|
| Hello All! I signed up here about a month ago with some concerns about my 2 tomato plants (which are still alive) and WERE doing well. Fast forward to now, I added 2 more varieties and foolishly decided to 'prune' ALL of them. Now all 4 of them are between 15''-24'' inch STEMS with some leaves sprouting out of the top. I followed THESE >> http://www.wikihow.com/Prune-Tomatoes instructions and think I may have killed my plants. So worried and sad over this. Are my plants going to die, or will they be able to survive? Should I transplant them into deeper containers and just cover more of the stem?? Thanks for any help/insight! |
Follow-Up Postings:
|
- Posted by Just1tomatoplantplz (My Page) on Sun, Jun 29, 14 at 22:16
| I knew eventually this one would need pruning.. REMOVED image for privacy |
This post was edited by Just1tomatoplantplz on Sun, Jun 29, 14 at 23:21
|
| Please post a photo of your plant so we can get a clear picture of what we are talking about. As it is there is no way to know if they will survive or produce fruit or not. You can't undo the damage done now. It is too late. So consider it a lesson learned and wait to see what happens and hope for the best. Are they determinate or indeterminate varieties? The article makes that point. If you don't know then what are the names of the varieties. If they have been planted for over a month it may be difficult to transplant them now. If they are in containers, what size? Dave PS: Lots of things on the internet so it is reader beware. We have to learn to evaluate the source before blindly following their advice or we pay the price. |
|
| Sorry your photo wasn't up when I was typing. Looks like you misunderstood and took off all the leaf branches as well as the so-called suckers. Sorry but no you won't get much out of that plant. However, depending on where you are located or at least your garden zone (info you didn't include) you may have time to re-root the top cutting and start over with a normal plant. Dave |
|
- Posted by Slimy_Okra (My Page) on Sun, Jun 29, 14 at 22:38
| Follow two simple rules in the future. 1. Don't prune determinates. Ever. 2. Don't prune indeterminates (like Sungold) unless ground space is at a premium and you want to train them vertically (which is not the case in your situation), or if the plant is unmanageably large and you can't reach in to harvest. In other words, use common sense. A pruned plant will always yield much less than an unpruned one on a per-plant basis. I personally think your Sungold here has time to recover as long as your first frost is at least 3 months away, but there will be a significant yield reduction. I would add a tall stake for support, because the cage is insufficient support when it doesn't have leaves and lateral branches. |
This post was edited by Slimy_Okra on Sun, Jun 29, 14 at 22:41
|
- Posted by Just1tomatoplantplz none (My Page) on Sun, Jun 29, 14 at 22:41
| I am in zone 6 or 7? (Central PA) How do you re-root? I can't believe I did this?! My poor plant is ruined?! Should I just scrap them all and buy new seedlings? Or is it too late? 2 of the 4 are indeterminate. 2 are determinate. I chopped em all basically the same way. I don't know why?!?!?! |
|
- Posted by Just1tomatoplantplz (My Page) on Sun, Jun 29, 14 at 22:48
| I decided to get rid of 2 of the 4 plants. I just disposed of them. :( Super-sad about this. Wish I'd just left them alone. Going to replace them with some new plants tomorrow and LEAVE THEM ALONE!!!! Thanks for the feedback and i'll be face-palming over this for a long time. |
This post was edited by Just1tomatoplantplz on Sun, Jun 29, 14 at 23:19
|
- Posted by deadhead61 none (My Page) on Mon, Jun 30, 14 at 0:50
| Never prune tomato plants |
|
| Never prune tomato plants %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Never say "never". hehe Pruning requires some fundamental knowledge of tomato plans and their growth habit. So for the novice you better not to attempt it, UNLESS you fully understand what you are about to do. |
|
- Posted by Just1tomatoplantplz none (My Page) on Mon, Jun 30, 14 at 8:27
| Bought tomato plant replacements. :) Going to LEAVE THEM ALONE!!! Still kicking myself for what I did. :( Guess it is a lesson learned. Also, I am attempting to re-root both injured/cut plants (in water). Curious to see what happens! Going to urge other amateur gardeners not to make the same mistakes I made! Thanks again all for your insight! |
|
- Posted by theforgottenone1013 5b/6a MI (My Page) on Mon, Jun 30, 14 at 10:38
| Anyone else find it funny that under "sources and citations" in the wikiHow article it has a link to the FAQ titled "What is the difference between determinate and indeterminate tomatoes?" here on the Tomato Forum? Rodney |
|
| Just goes to show the inability to think original thoughts on Wiki. :) Just1tomatoplantplz - if you wish to root the Sun Gold cutting, or any other for that matter, you just snip off the top 6-7" of the plant, remove any blooms on fruit on it, and stick it in a small container of damp potting mix. Within a week it will be ready to plant. There are many discussions here on how to root cuttings the search will pull up if you need more info. Dave |
|
| Of all the "how to prune a tomato" articles on the web, that is probably the worst one I've seen. |
|
- Posted by NoSpamKevin 9 - East Los Angeles (My Page) on Mon, Jun 30, 14 at 20:12
| I have my indeterminate tomato plants on a trellis and I started pruning for more airflow, and eventually decided to prune heavily a few days ago. Flower production was pretty slow over the past month, and at least half of the flowers have dropped. Since pruning at least 80% of the branches 4 days ago, my plants are putting out twice as much suckers with new flowers! I easily have twice as many flowers than before, and new suckers are growing out of everywhere including leaf branches and old flower branches where most of the flowers had fallen off. It looks pretty interesting to see the plants on the trellis with most of the leaves removed. If your plants are healthy aside from the pruning you did, you should still get a decent crop once the new suckers grow in. Check out this guy's tomatoes on the plants he almost completely pruned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHhk7u7Xrnw |
|
| Since pruning at least 80% of the branches 4 days ago, .... %%%%%%%%%%%%%%% You pruned 80% of the branches ? HMMM Pruning a a gradual ongoing thing. With pruning 80% , the plant should be shocked and stressed. This is how one of my pruned plants looks like . It looks very natural. |
|
| >Of all the "how to prune a tomato" articles on the web, that is probably the worst one I've seen. I agree! And the goofy cartoon pictures don’t help. They don’t even show what a real sucker looks like. The cartoonist obviously didn't know how to illustrate the text - which is unclear and confusing on it's own. |
|
| Is the utube video the same one with the guy with the sick, tomatoes ? The ones he cleaned up but forgot the ones in the background. Then says he did all this on purpose. I'm not going there. This seems to be the tomato version of being Rick Rolled. p.s. If you don't know what Rick Rolled means, just go Google. |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Growing Tomatoes Forum
Information about Posting
- You must be logged in to post a message. Once you are logged in, a posting window will appear at the bottom of the messages. If you are not a member, please register for an account.
- Please review our Rules of Play before posting.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review your post, make changes and upload photos.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- Before posting copyrighted material, please read about Copyright and Fair Use.
- We have a strict no-advertising policy!
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.
Learn more about in-text links on this page here
