Latest Data on Pruning Tomato Suckers 🍅🍅 Should You Remove Suckers?

Pros & Cons of removing suckers on indeterminate tomatoes. Why should you prune tomato plants?
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Latest Data on Pruning Tomato Suckers 🍅🍅 Should You Remove Suckers?
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Picture of tomato cages, by Mad Mod Smith from, www.flickr.com/photos/mad_mod...

[@Mark_Nadams]

We have issues with fungal diseases. We use cattle panels and prune to two stems on the bottom to "lift the skirts" of the tomato plants and allow air flow. Then we allow some suckers on the plants once they reach about three feet tall. Suckers that overlap or entangle other stems are trimmed out. This allows the most tomatoes to form without letting the plants harbor disease.

[@nathanspeck-ewer5106]

That’s a great tip. Thanks so much.

[@fxm5715]

I like two or three vines on an indeterminate, each vine held roughly 12" apart. This helps time season end height to roughly match the eight foot high stakes I grow them on. If I use a single vine, the plants grows right off the top by the middle of summer and quickly get out of control.

[@KelleyStrzelczyk]

I prune flowers as well near the end of the season to limit the tomatoes. I dont need thirty tiny ones. Pruning the flowers will give me some larger toms at the end of the season. Im in Canada.

[@musictech85]

If I have the option between doing extra work and not doing extra work, I'll go with the latter. I'm trying to garden for at least the next 50 years so anything I can do to save my back is a win

[@jerrybessetteDIY]

I've been gardening 70 years: you are on the right track.

[@vladimus9749]

To take a variation on a saying, "the best type of gardening is the type you can stick to."

[@fletchybabe6172]

I grow my indeterminate up strings as I find that slugs don't tend to climb as opposed to stakes or poles. I also remove the side shoots on the beefsteak varieties and vineing varieties 😊

[@ebradley2306]

I live in SE Texas. I sucker for about 3-4 feet to get 2 main leaders and then let the plants go. The shade the cherry tomato plants provide themselves keeps the plants producing through the hot months. Right now, on Canada Day, in our 90+ degree heat, my 2 cherry tomato plants are growing like mad and producing an insane number of tomatoes. I have hundreds if not more. This year I inter planted peppers with the tomatoes. The peppers are loving being shaded under the sprawling tomatoes. The tomatoes are loving being able to sprawl. The peppers, in effect, have their own micro climate under the tomatoes. They are heavily producing and are now 4+ feet tall. Have grown my tomatoes like this for a while and next year I will inter plant the tomatoes and pepper again. Everything is shading the ground. 😊 I started doing this with the tomatoes because every summer I escape to Canada for a break, Yay!, and have to abandon the garden for a month. Interesting what one finds out things by accident. Incidently, with all the crowding and the rain we have had this spring, my only problem is some obnoxious leaf footed bugs. No disease anywhere.

[@TheTrock121]

We grow indeterminate tomatoes in cages. We get a lot of rain in Central PA and need to remove the bottom leaves for better air flow, decreased nematode damage and earlier flowering. This is the easiest and best way to grow tomatoes here.

[@PolygonSwan]

Thanks, clear, concise and to the point!

[@tpen891]

Thank you for this video.

[@annalynn9325]

Thanks for this. I was hoping I wasn’t a sucker due to not suckering my tomato plants

[@paulfelkner6749]

Reminds me of that movie "I'm going to get you sucker".

[@horacepierce9210]

That movie was actually "I'm Going to get You Sucka"

[@judymckerrow6720]

Thank you Mr. P. 💐💚🙃

[@MikeParentLeap]

Always good information.

[@terrywallace5181]

Good information.

[@upupandaway5646]

Thank you 😊.

[@user-mi4du9rd1j]

I am not a fan of tomato cages for indeterminate tomatoes. Nearly every indeterminate I've grown has quickly overgrown the cage and then still requires other support. We use cattle panel trellises and Florida weave type systems now, with much better success. The cages are excellent for pepper plants and many/most determinate maters, though.

[@francestaylor9156]

I remove the bottom suckers as well as removing the bottom leaves to ensure airflow. The tomato plants are very happy that way and I don't get a lot of mold like diseases on them even though I live in a very humid climate. I didn't for part of my first season and noticed that the plants and surrounding basil plants did not do well if I didn't remove the bottom foliage to allow airflow.

[@lorrainedurgee1761]

Something to think about when your growing tomatoes - thanks .

[@CheesieGamer]

Saludos desde Costa Rica 🇨🇷 ❤

[@teebob21]

I like to lightly prune my determinate Roma tomatoes after fruit set to improve airflow in the cages. Otherwise, I end up with some powdery grey mold on the leaves that sometimes infects the fruit. The branches I removed aren't getting much sunlight anyway.

[@OldTimerGarden]

I wonder if pruning tomato vines affect the taste of those tomatoes.

[@alcg3981]

Good points! And your voice sounds very different than usual!! Is it just me?!?

[@OldTimerGarden]

yes it's just you.

[@IdentityIAm111]

Just you.

[@Chris-op7yt]

for indeterminates the best way to grow tomatoes neatly is with a string and clips. it does require pruning all suckers, but is the most effective way to grow them without much hassle. staking is the worst and prone to disasters. the additional one time cost to setup the string method is worth it.

[@GasOperatedDad]

Did you inadvertently reverse the "Ripening Time" entry on your chart for sucker vs non-sucker approaches?

[@ExplodingPsyche]

Okay, I thought it was just me.

[@billsnyder6945]

What is the latest data about? This is all old news to anyone with an interest in these matters.

[@charlesdavaro8554]

Your graph technique is confusing

[@mattgohlke8216]

If folks are still looking at this with different opinions after the billions of tomato plants that humans have grown, then it doesnt matter. That "leafs" only one single reason to prune, and thats for air circulation when your climate dictates the need for it. One day there will be a species that only grows a few large leaves.