We're taking different approaches with our tomatoes

An update on the grow along with gardener Scott and today we're talking pruning.
I'm now pruning with the end of our season in mind, I'm focussing on getting those tomatoes to ripen whereas Scott still has a month before he has to think that way at all. Our climates are very different and the weather this year hasn't helped.
▶Watch Next◀
See how Gardener Scott is taking care of his tomatoes: • Tomato Care (Midseason)
#gardening #GrowYourOwn #tomatoes #gardeningtips
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[@eliandkate]

I’ve accepted that my tomato growing season is beginning to wrap up and we may not have enough hot days left to ripen all my fruit. So I’m employing some hard pruning (topping) to signal to the plants to focus on ripening fruit rather than continue growing. The idea is that you cut the plant down to just above the last truss of fruit that you expect to ripen. Different from the pruning for the rest of the year where you focus on restricting growing stems to a single stem.

[@tennesseenana4838]

LOVE it when you and Scott talk about your gardening plans and veggies over the fence! So fun and full of good information for all of us.

[@eliandkate]

Awwwww Tell the truth did you laugh when he hit me with the ball? Did you agree that my tomatoes are better??? 😂😂😂😂

[@francesmary5180]

Excellent, informative video. I love when you do collaborations with Gardener Scott. They are so fun to watch. What a lovely dog Scott has, he must have scared away your cats lol

[@eliandkate]

Ha ha nah Parker scared her away

[@juliaryan1410]

Made me smile how Gardner Scott's ball changed from white to red after it was tossed over the fence and travelled all the way to Scotland. I do enjoy these collaboration videos!

[@eliandkate]

It’s obviously just how the light changes over the hundreds of miles 😂😂😂

[@qkranarchist3015]

Best channel. So far when I need a real answer regarding gardening, Eli has brought it: pruning, greenhouse, color spreadsheet tracking planting (perfect for my needs similar to Eli's). Thank you ❤

[@eliandkate]

Glad I can help a little

[@GardenerScott]

Great demonstration of topping and why it's necessary. Your Barry's are way crazier than mine. BTW, I want my ball back.

[@eliandkate]

I’m keeping the ball….. keep the noise down!!!!

[@debc.8925]

That was fun. You two are hilarious together!! And it’s so fun to learn what gardening is like in a different country.

[@eliandkate]

Thanks Deb It’s good fun for us too

[@heartsong111]

I am in the same growing zone as Gardener Scott (I’m 5b), but light and weather are different here in Michigan. Early October is my first frost. I think I sit somewhere between you two for climate. We get shorter days and cooler nights, so the tomatoes slow down. I did top off a few plants for that same purpose of forcing them to ripen what’s already there on the plant. I also do either one main vine, or two, if they grow that way. I cut off the rest of the suckers and extra vines. We’ve had overnight temps in the 50s and 60s F recently and had a couple days with highs in the 60s and low 70s F. However, we’ll have highs in the 90s F this week. I basically am grateful for whatever we can grow. It’s just fun to try new varieties and store up any food that survives. ❤

[@eliandkate]

You have a great attitude. Enjoy what we can!!!! I’m sure there are things about our weather that others are envious of

[@wendyneal4900]

I’ve never heard about counting the trusses before, that’s so interesting! I’m going to let mine go this year and see how many I get before frost. My average first frost is Nov 15. My indeterminate tomatoes outgrow my 10 ft cages and have made it down to the ground on the outside by the end of the season! Great collaboration with Gardner Scott! Keep them coming!👏

[@eliandkate]

The counting trusses thing was one of the very first pieces of advise I was given when I started but I’ve rarely heard it on social media

[@beckymayo5818]

Hi from Canton Ohio, just wanted to let you know I love your videos. Thanks. It's so funny when you go back and forth with Gardener Scott. Hope to see more.

[@eliandkate]

Awww thanks Becky. Glad you are enjoying it

[@petpawteek8776]

Living in the southeastern part of the US means we have a lot of heat and humidity…which brings fungal diseases that wipe out my tomatoes by the mid to end of July. Luckily our growing season is long enough that we can put two crops of tomatoes in. My first crop of tomatoes I don’t worry about topping because if I do I expose all of my tomatoes to sunburn. But my second crop of tomatoes I’ll start topping in mid to late September in order to ripen them before my first frost around November 1. By then I don’t have to worry about sunburn as I would earlier in the summer. I couldn’t agree more that knowing your own garden really is key! Thanks for the fun collab!

[@eliandkate]

See that sounds like the best of both worlds! Now I’m jealous

[@budj13]

This is a great collaboration between two of my favorite content creators. Well, done. Great advice for folks to adapt to their climate and using pruning to optimize results.

[@eliandkate]

Pruning has so many uses

[@charlie5204]

You reminded me, that I have to prune my outdoor tomatoes before I build up my greenhouse in October. They need to finish before. Thanks for that.

[@eliandkate]

Another job to add to the list 😂

[@sandracacy3232]

This made me laugh so much! I love the "over the fence" interaction with you and Gardener Scott (whom I also love!). Also, you have convinced me to top my tomatoes this weekend...it's time *sigh*.

[@eliandkate]

I’m not trying to convince you at all so don’t just copy me 😁 Think about when your season ends… a lot of folk still have time

[@SuzMcDonaldWellbeing]

This has been so helpful. This is my first year growing tomatoes. I have 11 plants in my greenhouse and I’m just on the border of the Scottish Highlands at 57°. Yesterday I cut off all the new flowers as I realised there’s no way they’ll have time to grow into fruits. I’ll go back today and top them a bit more ruthlessly as so far only one single cherry tomato has ripened. Thank you.

[@eliandkate]

It sounds like you are already on top of things. With your greenhouse, you’ll be getting extra warmth so things will grow and ripen quicker and you’ll get a few extra weeks of those temperatures so hopefully you’ll get lots of ripe fruit in the next few weeks

[@mrsbusy285]

Love your channel en especially the vlogs with Scott. So amusing! In the Netherlands we have had weird weather this year. Overall I'm quit happy with my harvest. 🍅🍉🍎🍐🍓🫐🥔🥕🌽🌶🫑🥒🥬🥦🧄🧅For the first year I had a LOT of tomato plants and I got a lot of tomato's from them, but not as many as you would expect, because of the weather. I have have removed a lot of tomato plants already and I am planting and sowing for the months to come. This year I bought a poly tunnel (the only thing that is allowed in my garden and I'm very happy with it). So after my tomato plants are gone I will put in new plants there as well. Quite exiting to extend my growing season! That's also the reason that I love the vlogs about the things you do in your greenhouse. Next year one of the first things I will be sowing are those giant onions, like you do. Till now I threw away my green tomato's, together with the plants. In this video you talk about green tomato chutney. I googled for the recipe, but got overwhelmed: there are so many. What is your recipe and would you share it with me/us? Maybe Kate even can do a video on the subject. 🤔 Thanks for all the time and effort you put in your channel, so we can learn from you. 😘

[@eliandkate]

Hey Glad to have you with us 😍 Boy do I have a treat for you. If you pop over to our websites we have heaps of recipes, including tomato relish. I’ll add the green tomato chutney and relish this weekend for you too… so pop back over to the website on Monday 😍 Www.Eli and Kate.com

[@mrsbusy285]

@@eliandkate Thank you!!!

[@carmengiles456]

Thanks Eli & Scott, great info. Grew my toms outside this year as my green house is titchy. We have had over a month of rain & wind, (still waiting for summer 😂.) Had to cut out a lot of damaged growth, and due to all the rain its been difficult to feed them. That said I have harvested a few bowl fulls of delicious 'Out door girl' & 'Gardeners delight', from my plants 🙏

[@ammiedoering4205]

Thank you for the demo. I just pruned heavily and am overwhelmed.

[@eliandkate]

I’m talking more about this on Wednesday, it is a very specific thing for our UK growing season that we don’t hear discussed too often so handy to know about.

[@ammiedoering4205]

@@eliandkate I look forward to Wednesday. It was heart wrenching to top the growing tip. Then I saw you top1/2 the plant, lol. Well, now there’s still more to prune;)

[@samanthahoos9827]

I started topping tomatoes and taking out plants that were spent. My frost will be in October, but starting clean up sooner than later makes all the work in autumn easier.

[@eliandkate]

Oh that’s soooo true

[@sarabelden7092]

First frost can be as early as kid September here, but if it doesn't get too cold and we can cover things it warms back up and we can keep things going about another month. When it looks like it's going to be too hard a freeze to survive I have a method that I think is unusual, you might even think is crazy. Like you at a certain point in the fall I do a pretty hard trim on everything to give what's already growing as long as I can to ripen. However if when it freezes I still have a bunch of green tomatoes I cut off all the remaining leaves, cut the plant off at the ground, or towards the base of the plant, and hang it in the basement from hooks attached to the beams of the unfinished ceiling and let them finish ripening there. When we lived in an apartment I hung them in the kitchen pantry, but we didn't have as many tomato plants. Some years I've gotten tomatoes to keep ripening into December.

[@eliandkate]

That sounds brilliant

[@bwolf0003]

You and Scott are so fun! Love your combo videos! I'm also pruning my tomatoes here in Kentucky....topping them in order to ripen the final tomatoes!

[@eliandkate]

Who’s in charge of the garden in October while you are doing work experience in our garden??

[@bwolf0003]

@@eliandkate Good question! Good thing I have individual drip waters on each plant in my veggie garden.....I'll leave detailed instructions on what NOT to do and cross my fingers that at least half of the garden survives!!!

[@gudi361]

My tomatoes in North West Germany are still mostly green. Hoping that the next weeks of sunshine will ripen them. Will top them, too!

[@eliandkate]

🤞🤞🤞🤞

[@cynthiamartinez5884]

Love the message not to copy what someone on KZbin is doing and you need to figure out what's best in your situation. Too many people copy others without understanding why they should do certain things. I have to grow my tomatoes more like y'all do with lots of pruning (I like to plant close to have more plants) and worrying about a short season, but because of heat. I live southeast of Scott with much hotter summers. I plant out early to mid April but by end of June until at least beginning of Spetember, our temps stay 95-105F (35-40C.) I've learned that if I don't get a lot of fruit to set by beginning of June, I'm not getting much tomatoes since the heat causes the blossoms to drop. I get to harvest plenty until beginning of August but that will be the end of my season since my tomatoes have long stopped producing.

[@eliandkate]

So June is the month of hard work!!!!!

[@cynthiamartinez5884]

@eliandkate Yes, until the middle of July. Then summer hibernation begins since it's too hot to be outside unless you can garden at sunrise.

[@eliandkate]

@cynthiamartinez5884 I can’t even imagine that

[@LadyRenira]

Awesome collaborative videos from you two! I was so happy to see your garden and your experiments with the Oasis boxes plus really digging into your Quad Grow playlist. I'm from the US, but actually have more similarities to your climate than Gardener Scott since I'm in the Pacific Northwest, so seeing how you do this has been very helpful for this first-year gardener, so thank you! This year has definitely been an odd one for us though as we've had pretty hot days with basically 0 rain, but still have our very humid nights to contend with, so the leafhoppers and powdery mildew have been a menace! We're dealing with a huge amount of stink bugs and aphids as well, so it's been a constant battle to keep things healthy. I'm looking forward to some ripe tomatoes (mine are *just* starting) and my Great White toms have already given me a couple with many more on the way (though most are cat-faced and split, but I'll take what I can get!). Thanks again for the awesome videos! Going to be testing my DIY "Duo Grow" system next year. :)

[@eliandkate]

Woohooo helllooooooo Oh don’t mention powdery mildew!!!!!!!

[@i.a.4694]

Hi Eli, have you ever tried to leave the top of the plants and just cut off the trusses? Because the green tops are producing the most energy through photosynthesis. This way it might be easier for the plant to let the fruit ripen. Love your videos. Ingrid

[@eliandkate]

I have Ingrid, unfortunately I wasn’t overly impressed. The point of the hard prune is to panic the plant into thinking it’s dieing…. It gets stressed and that’s why it sends its energy into the fruit (to produce seed and reproduce). Part of that is in reducing its nutrition.

[@brendamarker7351]

I just topped my tomatoes today. Like you, I am hoping for those remaining to ripen.

[@eliandkate]

We can only hope

[@susanolds8097]

i have the same greenhouse as you i decided to try for the first time tiny tim tomatoes they turned out lovely i have an abundance and they ripened easily and are still ripening now i also have loads of cucumbers but thats another story im in south wales nr bridgend thanks for the video very informative

[@eliandkate]

Glad to hear from another Rhino Greenhouse owner 😁

[@mariedeyo7399]

14 high and 3 weeks rain did my tomatos in. All the pruning I am doing now is cut of and up in to the bin. Now we have 30 Celsius again..and I will hopefully get at least some climping tomtos.. its the only one left that is not sick.

[@eliandkate]

Oh keeping my fingers crossed for you

[@mariavalderhaug2524]

Just a little bit further north, at 62 on the Norwegian coast, we had 4 degrees overnight in July last year and around 10 degrees in the day for a couple of weeks. Tomatoes didn’t ripen until September! Much better this year with day temperatures around 18-20 degrees 🌞 our average 24 hour temperature in July is under 15 Celsius in a normal July.

[@eliandkate]

Mid to late September is what I think we’ll see this year 😁

[@dustyflats3832]

Wow, your temps are cool! Blessing and a curse.😂. I’ve never topped my tomatoes in Wisconsin, US. I thought I would try a few and see how it goes in comparison. Right now I’m cooking down sauce as the whole kitchen was loaded with trays of tomatoes, peppers and lots of onions. Have to stay ahead of fruit flies. I was able to clear away this batch of tomatoes, but there are a Ton of them still out there. Going to freeze sauce and if I run out of freezer space I suppose the canner will make an appearance. With the prices and recalls in the stores, I am putting up as much as we will need. Wish I had a cool room to store onions. Want to make a root cellar, but think that will be to damp. Need to get some frozen and dried. Great shared collaboration today! We contacted family in Texas and they said 103*F day is considered a cool day. We are starting to feel that heat dome today as it pushes north. I’m not a fan of the heat at all and it will be here all week. I’m sure we will be over 100*F at times this week and no rain again. Hope the Canada smoke stays away.

[@eliandkate]

Yeah it sounds like Texas is a hard place for gardening, not just heat but wind and hail storms too

[@dustyflats3832]

@@eliandkate the heat has been brutal and continuous for Texas this year. I have no idea how they manage.

[@thecraftykelpie]

Im loving your video's, very informative and relevant to my location. This was especially good video as it has now stopped my husband from telling me it was something I was doing wrong as to why the tomatoes are not turning red 😄😄❤

[@eliandkate]

😂😂😂😂 oh in that case….

[@suzannef3593]

My summer has been a few days or a week of +30 close 40 the back to sping weather of + 15 to +24 but all the night which is unusual from +5 to + 15. But my tomato's for whatever reason have survived and bushy. I finally on a warm day stripped them almost bare.. except a few topper to shade.. and my plants exploded with tomato's.. and flowers but now the cool is staying and they are growing strong . Fingers cross as we are loosing sun too. Mine look bare like yours now. It was more bare two weeks ago lol. Sk, can.

[@eliandkate]

🤞🤞🤞

[@oreopaksun2512]

My last tomato here in Central Florida is rambling everywhere, giving me a grape tomato here and there, just because it is protected from the brutal heat and sun a bit, and it is too hot for me to go out to cut it down. In the meanwhile, inside under grow lights are a couple dozen seedlings that germinated last week and getting ready for potting up. It is a waiting game to hold the seedlings indoors or under roof until the extreme summer heat breaks; kinda reverse of your waiting for the ground to get warm enough in spring. We are lucky to get a do-over and get a 2nd crop on most veggies in the fall, if we can get over that heat-induced inertia and get working. But those big slicing tomatoes....I will keep chasing them, but so far no luck.

[@eliandkate]

Make the most of that do over, here in Scotland, we’d love that 😂

[@WR4SSE]

Scott sent me. Love from Australia

[@eliandkate]

Waving 👋 👋👋

[@lindarobertson8505]

Great Video Eli, you made a sometimes scary thing look easy and explained the reasons why.

[@eliandkate]

Hoping you’ll be all brave out there with your snips 😍

[@lindarobertson8505]

@eliandkate I think I might be too heavy handed sometimes!

[@eliandkate]

I go with the thirds rule… never take more than a third…. Until the end of the season then take two thirds

[@lindarobertson8505]

@eliandkate thank you. I'll write that down for next year, there no way I'll remember it lol.

[@barbaraellison27]

What great advice. I’ll look at mine tomorrow. I’m in the north east so cool weather here as well. 🤙

[@eliandkate]

Hopefully a bit sunnier than us though… if you look up central belt in the dictionary, it says cloudy

[@debbiehaney2467]

Oh my…it’s been 100-107*F (38-42*C) in my part of Texas for July and August!!

[@eliandkate]

You have so many different problems from us because of the heat 😬

[@followmemovebooks]

ha what a good idea, how you work together! love it!

[@eliandkate]

😃😃😃😃

[@Bexyboo88]

Aww I want 17, 18 and 19 too. We're sitting in the mid 20's at the mo here in North Cambridgeshire and in the heat of the midday sun, I just give up wanting to do anything. It does mean at least my larger toms are finally starting to ripen. However, I have already topped a lot of my tomatoes quite a while back already, as Blight this year down south and working it's way up is absolutely rife.

[@eliandkate]

You say you want those temps but we all want a little bit of what others have… none of us want it all the time 😂😂😂

[@kburkes4245]

Love the collaboration between you guys! Hope to someday see you all in each other's gardens, for real!

[@eliandkate]

That’s the plan 😛

[@marie-theresehayes6875]

Really great video. Im in Helensburgh. My tomatoes are in a greenhouse. Ive already finished harvesting one plant and pruned the rest. Just hoping whats left on the rest turn green.

[@eliandkate]

I have a green tomato relish recipe if needed 😛

[@marie-theresehayes6875]

@@eliandkate thanks. Husband made green tomato ketchup last year….it was not a success. Delias green tomato chutney is fab.

[@user-nn8cu5ql4t]

very helpful info. Thanks a lot!

[@carolinebown8686]

Really interesting to see the difference between your fantastic tomato plants & Scott's ... and how much temperature & climate affect growth ... This being my very first year of growing anything....Ive gone with the 'leave it & see what happens' approach ...but I now understand why its better to prune those top most sections.... As always....thank you for your great advice 😊😊😊 🌻🌻 xxx

[@eliandkate]

Leave it and see is how we all learn… next year you could try a little pruning and see what the differences are to the outcome/ That’s how I learned

[@carolinebown8686]

@eliandkate Oh yes most definitely ... Im always fascinated by the science behind gardening ... Not tomato related ... Can I ask for some advice on my peppers please ... They're growing well & some are even turning red ....however ... most of them have a strange white bit on the bottoms ( nearly half the pepper) ... is this sun damage or rot ?

[@eliandkate]

@carolinebown8686 I’m guessing without seeing it but it’s possible it could be sun scorch…. I get that on my peppers 😢

[@carolinebown8686]

@eliandkate I can try & send you a photo ....if you wouldn't mind please ? ( maybe I need to invest in some blinds for my Greenhouse ? )

[@eliandkate]

@carolinebown8686 if you share it on Instagram and tag us we’ll get an alert

[@mags9536]

Brilliant video. Love the collaboration with Gardner Scott. So entertaining and informative. 😆

[@eliandkate]

It’s always fun

[@skygazer1024]

Another great and timely tutorial. Great fun between you and Scott.

[@eliandkate]

A fun neighbour to have 😁

[@simonysinclair7163]

Thank you for this useful info 😍

[@eliandkate]

My pleasure 😊

[@sherryrendell8222]

❤ it. You guys are amazing 😂

[@eliandkate]

😂😂😂

[@GardenerScott]

Thanks, Sherry.

[@davesmith6719]

Love the jocular collaboration!

[@eliandkate]

It’s good fun for us too

[@MinOfForest]

The weather this year has been bizarre. Normally by now the weather is cooling down and we’re getting ready for fall (we get snow in October every year). This year it’s still 100F (37C) whereas normally it’s 65F by now. The tomatoes LOVE it, but I have no idea if I’ll be making any green tomato salsa this year now

[@eliandkate]

I think we are all having to garden by instinct just now…. No one is having weather they expect

[@cathgreenwood831]

Another interesting video, thanks Eli. I shall prune mine tomorrow as I agree with you there's no way flowering trusses will provide ripe fruits in time now.

[@eliandkate]

Not for me… no

[@needzmoarpaula]

Even though my first frost is about the beginning of November, I've already topped my toms a while back to make sure the fruit would grow a bit bigger and ripen. Unfortunately, my Cherokee Purple and Pink Siberian Tiger are tiny (if delicious) - I don't know what I did wrong, this is the second year in a row this happened. So maybe I just need to focus on different tomatoes than beefsteaks. I've got them in a polytunnel and it's probably how I fed them and watered them that affected their growth. But there are still more tomatoes than I know what to do with, so I guess I'll be making some preserves. :)

[@eliandkate]

me to... get the jars out!!!

[@cherylbranson6557]

Hi Eli! I’m in Orlando, Florida and my tomato season ended back in June when the weather turned super hot. My veggies did not like the severe heat and I was always watering them so I decided to pull them all up. But until then, I had a great crop of tomatoes. Your tomatoes look great and I would definitely do what you did by cutting them back. Hopefully they will ripen up for you. I never heard of green tomato chutney. Is it like a salsa?

[@eliandkate]

Hmmmmmm maybe you know relish? It’s a pickle we make to spread on sandwiches. It’s yummy 😍😍😍

[@cherylbranson6557]

Relish I know! Sounds interesting! Thanks!

[@eliandkate]

😂😂😂😂

[@CSaville]

Thanks for this Eli. A really informative video!

[@eliandkate]

👍👍👍

[@lorainemcguire5795]

Really enjoyed the video you explain everything so well, ❤🍅🍅

[@eliandkate]

So glad you got something out of it 😍😍😍

[@cpoco]

Talking of weather differences... I have nectarine trees around the property... there are at least two that never seem to loose their leaves, they are smaller and more sheltered... the others all drop their leaves. Micro-climate on the one property. I like your necklace too... is that Celtic knot work?

[@eliandkate]

Kate is now very jealous, she loves nectarines. My necklace is a Thor’s hammer. It’s a Norse design.

[@cpoco]

@@eliandkate She doesn't have to be too jealous... I haven't had any fruit off them yet... they keep getting the peach leaf curl disease and they budded before I had a chance to even do anything this year. I do have a lot scattered around the place... so maybe one will produce this year. Ahh cool... Norse also have some lovely designs.

[@kathyfrench2651]

What was the final verdict on the Oases Boxes? I've been seeing some pretty negative comments elsewhere on the internet but it looks as if you had a degree of success with them. Am I right?

[@eliandkate]

They are a no for both of us. Not impressed at all

[@Laurylove]

Waw I had no idea we could grow tomatoes outside in Scotland. I've only ever grown cherry tomatoes inside my patio doors... Will have to get some seeds of the varieties you mentioned in the video and try to grow them outside! I saw at the start of this video you have some kind of green vertical planter outside the shed. What is that called? And where can I get one in Scotland?? I don't have a lot of outdoor space so that looks like a great idea for growing a lot in a small space!

[@eliandkate]

Boy Laury…. You’ve come to the right person to tall tomatoes in Scotland. I’ve been treating this as a research project for the last couple of years culminating with the grow along with Scott this year. It all comes down to learning about the days to harvest for the varieties you want to grow and the number of days in YOUR tomato growing season. Some do better than others. I’ll post a link to the playlist of videos from this season where we talk about all this kind of thing including a live chat Scott and I did on the subject. There’s a lot, so grab a cuppa and a packet of biscuits. 😂😂😂 The big green vertical planter is called a greenstalk and unfortunately they’re not available here. Scott sent it to me as a gift. But I can’t wait till they are available…. I love mine. kzbin.info/aero/PLjhUBZdMh-4nPzdffSSKzEX1vAvEJpn8g

[@Laurylove]

​@@eliandkate Thx Eli, appreciate you sharing that with me. I'll check those videos out. Thx for the handy link, makes it much easier :) I binge watched a few of your videos last night. You've got a lot of fantastic content and guidance on here. Totally loving it!! Ah pity about the greenstalk. I thought "Yes, they're finally available over here!" When I saw it in the background of your video.... but unfortunately not.... Thought you might have some secret connection lol :)

[@eliandkate]

@Laurylove I promise…. As soon as I have a secret connection… it won’t be secret long 😂😂

[@Laurylove]

@@eliandkate 😃😃😃

[@icemage21k]

but but dont you need some leaves? i usually have a few branches above the last tomatoes i want to keep when i top my plant and cut of the excess flowers

[@eliandkate]

There are still leaves on there. But right now my focus is on stressing the plant into ripening 😁

[@judithgarnett5307]

Pruning is important. But so is photosynthesis. Without the suckers, I get it. But topped? Needs leaves to obtain energy?!? I'm a brown thumb, so I'm not complaining zone 5 Maine. Even far away you teach me a lot.

[@eliandkate]

Hey Judith This really is extreme so I understand your worry. But main things to remember are that you aren’t stripping all the leaves of the plant, you are taking off a certain amount above the last truss you want to cue on. So yes there will be less leaves but the idea behind this is to shock the plant… basically convince it it’s dying so focuses on the fruit and nothing else. Its extreme though and not something a lot of folk would ever even need to consider.

[@sjay6668]

I only made it to the flowering stage 😢. One plant is about 7ft tall with 3 or 4 trusses of flowers, the other plants are small, and it is just flowers with no tomatoes forming. I'm sad.

[@eliandkate]

Maybe they are about to burst with fruit 😁

[@Garden-of-weeden]

Did you throw the ball back?

[@eliandkate]

Man…. I should have!!

[@Garden-of-weeden]

@@eliandkate 😝😝😝

[@Charette166]

Can someone please tell me, why cut off the leaves too? Why not just cut off the flowers and fruit? Wouldn’t the leaves help ripen the lower fruit?

[@eliandkate]

Great question Elijah. So basically, first thing to be aware of is that I’m not saying to cut off all the leaves in order to ripen the fruits. There is tidying up I do throughout the year where I’ll take off excess stems and leaves because our season length and temperatures can’t sustain large plants and masses of fruit. This is very specific to the conditions I’m growing in, hence why others like Scott don’t need to do this the same way. I’m now pruning a lot more than mid season because I’m almost at the end of my season here, I’ve maybe got a month of good temperatures and sunlight left, maybe. So what I’m doing now is reduce the plants down to just what I think we can ripen and making a much smaller general structure so that the plant doesn’t have to work too hard to maintain that. As I mentioned, this is about shocking the plant, the same as with pruning my peppers and apples etc. it makes the plant think “uh oh…. I better get those seeds ready so I can reproduce cause I don’t have much time left.” So even though you are pruning quite heavily you don’t want to take off all the leaves, you want to leave enough so that the plant can photosynthesise, but you are taking off what is above the fruit. Now in order for the fruit to ripen, you need heat. It’s not sun that ripens the fruit it’s heat. I’m exposing the trusses to more sunlight yes but it’s to harness heat not to give them actual sunlight. Does that make sense? This is a more old fashioned way of doing things and generally only something done when you have a shorter colder season like us. I see a lot of folk do this same thing of reducing the plants ability to get nutrients and to shock it, but these days I tend to see folk do it by breaking the plants roots so that it can’t take up nutrients, and again make the plant speed up its processes, but I tend to only see that for places that have much warmer temperatures where they need the leaves to shade the plant from their strong sun and stop it being burned.

[@bethyholapussycat1618]

Last year I managed to ripen a lot of green cherry toms in a shoe box with a banana for about a week. I'm not a green tomato chutney fan! (It was my first year growing toms) This year all my plants are outside, but some will move into a greenhouse at the end of September to extend our season (Cambridgeshire - East Anglia)

[@eliandkate]

Oh that’ll be a fun change up

[@LLAMA-LLAMA]

You guys do an awesome job with these collaborations! I know I always say it but I really do love how you guys edit the videos, great job👏. What a blessing that the year you had an unusually warm June was the same year you grow tomatoes outside! I’m like right in between both of your pruning methods. I’m in a very hot and dry climate like Scott but we often will get as low as 19F/-7C in mid September. We had a freak year last year and didn’t get a frost until the last half of October but I’m not holding my breath this year 😅. Thanks for the great video!

[@eliandkate]

I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you and a very late frost this year 😂