Grow Fruits Not Foliage: Pruning Tomato Plants To Maximise Yield and Health

[@alexgrowsfood]

How are your tomatoes coming along this year? It's getting to that time of the year where pruning and generally maintaining the garden takes up a lot of time. To make things easier I recommend new gardeners get the right equipment to make things easier, see this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/m2bHeXhvh7Fpgc0 for my list of essential garden tools.

[@TheGeek365]

Tomato plants look like they are coming along nicely Alex. Great video again, packed full of good information.

[@alexgrowsfood]

Thank you! They grow so quickly this time of year. I forgot about them for a couple of weeks and (by luck) ended up with some good examples for a video

[@TheGratefulGarden]

Very well explained. Great tomato 🍅 information 🤙

[@alexgrowsfood]

Thank you! Hope you enjoyed it & good luck growing. Let us know how yours come along

[@marksminis]

GAH! We've always let them grow wild, and just try to contain them and tie them in - it ends up a mess, a big thick tangle, often making it difficult to harvest among other problems. I'll do a trimming now, here and there, thanks for showing what and where to cut!

[@alexgrowsfood]

No worries, Mark. I'd definitely focus on the lower leaves first and if you're not growing them 7-9ft tall then you *could* selectively leave some suckers on to get more fruit clusters still if you cut the ends off. Ultimately plants are tough and will produce something if you under-prune. In the UK humidity & disease is the main issue but that might be less of a concern where you are (you might even think about keeping more leaves to block the sun & prevent sunscald but it depends on the plant).

[@terrylink6174]

Thank you Alex nice to see ya 😊

[@alexgrowsfood]

Thanks Terry, hope you're enjoying the (very early) summer

[@terrylink6174]

@@alexgrowsfood I am but it’s a bit too hot lol

[@samsammsammm1547]

Great video

[@alexgrowsfood]

Thanks Sam. Let us know how you get on and if you have any questions

[@saintbilog]

Hi Alex, thank you for your advice on tomatoes! I was able to harvest a lot of tomatoes until yesterday I visited my allotment. I planted a wide variety this year, but lo and behold, the plum tomatoes I've been waiting for got struck by blight 😢 I am just so devastated now. Do you have any advice how to avoid this next year 😅

[@alexgrowsfood]

Hi Anna. No worries, great to hear from you again. Sorry about the blight though, there's nothing worse. Allotments are a different kettle of fish. You really need everyone to be vigilant for the best chances. Beyond pruning and not spraying the leaves with water, the only thing I could really suggest is rotation - don't grow toms there for another few years - and to avoid putting the foliage on a compost heap (or if you do, make sure the temperature really does get high in there or just use it for flowers). I've not really tried much else but the principle is to avoid giving the fungus a place to live and to keep the plant dry where possible to limit transmission. There are blight resistant varieties, but I've not tried them so can't vouch for them - they could be worth considering in a shared growing space though. It has been a difficult year, even over here (the driest part of the UK, allegedly). Lots of moisture that would hang around and not really clear until the afternoon. My tomatoes aren't looking the most healthy, although they have been very very neglected.