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Sun, Apr 26, 09 at 12:11
| Can I take the suckers off between by large branches on my brandywine tomatoe? What about removing the lower branches will that help set more fruit? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by watermelon7 9 - 10 (My Page) on Sun, Apr 26, 09 at 22:00
| If you do cut any off, are you able to trade with me for the cuttings? email me |
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| I asked a similar question awhile back on tomato forum. The responses I got were: typically some pruning may give you larger fruit, don't prune if you have the room for the plant to get bushy and increase your chances for fruiting. Also in the heat of the south, I was told that less pruning will make the foliage thicker and help prevent sun damage to the fruit. As far as lower branches go, cutting lower branches helps with air flow and someone on here told me that the branches below the first flowers typically die off anyway. That was the advice I was given. I hope it helps. I have 3 Brandywines this year. I pruned lower branches that were sitting on the ground and some of the lower suckers to aid in airflow. I will leave the other suckers alone in hopes that they will give some fruit. I'll leave the rest for foliage cover from the intense heat/sun. From what I understand, Brandwines may not be very prolific producers so I'm not going to prune too much and reduce my chances of fruit setting. The more flower clusters, the better chance of tomatoes. |
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- Posted by spiced_ham z5 NY (My Page) on Sat, May 9, 09 at 8:39
| More plant = more flowers = more fruit. Pruning will lower the over all number of fruit from a plant, but can very slightly increase fruit size [up to 10% larger in some but not all of the varieties used in that study]. |
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| Hi, This is my first year growing Brandywines and the plant is HUGE and outgrowing its cage...my husband keeps telling me to prune it but I also read it doesn't produce excessively so am resisting...from the various forums it seems best to thin it a bit so all the leaves get light and air, is that right? What % should I remove? I love the plant and don't want to hurt it! Thanks. |
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| i have grown them for yrs / i only prun the lower banches that touch the ground / they are big plants try a woodys folding cage to let them grow up on |
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