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| in addition to pulling the suckers, does anyone limit the vertical growth of any of their tomato varieties? Our cherries and others usually breach 6'. Just wondering if "restraining" their height is a good idea? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by theforgottenone1013 5b/6a MI (My Page) on Mon, Jun 23, 14 at 17:15
| To prune or not to prune is a much debated topic. Lots of info available here regarding pruning tomatoes. Here's a few discussions: I cut off my plant's central stem A search will bring up more. Rodney |
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| As Rodney said - both pruning and topping are much discussed topics here with little agreement between the various camps. Typing 'pruning' and 'topping' in the search bar will pull up well over 100 discussions on the issues with lots of opinions on both the controversial practices. If you believe in pruning your plant's so-called "suckers" then topping may also appeal to you. For those of us who do not agree with pruning the "suckers" then topping the plant is of even less interest. We'd prefer to have all the production that is lost instead. Dave |
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| I prune the suckers but not the top, For us people who prune the suckers we do so to open the plant so less disease an more air flowing through, I have enough plants so I don't need to worry about what little production I loose. |
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| in addition to pulling the suckers, does anyone limit the vertical growth of any of their tomato varieties? %%%%%%%%%%%%% It certainly is an option to keep the plant short and bushy. However, I top all my tomato plants and any new growth, buds , about 40 days remaining to the FFD. Because I am sure any new growth buds will not result in ripe fruits when that frost kills them and/or it get too cold anyway. But at this time of the season topping is just another style of growing tomato plant. |
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- Posted by sleevendog 5-6 (My Page) on Tue, Jun 24, 14 at 0:52
| If i do any pruning at all it usually depends on that particular season and how things are progressing...i have the height accommodations but if all is healthy but slow in producing and running out of good weather nearing the middle/end of August, i have topped. But i have many plants to play with... Usually something that has taken off in height but not so much in width, leggy, not producing, gets a second chance a following season, then taken off the roster as not so good for my area... If you have had success in the past, not sure i would change it. If this season goes beyond what your support system can handle, you have the option... Someone recently posted about an accidental broken top so now has a forced experiment that can often be interesting. |
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- Posted by fritzgarden US z7 NY (My Page) on Tue, Jun 24, 14 at 16:54
| thanks for the input |
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- Posted by NoSpamKevin 9 - East Los Angeles (My Page) on Tue, Jun 24, 14 at 21:07
| I have 3 black krim tomato plants growing right now that are about 5ft tall on a 7ft trellis. I started removing the suckers at first but then let each plant grow 2 main stems. I then started trimming the bottom branches so that there's about a 1ft of space underneath the plants. I then noticed the plants started putting out new suckers from the leaf branches, and even from the flowering branches! Most of the flower branches are just a cluster of flowers with no leaves or anything further growing from them, but I have a couple flower branches where the ends grew into branches that are now a couple feet long with growing tips and more flowers. I've started pruning my plants more for air flow, but I think I might just try some heavy pruning on one plant to see how it compares to the others at the end of the season. This guy here claims you still get good production: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHhk7u7Xrnw |
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