brownli - If you're not wanting to pull every-other plant from the garden ( and I would ), then I suggest doing what snibb does with his. I'm sure you've seen his pictures...

EG

Fine Gardening Magazine has an excellent video online on how to prune tomatoes. I've put a link below. If you have them one per square foot, you will definitely need to prune them unless you plan to let them take over the surrounding areas of the garden.

Sandy

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato pruning video

I too watched the videos, got scared, pruned anyway and everything turned out ok.

That said, the more I think about it, I plant 2 tomatoes in less than 2 SF in my 18 gallon SWCs. Of course I let them take over to a degree, but my pruning is just to let light in and clear suckers. Then again, I have a "wall-o-green" mid summer along my trellis.

Good luck and enjoy.

gardener sandy - thanks for that video link - this really shows close up what/how to prune - other videos I'd found were certainly not that clear. Wow some of those suckers were pretty big - he(in the video) just snapped them off - do you recommend this or really should I use some type of pruning tool?

sinfonian - I do have these 2 toms sharing (if all goes well) a trellis with cucumbers - so it sounds like I'll really need to prune to prevent takeover.

I guess my remaining question/concern is that each plant has 2 strong (seemingly) main stems - it's how I bought them and how I planted them not knowing otherwise - so 2 stems are coming up from the ground on each of my two plants. Do I need to cut one off?

EG - ok, maybe one day if I can figure out what grows in my garden or not...I can have a tom garden like snibbs - I saw a pic of one of snibb's tom plants - is it really as tall as the house - can they grow that tall/long? I have alot to learn!

Oh and to add to my many questions - still unclear to me - is the timing of pruning - do you prune from day one so to speak or do you let the plant grow to a certain height or wait for it to begin flowering?...yes ignorance abounds...

I have never pruned a Tom in 50 yrs of gardening. I believe that every leaf contributes to the health and vigor of the plant through photothinsis.

John

Here is a link that might be useful: John's Journal

There is a good video on the Johnny seed web site that shows how they prune thier tomatoes to 2 main stems. I prune most of mine back to 1 main stem but sometimes leave 1 or 2 with 2 main stems if they don't seem overly crowded. I plant 1 to a sq ft and trained up a string. I like growing as many different varieties as I can in my small gardening space. If I did not prune I would have to give each plant alot more space and not plant nearly as many varieties.

Good gardening, Mary

The wonderful thing about gardening is you can have it your way - prune, not prune, or prune some - it really doesn't matter much. Esp. with tomatoes which are very forgiving plants and grow much like weeds.

That was an excellent video but one thing he didn't mention was even if you don't want to prune, you should prune everything below the lowest blossom as they will bear no fruit and only seem to spread disease from the soil splashing on them.

brownli you never said what variety tomato or even determinate or indeterminate? That could make all the difference and it does sound like what you may have is a bush.

You can prune a tomato plant from day one or wait until you have time or the need. If you watched the video, you can see it is difficult to hurt a tomato plant.

I never pruned my tomatoes for yrs but then I used to give ea. plant 4ft ea. way too. And then supporting them becomes a problem. Esp. when the plant is full of fruit and you get hurricane rains and winds at peak harvest season.

Mine have done much better with some pruning and growing them up a string. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the trellis and string held up to the peak season hurricane winds.

I have grown 14 plants in a 4x4ft bed with some pruning and growing them up a string to an overhead support. It wasn't pretty but it did work.

If the suckers are really large and you want to take them off, then use pruners or a sharp knife. You run some risk of damaging the main stem if you try to break them off once they've gotten large.

Here's a very brief look at my personal experience growing tomatoes. My dad had a large garden in tomato growing country and followed the commercial practice at the time of staking the tomatoes and pruning most suckers. He had wonderful results. I've tried his method as well as cages and also letting them sprawl on the straw covered ground and not pruning at all. Those left to sprawl produced much more fruit but had poor results due to the fruit being subject to rot and disease. (I don't spray.) The best results I've had came from the caged tomatoes that I just kept stuffing back into the cage when the suckers spread outside. They seemed to produce more usable quality fruit than either other method.

But we're talking about square foot gardening here and cages or sprawling tomatoes are not part of the picture if you're following Mel's methods. I've never trellised tomatoes but plan to this year. I will let them produce two main stems and prune off the rest of the suckers. The trick (as I see it) is to be vigilant in keeping the suckers pruned every week or so to avoid having large ones that I may end up needing to remove. Taking off that much of a plant at one time seems to me to be a waste of the energy the plant has spent to produce the growth.

So... brownli, I suggest leaving the two main stems your plants already have and keeping up with pruning off any more suckers they produce. I tell my veggies class (with tongue in cheek) that the only hard and fast rule in gardening is that you can't grow tomatoes outside in Virginia in January. Then I tell them that one day I suspect I will hear about somebody that has found a way to do just that. In other words, whatever you do will be okay. The basics of gardening are good soil, adequate water, proper temperature, and lots of sunshine. Provide those and you will produce something (unless the critters get to them before you do!) Each year is a learning experience, no matter how many years you've been gardening.

Sandy

So true Sandy but then life is also a learning experience. My garden tends to be one HUGE experiment :grin:

I forgot to add before - if you are vigilant and can check your plants daily, a pinch between thumb and forefinger will easily remove any suckers. So no tools are required. You can do this while watering or just looking around.

Tho I have also been able to root a good size sucker from my plants. Or one broken by accident from a plant. A good way to get more plants if needed. However the rooted plant will be way behind the others.

I just wanted to point out that rooting is doable.

Gumby, where did you get the info on the suckers below the lowest blossom not bearing? I didn't know that. See what I mean about learning every year? LOL

Sandy

Amazing

Don't remember exactly but that IS what makes gardening sooo wonderful. We all learn something.

If we can only open our eyes :smile:

gumby - I have pinched suckers off before, then rooted them with excellent results, too. I currently have a full grown plant under a 400 watt metal halide light, and have already rooted around 8 suckers from it. The plant was started the first week of December. I think I've read that about removing all foliage below the first blossom, but am glad you refreshed my memory. Thanks!

EG

Another tidbit newer gardeners may not be aware of -
when choosing a plant to transplant try not to choose one with a blossom. If it does have a blossom, pinch it off when transplanting. You don't want mamma to worry about feeding before she has established her root system. As hard as this may be for some, more blossoms will follow in time.

While there are many, many more tips or tricks for transplanting tomatoes - suffice it to say the stem will grow more roots where ever it is in contact with the soil. So bury it deep or lay it down, either way.

I was told to pinch off all suckers as they use nutrients but don't provide anything.

When I pruned, I would prune the lower branches to let light in. I watched a video. Hehe

I was told to prune indeterminates but not to prune determinates. I get off to a good start, which probably lasts all of two weeks, then just give up and let them do their thing, and I'm quite sure I've seen a lot of blossoms on the suckers. John Best doesn't prune his at all, and he grows gorgeous tomato plants.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

Oh Wow! I want to party with you guys! you are non-stop!

Seriously - thanks to all who have responded. I feel better that there seems to be 'just different ways' not necessarily 'the best, the worst' of tending to toms....so I'll pick one and move on.

Since I have 2 of each - indeterminate and determinate - I should receive some good lessons from nature this planting season. Right now all the plants have blossoms. I'll keep my fingers off the determinates - they are caged; and I'll prune the suckers on the indet. - best that I can keep up - these are trellised. My garden is small enough that I hope to check them daily.

Thanks again to all for your responses - and if there's more to share - bring it on!

Great video. I've read about it umpteen times and didn't get it. Gotta love progress!