always plant basil, onions, petunias, and borage with my tomatoes to ward off hornworms and other pests.
Hey there, could you please do another tomato article focusing on what the leafs/leaves are trying to tell us for example: turning yellow, curling down or up, getting spots……you know like deficiencies or diseases. I recently just found your website and really appreciate the content and information and also want to say your articles are extremely therapeutic! Thanks again
I’ve been growing tomatoes for several years now and I’ve finally decided that pruning them may be benificial. I’ve watched several articles now and learned the most from this one. Last year my one plant became a little unruly. It got over 6 feet tall and produced just over 3000 cherry tomatoes. My beefsteak plant was very similar. Got to around 5 feet tall and produced around 90 tomatoes. Is this a normal yield ? I literally did nothing other than build a lattice structure with some bamboo to support the plant.
Hey Kevin, You know, I wasn’t even into gardening before I watched one of your articles a couple weeks ago, and after seeing your passion and enthusiasm together with your fantastic clear teaching style – all delivered in your beautiful calm, confident, reassuring energy – you got me hooked and I’m now starting to grow veggies from seed for the first time in my life! Thank you so much for sharing your passion with the world ^_^
I got on the farmers almanac website and learned a lot about planting seasons. I’m slightly new to gardening. My grandparents did it, but my mom was a neglectful gardener, so I gotta learn from ground up. I’ve managed a few plants in my apartment, especially a beautiful indeterminate cherry tomato I barely got to harvest before I started getting too sick to care for it. It gave me hope to try again, and pruning was one of my biggest concerns! I might try a determinate and indeterminate and see which I like to care for better. I tend to prefer simpler care, but my indeterminate did so well it was worth it! I really want to grow ancho chilies for drying as I use them in a homemade taco mix I adore! I’m also looking to grow heirloom tomatoes, as I want to make sure I can save seeds for future use. I hope this year we can do well, as I got a new dehydrator that I want to try out! I love to make ‘hamburger helper’ packs and having a wider range of veggies than I can buy in store will be great!
I’ve been growing tomatoes for about 15 years, and learn something new every year. I grow about 10-12 at once, in 15 gallon pots. This year, I let two over-winter (So CA) and they’ve been producing flowers and just beginning to fruit. Question: are overwintered tomatoes better tasting, stronger/stable plants? If not, then I would just start fresh with new soil and new plants. Thanks, btw. The pruning article is great.
What a Cool 😎 Tomato Cage! You’re bringing gardening to the next level of fabulous. I’m so glad you bought Botanical Interests. Your vibe is bringing B.I. luck because I’ve had better germination rate this last year. So thank you for all that you do in this space. Growing our own food is the upmost important skill we can refine, especially in 2023 and beyond. SHTF a long time ago, we’re just realizing it now. I have heard mother earth calling me back to her and the basics, as well as forming a relationship with plants (they are conscious energies and matter just like us). Plants are life!
Thank you for this article! I’ve been growing a couple indeterminate tomato plants in my garden here in Wisconsin for the past few years and I’ve been wondering how to prune them properly! I’ve just been letting them grow unchecked next to the stairway to our deck and they eventually take over the stairway! Now I know for next year how to properly prune them so they don’t get out of hand! Thank you!
we have a 4×4 raised bed for out tomatoes, it is about 16 inches deep, the last 4 years we have gotten amazing results by pretty much leaving them alone, we use SEVIN 7 and miracle gro raised garden bed soil as well as miracle gro feeding once week. The plants generally grow to about 6-7 feet with tremendous yeilds, san marzano, roma, and cherries
Kevin, this was SO. GOOD. I’m a new gardener, but I’ve been a subscriber of yours for a loooong time. I remember your patio tomatoes! Anyway, I’ve learned a ton from you and your in-depth tomato articles are helping me SO much right now in my garden. I just “went for it” with my husband 🤦🏻♀ It’s been fun and a bit frustrating at times, but always so rewarding. We have way too many tomato plants along our trellis…I thought it would barely grow. Now I know I can take some suckers off my suffering tomato plants and put them somewhere else! Thank you!!
Please do a part 2 where you go more in depth on various pruning strategies. Single leader, double leader, etc. I’d like to hear the pros and cons and reasoning behind each strategy. I did single in all my plants last year and my harvest was meh. So I’m going bushier this time around but I dont know WHY. Just trying something different. Thanks.
Super useful and clear instructions. I needed a refresher on how to prune both types of tomato, and this was even more informative and helpful than what I was taught initially. Feels like I understand it so much better now, so am unlikely to forget again. Also, had NO idea the trimmed out suckers were actually viable. All these years I’ve wasted perfectly good sports…never again! Thanks so much for producing this article.
I leave and encourage what you call suckers, prune a lot of feeder leaves initially. This produces a lot of blooms. When my plants reach about 5′, I start topping. I tie them up along the way. I end up with so many tomatoes that I can give my neighbors plastic grocery bags full and still have more than we can put up for winter. All from 12 plants, 3 varieties. Also, I only prune later in the evening and water just before dark. I use 1tbls of Miracle grow to 1gal of water in a watering can applying 10 seconds to the base of the plant once a week til 1/2 to 3/4 of the season. During times of no rain I water early morning and late evening.
So incredibly helpful, thank you. Never pruned before, plants did ok but never had high yield. This year the plants did well but turned into giant bushes. I went through and trimmed off ALL the extra Mains since they were trying to go so wide instead of tall. It was a bit aggressive I think but I wanted to get them back on the right track. Its been about 1 week and all 4 plants are doing well and they have all started producing a TON of tomatoes! thank you!
Thank you! I desperately needed that info. For years I’ve been cutting off the sun leaves because they always look so manky. Also… just an FYI… not Medusa. Perseus cut her head off and she died. The Hydra is the monster you are thinking of… from the 12 labors of Heracles; cut one head off and two quickly grow to replace it.
This new info is really helpful….thanks…I have 8 tomato plants that I brought in for the winter, in northern Alberta, and it has provided me with a multitude fruits since…about 2.5 to 3 inch in diameter. It was super nice to be able to pick 4 ripe tomatoes on Christmas morning .Those 8 plants are from another single plant that I also salvaged from frost the winter before that…and from which I saved a few seeds from the fruits that it provided me with . I take care of the dead leaves on a regular basis, and it is still flowering in a steady manner. Luckily for me, my house faces south and there are 4 big windows that lets in the sun for about 5 hours during the winter days. …Looking forward to save those suckers from now on.
I never thought about topping off my indeterminates near the end of the season! Makes so much sense. We start getting freezing night temps in October (Fargo) and then I feel like my counters are covered in TONS of green fruit to ripen. Going to top of at the end of September to get those last tomatoes ripened.
Great article! I grow early girl indeterminates and they want to grow to the sky so to encourage more growth as the plants climb upward by letting more than 4 main branches go and start topping early to slow the height down a little. I end up with a nice semi bushy plant that still grows 10′ or more and produces tons of medium size tomatoes. I’m in zone 6 BTW.
Just remember…all of the minerals the tomato plant needs to make fruit (except what you add by foliar feeding) have to come from the soil through that single stem. So if you want more fruit, you need more plants, not bushier plants. So trim off that sucker and plant it, where it will actually accomplish something. Let your indeterminate tomatoes grow as a single vine, continually trimming off lower leaves. When it gets long (tall), just tie it and let it start hanging down. At a certain point, you can even have it turn up for a second upwards growth section if your season is long enough. This whole time you should have what is essentially a small area of leaf and fruit connected to the soil via a long, leafless vine.
6:06 – 6:16 is the best advice you could ever give anyone and meee!!! I was looking for the article I saved that someone said about the flower and pruning but I couldn’t remember the rule of thumb thank you thank you thank you!!!! I would love to send you pics of my potted tomato plants 🌱 they are flourishing! 😍😍😍😍
Great website to learn about home gardening. I live in the middle of Sweden and grow tomatoes both outdoors and in a greenhouse. Our tomato season is very short, between June and September. It would be nice to know from all who’s write the comments which climate/season your in. It is easier to use your advices then. 👍🙂
Thanks so much for this awesome lesson! I’ve got about 10 heirloom varieties, from dwarf indet. Firebirds to blue Romas, a plant called Gargamel 😆 and some orange cherries. That thing was so unruly last year, but as you mentioned, they can produce well into the autumn season. This thing gave fruit until November, and I live in Michigan!
I am in zone 10b (in San Francisco) and you are the BEST resource I have found for our specific zone anywhere on the internet! This article inspired me to overwinter my tomatoes last year. I had mixed results…they all lived, and 1 even held onto a piece of green fruit from september until it ripened in the spring! But, in the spring we had a couple nights in the mid 30s, they did all die back quite a bit, and have been slow to regrow. They’ve had a big head start on my tomatoes I started from seed – but waaay behind the 2 plants I bought. This winter I plan to take a little more care and maybe move them inside some kind of row cover/improvised greenhouse to insulate them from low temps a bit better!
Here in Santa Cruz, Ca. We thought we had lost our tomatoes after that long heat wave in August. We waited and watched for any new growth. When we saw the plants trying to make a come back we pruned off all the dead from the heat and we have picked twenty five pounds of tomatoes from 35 plants so far. They are still blooming and growing. Thanks for the tips. Do you disinfect your pruners between plants? And if so what do you use?
This was very helpful to me, thank you. I’m going from “Keep Allllllll the Suckers” on my San Medusa, er, San Marzano tomato plants (Florida weave means I can keep them ALL, right? Right?) to having a sense of what to trim and why. (I had taken your Prune all leaves touching soil advice before) I have no regrets about my Medusa plant because as a first time tomato grower, I needed to see the structure of leaf and branch to even understand what to do. At this kerjillion sucker and flowers and sun-leaf state, I almost need to see the whole thing in wildness to begin to understand where to prune. Okay, so from now on I’m perusal for and snipping (most? all?) of the new suckers. It’s part of my “no regrets, it’s a learning experience” part of this gardening process. Today I got a lot of inner tangle big leaves, shaded leaves, extra suckers, and now each of my (many, haven’t counted) lines of tomato stems feel easier to position in the Florida Weave. (Do they ever love the constant moisture from Olla irrigation, too!)
This explains why my kids’ Nana struggled w her tomato plants last summer. Her fruit almost 100% of the time had this thick, brown line through it (reminded me of the Pepsi symbol) and if they weren’t like that, they were diseased. She had no problem w all the lush, green foliage and the plant was taller than me (I’m 5’6). The summer before when she first planted her tomato, she yielded large, sweet and super beautiful tomato in great abundance. She thought this year she will either move her garden or build a greenhouse but looking back as I have pics and articles, there was no pruning so not enough energy went to the fruit itself due to TONS of suckers on top of suckers! Side note…she also planted mint relatively close to her tomaters and that herb spread like a darn disease overtaking her garden. She probably should’ve planted her mint, oregano, and parsley in either a container or raised bed. While I’m on this subject, can you perhaps cover a topic in gardening about plants that root faster than others and may hinder the growth of plants such as the mint infiltrating Nana’s garden? And your solution(s)? I haven’t been able to find much info on that. Thanks!
TOTALLY HELPFUL! I am on my second year of container tomatoes and did really well with an indeterminate one that got to be 8 ft tall (not joking!) last year, and am on my way to another that big.Your pruning tips will really help – I’m going out there now (mosquitoes be damned!) and do a little cleanup. Unfortunately we are in zone 5B so … I don’t think the suckers will be able to produce much as it’s now end of July! Thank you for your articles! 🙂
Thanks for the article! Your articles made me feel educated enought to get an indeterminate cherry tomato plant! I was gonna get a sungold like you had but the local plant sale didn’t have any, so I went with a sweet 100. I’m going over your articles (and others) and taking notes, tho I had the misfortune to plant just before my area got two days of rain so now I’m keeping a close eye to make sure it isnt overwatered but the pot its in is pretty big…almost ridiculously so but I’m hoping my sweet girl will grow into it. Also not to be a myth nerd, but I’m pretty sure its a hydra with the “cut one head off…” thing.
Thank you for this great article. I’ve watched for the last couple of growing seasons to remind me how to care for our tomatoes. Unfortunately, a bunch of our plants were prematurely topped off by deer a couple of weeks after planting. Most of them were indeterminate so we’ll see what, if anything, grows.
Until now, I only knew to prune suckers that were sprouting right out of sunleaves. My beefsteak plants got HUGE and kept toppling over – the tomato cages and stakes I used were no match for them. When clearing them out at the end of the season, we found not only dozens of tomatoes hidden in the thick foliage but one was covered in fungus at the very base! They also crowded out most of the interplanted herbs. Very glad I know how to control them now, can’t wait to try it!
Zone 4, NB Canada here. I swear all my seedlings don’t believe me anymore when I tell them about the sun and sky and rain. I promise them I’ll take them outside someday so they can enjoy fresh air and become friends with the bees. However, Mother Nature is being an unrighteous b!tc# this ‘spring’. It’s too cold, snowy and windy even for a short visit to the deck. My seedlings are all like “Right……. yeah, sure lady, outside…..pffft…… She’s nuts, there’s no such thing.” *sob* I’m raising dysfunctional plant children with trust issues.
ok wow this is a real game-changer for me. I always knew about pruning suckers, but nothing I have watched before EXPLAINED WHAT A SUCKER IS! I was just chopping everything off all willy nilly and not understanding the difference. Last year, I mostly just gave up and didn’t prune much. Looking forward to applying this!!!
I will generally twin my indeterminates so there is the main stem and one other. Oftentimes, I will give the plant some time after transplanting it out to just let it do what it will do and I will find it with a natural fork at the top, providing two main stems. I will simply remove all of the suckers and let the two grow out, coming back to prune the suckers every so often. I did some record keeping one year, with some Ultra Girls, to compare yield between a single stemmed and a twinned plant. What I found was that the doubled plants produced just a little over 8% more than singles. One would think that twinning is the way to go, then. However, the fruit on a twinned plant tends to come over a shorter period of time, at the end of the season, while the single plant starts giving ripened fruit two weeks ahead of the twinned plant. So, if you are going to do some canning, twinning the plant is definitely the way to go, but if it is mainly for fresh eating, or fresh plus canning, then a single stem may be a more desirable method of pruning.
Well I know this was posted a year ago but this is my first year doing tomatoes. Thanks for this very informative article but I have some questions! I’m great at growing plants but not so much knowledge on growing fruits and veggies, didn’t know I had to prune. I have 3 different kinds they are all getting very large and unruly and I might be a little late on the pruning but I’m going to try. If I propagate any can I grow indoors? I’m in Colorado and definitely don’t have an extra growing season here! Also am I going to hurt them pruning them after they already have a lot of fruit? Hopefully someone has some answers!
Washington state, North Puget sound, zone 7 I believe. Was able to grow tomatoes into Oct & early Nov in brick bed against house. Though I don’t heat house till I have to. We just dress a bit warmer. I never pruned mine, except damaged, old etc! Had more produce off 1 of 2 plants than I knew what to do with. 3 was too many, though I love the smell of the plants release as you even move around them! So they are a pleasant garden addition, even if you don’t eat, or eat many!
Note that tomatoes are extremely vunrable to viruses so never use non-sterilized cutters on the plants. If you have plenty of plants you can use your hands and just snap the suckers off as long as the plant is watered enough (if it doesn’t snap off with a sound it means it hasn’t gotten enough water and then you are likely to break plants when you try to snap off the suckers).
So, I usually start my tomatoes from seed, and they are grown under lights, and then on a west-facing windowsill when they are too tall before it is warm enough to get them outside (Canada). Something that I found helps me, is if they get way too tall and leggy weeks before they got outside, I will chop of the top (and clone it) and just let the plant grow some suckers. I usually get enough fruit for my purposes, but am I actually hindering their growth by doing this?
Man, we here in Illinois use cattle panel tomato cages. Yours looks so fancy. Indeterminates for us, but last year we grew 2 determinates and probably got over 200 tomatoes from those. We also 2 years ago lost all our larger tomatoes to blights by early July. So last year I bought larger tomatoes with blight resistance and we also used ultra mulch (red plastic sheeting) under all the tomatoes and we had great results. Usually after fruiting we quit watering them. Their feet go down to the clay layer and drink it up. We sometimes get 3 inch roots under there.
Great article. I carry my indeterminate tomatoes over into the second year and pull them out when the newly planted tomatoes start producing for that year. I also cut them way back to about 2 feet off the ground one stalk every 2 weeks and this encourages new growth to start around the bottom of the plant. Theatrically I could just keep doing this until they die naturally but I’ve noticed that fruit production drops the second year.
Great info! Thanks! Last year my husband didn’t want me to prune our tomatoes, and we ended up with a Tomato Jungle. They actually produced wonderfully, but it was so difficult to harvest! The plants were well over 6 feet tall and all tangled in on one another! Now I can show him this article and hopefully help change his mind about pruning.
I need a tomato plant intervention, I was so proud how big and lush my plants were growing, then suddenly my back porch started to look like a jungle and I couldn’t water them enough. I also had some of my medium tomatoes with rot on the bottom. I read up and realized I needed more calcium and less branches! I just went to town pruning them and added milk and tums to the water. I pray this helps!
Thanks for the info, definitely learned something today . I take a couple of the last fruits and smash them into the same soil in the container and cover a little soil over it . In a couple or so little sprouts come up and the strongest get a little pot of their own . I don’t follow many basic things you should do because I just don’t make the time to set up a greenhouse and all that entails . Right now I have 50 or so little sprouts and I have one leftover from this winter and it has given us 2 small tomatoes . Going to keep this up and take better care of them one of these seasons .
Omg I definitely didn’t understand. I let about 4 sweet cherrys go wild and then later in the season I realized the fruit wasn’t doing well so then decided to prune. Big mistake! I also didn’t realize the difference between sun leaf and suckers. Thank you! Looking forward to this growing season in New England!
It is May 29,2022. I too have been doing research all winter, here in Illinois. In March we tilled up a garden space, twice as big as last year. Chopped up unused vegetables scraps,eggshells, and banana peeling. Saved coffee grounds. Our garden (in town),is 9 foot by 30 foot. Right down the center, I made a 2 foot gully. I took 3 – 5gallon buckets and divided my savings and filled up the rest of the way with collected rain water. I took my hoe and slushed it around,and dipped my pan into the bucket and kept my solution in the center. As spring snuck up on us, I sprinkled rock phosphorus down the center. Winter held on till the end of April, and I had to cover my babies. I planted my tomatoes deep. As they grew,I pressed more dirt around the bottom of the stem,and snipped off the lower limbs, like you said. I’m 5’10”, and my tomatoe plants are even with my hips. I sure would like some advice on how to keep those maple tree seeds,(whorrly bird seeds), out of my garden. I don’t have no trees in my yard !!! Sorry this is so long, but I love to talk gardening, as you do too!!! I visit my garden several times a day. I say my prayers in the mornings. But I face my gardens door now, cause my husband came out, when I was deep in prayer, and scared me like crazy the other day ! Bless you and all that you do for others with your advice. One more advice from me…. Don’t tell God about your problems, Tell your problems how strong your God is!!
UGH KEVIN! Here I am trying to not buy things online for at least a week. Cause in the past month I’ve bought: heat mat, plant stands, collapsible watering can, seeds, plants pots plus a few non gardening stuff. Then here Kevin goes showing me a cool looking tomato trellis…..and I just transplanted two volunteer tomato into a grow bag. Where’s my wallet? 💳💳💳🍅🌱😂
Started growing multiple vegetables, and did not really have interest in tomatoes. But there was some cheap plants that looked sorry for them selves in the garden centre so thought why not . Well they have quickly become my favourite plant. And the cherry tomatoes are everywhere on the plant!!!! Its stating to look a bit crazy so will do some pruning in the morning. Thank you for the help
I don’t completely get the difference between determined and indetermined tomatoes yet, but I think last year I had a voluntary indetermined tomato plant in my little community patch. I did no pruning at all, it grew all over the ground because I hadn’t been there to help lift it off. It gave me three to four kilo’s of nice round tomatoes in about two harvesting sessions. Some of the later ones, closer to early/mid fall had rough/brown spots on them from where they’d been laying down in the mud, but they all still tasted delicous. Not to say I’d let one do it’s own thing all over again (we were remodelling our bathroom all on our own in just a few weeks, so I had nog time to go to my patch between not living at home, the reno and taking care of my kids and husband), but it was an interesting experiment.
Won Burbee Seed Co. contest for most yield in smallest area. Tomatoes are night shade plants. They like to grow together and wrap their roots together & they support each other. So my tip is to grow 3 plants together then another 3 plants 3 feet apart then another forming a triangle on an elevated peat moss bed. Put a bucket in the center of the plants for early support. Let the shooters find each other. Monitor & trim for disease only. Never trim any sucker off for they connect with other suckers for support which is why u never have to stake them. Couple other tricks my grandfather taught me like getting more flowers and soil type and soil conditioner. Have fun. And Jersey Boy tomatoes are the best!
I have been gardening on my own for 3 years now, and last year I had a ton of tomatoes and no clue what I was actually doing with them. This year I tried to do less. And actually found a article on pruning. I went out in the rain to prune because I didn’t know and don’t want the same problem as last year! I want to learn and figure out the best way for me to handle a garden
Yup, I’ve never done it before but was trying out some Det Roma’s and Early girl Bush. The Bush is still producing well as of 12/7/21. Roma’s said they were determinate but grew like an indeterminate in the outdoor hydroponic system (NOTED for next spring Dutch buckets!) I even just pruned my roma’s for clones I will be trying over the complete winter. Zone 10A or 9b – Southern CaA
Thank you.. You’ve just described what I’ve already been doing in my tomato plots.. and both my determinate and indeterminate varieties have produced some monster slicers.. To the noob, I’d reiterate your point on inspecting the plants.. Be vigilant in identifying sucker growth.. Pinching early solves a lot of ‘would-be’ problems before they have an adverse effect on the plant
Kevin, aside from the valuable and informative article you shared, where did you get the wood crate and what size grow bag are you using inside it? I plant 9 tomato seeds and surprisingly they all sprouted! For the first time I tried the outdoor winterizing water jug method with 3 seeds each jug and it worked. Semi-determinate “patio” type tomatoes.. I have very very low expectations of having tomatoes but trying anyway. Love grow bag gardening but have only planted pollinater flowers so this is the first time with tomatoes. Bought several Botanical Interest seed packs at local nursery and can’t wait to plant them. Thanks for all you do and it’s great to see your success and helping so many of us in the process.
Thank you for the pruning tips. The tips were very helpful. Last year I pruned but not nearly enough. I had a tomato plant that was like the Venus fly trap on the”Rocky Horror Picture Show. It was only 2to3inches when I purchased it at a discount store. I put it in a wooden 4 foot high bed. By the end of summer ( In Ohio) I had aphids ( I bought those tacky aphid sheets and took yellow construction paper with contact paper over it and Vaseline on top) Nothing got rid of then. The plant was so huge it took down my tomato cage . I then staked it and put ties all around . That didn’t help. I had to climb up a ladder to trim. I should not complain because it produced enough tomato’s for the entire neighborhood. But I couldn’t stand the little aphids while trying to pick the tomatoes. I couldn’t get rid of them. This year after perusal your pruning article, I don’t think I will have that problem. Thank you again. But I would like to know where you got your tomato cages? They look very sturdy. Thank you again for the article and sharing you knowledge.
Had a dream I was gonna growing tomatoes from a pot cause it’s not a great idea to grow it in the dirt where I currently live. Opened YT and here was your dragon fruit short, clicked on ur page and saw this vid I’m now subscribed. Every year I say I’m gonna start my garden, and every year I find a reason not too. But it will happen this year.
I Started a garden doing organic soil with some old grass clippings leafs And growing tomatoes broccoli and spinach. I also bought a beef steak tomato plant Should I put it directly in the ground or in a pot? I’m in hot climate and I have seedlings grown 5 or so inches tall already in a raised bed. Will they survive I planted them late Spring? So far so good but… what do ya think??
I have a lot of unproductive workers in my garden 😂 I can’t thank u enough for the article!! My dad is coming over this weekend and I want him to be proud of my vegetables since his the one that got me into growing all kinds of vegetables.. But I never understood how to trim my tomatoes and thanks to u I finally got it 😊 tomorrow it’s pruning day and getting rid of all the suckers 😂 Ur article was awesome not only very educational but funny and we can all use a laugh and smiles while we learn to improve ourselves.. Subscribed
Hey, loving the vid, just need to clear up some minor confusion; in Greek Mythology, it was the Hydra that regrew heads (made famous in Disney’s Hercules), while Medusa was a creature called a Gorgon, that had snakes for hair and would turn you to stone if you looked into its eyes. Having cleared that up, I’m now going to go prune my San Marzano!
Thanks a lot for the great article! I will prune my tomatoes accordingly. However, I’m confounded about what you said about air circulation. You mentioned first that air flow is good for tomatoes but at 2:07 you said tomatoes “thrive in places without a lot of air circulation”. So do tomato plants need air circulation or not? Thanks.
Love this article – thank you so much! We have an indeterminate plant, and it’s growing like crazy! Even after pulling all the suckers off. It’s about 3 months old and producing some fruit. It’s gotten so high it is almost to the top of the support – but only just starting to produce fruit. What can we do to keep it from growing too high? Thanks,
Eric, That was a great tip on Walter Anderson for my tomatillos. thanks; Now my next big decission is how to suppor them. I’ve heard the Tomatillos are bushier than Tomatoes so a CAGE works best? I have 3 large beds in ground. 8 tomatillos in one and it is up against a chain link fence. Same with my tomatoes. I am debating doing Cattle Fence Cages or staking. I have a bunch of free bamboo but they are huge. Like 2-3; diameter. My thought was to tie them to the chain link fence and then the front row to stake them from the outside. If given the choice would you cage – stake or trellis? I have access to a ton of bamboo and was thinking of making big tripod cages from that?
I wish I had found this article when I gave tomatoes a try on a whim years ago. I was really just winging it but it bore fruits and I fell in love with them, it ruined grocery store tomatoes for me! That being said, I guess it was indeterminate, they were going WILD (on my rather limited space) and I didn’t know where one started and the next began. I got pretty sick for a bit and didn’t tend to them quite the same during that time and when they died off I thought that was the reason. Recently I heard they apparently just die off after giving fruits a few times. But also, I live in Puerto Rico. It’s forever summer here so I don’t know if they really ARE supposed to die…? Ahhh either way, I really want to go at it again and I am extremely glad I found this article!
Thanks for the education, I grew up on a dairy and did horticulture in 4H and FFA but that was many many moons ago ( to many to count..lol ) and don’t ever remember doing this .. but makes a lot of sence ..you trim the suckers off fruit trees because they steal all the nutrition from the fruit …my dilemma is I am only getting 2 to 3 tomatoes per plant😞 great organic soil and fertilizer ..plenty of sun, bees and butterflies for pollinators🤔🤷
I have 3 tomato plants pots, in my carport in San Marcos CA, that have been giving me fruit for 3 years. The last fruit of 2021 was picked in Jan 2022. They are full of fruit, doing beautifully, thanks to the heat we have had recently. I have never top pruned because I love those tomatoes. I prune them when I remove the last one, and they just seem to grow overnight.
thumbs ups this one… really needed to know what im doing when slimming down my tomatoes. this is the stuff grandma didn’t get to pass on to me lol.. she is the soul reason why gardening became the biggest portion of my summer 🙂 i ‘ve been over looking them sun suckers on the bottom that end up just getting dirt washed up onto them or just grow so low that they always just look bad, knowing the whole time that it probably isn’t doing anything good for the plant what so ever lol..im not over looking them for now on though….I WANT tomatoes that my granny used to grow. gosh they were frikn amazing. huge. like 8 inches wide. probably 3 pounders. insane. most of the time they shaped into an out of shape obese tomato. but allways were insane yummy…and omg…a toasted mayo and tomaoto sandwich…WE COULDN’T STOP EATING THEM ..lol thanks for the tips bud. awesome and they will be used!!
Right now I have 27 indeterminate tomatoes in a really small space. Each one has 1 squarefoot of space. Single stem. It is absolutely insane how many amazing tomatoes you can get in such as small space. I fertilize relatively heavily. With organic stuff as I tru to build muy soil. If I was to use my entire backyard or part of my front lawn I could easily have an organic farm. It is nuts what we can do when we understand plants, soil health, etc…
I “Overwintered” my indeterminant heirloom tomatoes here in the Inland Empire, pretty much the same grow zone as you. I don’t prune, just trim off the bottom foliage as it dies off. They produced all winter and got around 12 feet tall until I trimmed them down in early Spring to about 3 feet. In the last 2 months they’ve grown to over 10 feet tall and are producing like crazy right now. They’re in 10-gallon fabric containers and are loving it. Just started indeterminant cherry, sun sugar and green zebras this year and expecting the same from them. And why do they call them suckers? All I see is a completely self-sufficient branch that is producing its own energy and extra bud sites. Anyway, I love growing tomatoes.
Thank you for a great article! Always pull what I need.. however I do live in a cold climate..zone 3b in the Canadian Rockies.. very short growing season.. most of my tomatoes come off the vine green & I make green tomato canning recipes! Cause… I don’t know what I’d do with 150 tomatoes all ripening at once! lol I will tell u what IS easier to grow up here tho.. rhubarb! omg it not only pokes thru the snow.. but I started with 3 plants and now have 6 and another popping up in another part of the garden! I keep digging it up and giving pieces away and they just keep coming back!
I’m amazed. I have been leaving all suckered and cutting off all big sun leaves for years. Last year many plants made20 or more really nice large tomatoes. I will try this technique on half my ants this year and compare. I live on the river bottom and have very fertile black soil. Cut the tops off after they pass 5 feet tall.
what type of tomotoe plant do i have? i just took off the only 2 stems at the bottom that was at a 90-degree angle and every other stem is at 45 degrees. This is my first time growing so i don’t know what i am doing. This article is the first i have looked at. I am new to gerdening/farming. I just purchased a piece of land to grow fruit and veg on here in England, we call it an allotment. Can you explain the different kinds of tomotoe plants that exist?
I’m not clear on the difference between a sucker and a sun gathering leaf. Suckers are loaded with leaves and seem like they would be good for providing nutrition to the main stem. So how do you tell the difference between a leaf needed for sunshine and a sucker that’s also gathering sunshine? Also, where did you get that tomato plant wire frame? That is very cool and sturdy, better than the wimpy things you get at Home Depot.
Oh wow! Where were you at the beginning of the growing season? 😩 This is my first tomato & I’ve been so thrilled because I have a bit better than a four foot plant & ONE tomato. Yep, my first & only!! I have another variety with two tiny green ones 👏🏻 My growing season is fully underway by April so by June… wha, wha, wha! Better luck next time 🙏🏻
Thank you for this outstanding informative article! I’m growing potted cherry tomatoes in Hawaii and have limited space since I recently moved to the second floor of a Condo building. Some of the main stalks are getting too tall for the space. Can I top them off and let suckers that are growing further down the stalk take their place without negatively affecting the plant?
First time perusal and learned a lot and as a newbie and currently having trouble with my tomatoes. I’m in Zone 8a, 30 miles from 7b and it is hot, hot, hot this year. I’ve placed a canopy that takes away UV rays but allows sunshine and rain over my plants and trimmed off suckers, but I’ve only gotten maybe two flowers from four different pots. No production at all. The past two years I’ve had lots of tomatoes (Amish or salad tomatoes). Can’t find disease and they’re about 3′-4′ tall planted in 20″ pots. Help, please, if you have any suggestions.
I much prefer using 8’ half inch galvanized electrical conduit for staking. I tie the plants to the conduit with nylon craft loops that I cut. The tomato cage you show is much too short for indeterminate tomatoes. I top mine at around 7’ high which results in much better control of the height of the plant.
I do have one question. Have you ever had problems with leaf miners? I’ve lived in central Florida, gulf side for 11 years now and EVERY year I have them. Admittedly, I’m a glutton to get a great tomato, being from WI. And every year I not only get the leaf miners but also a few other pests or diseases. My main focus again this year is the leaf miner. Any suggestions?
I live in northern Colorado. It’s extremely dry there with barely any humidity. The types of diseases cherry tomatoes can get are usually from getting too much water. So would even have to worry about that? It seems rather hard to accidentally over water in Colorado. Even though it rains and snows in Colorado there’s still not any humidity and the soil will dry the next day
I’ve got an “I need help” question. We had a severe heat wave in Oregon and Washington a little over a week ago. My area had 5 consecutive days over 102 and two days over 110. I have 4 tomato plants, 1 of them seemed to weather the heat pretty well, the other 3 lost all their blossoms, they just burned up and crisped. I have asked multiple veggie people what to do and have not received any advice other than my first inclination which is to prune everything back. I’m hoping I did the right thing.
When thinking of determinate v. indeterminate…usually mostly “determinate” tomatoes are those like Roma….a “sauce” tomato. When you know this, it makes sense why spaghetti or marinara sauce was born. People who had those determinate plants where they would have bucket loads of tomatoes at a time, they had to figure out how to make them useful, and sauce was born. ; )
You are really good due. You are everyman. Have a freindly, authoritative, passive way. All the best of progressive liberalism. And yet, you have the conservatism of a farmer. Very special position to inhabit and well done! You have had very good teachers I think – I think you speak about them in earlier articles. Love it all my friend!
my plant was blown over by the wind breaking the main stem low on the plant,i guess i didnt anchor it well enough, but the plant is growing however some leaves a good 40% say are dark green and shriveled, the plant does have flowers and is creating small tomatoes, i have not seen grow for days now. the question is should i cut those off to help the plant, should i groom it or what should i do?
Think I got a Cherry Tomato that’s been alive for nearly two years now just from a seed I threw in a pot with a Bird of Paradise flower thats over my head height had to cut it as was going up to the ceiling. I even cut one of the stems down and it’s almost coppice like. Seems like it’s indeterminate. But its been producing fruit since just after Christmas in a garage next to a south facing glass door. Never seen anything like it.