Please STOP PRUNING Your Plants, It's Probably Killing Them!

In this video, I explain why most gardeners should stop pruning plants in most cases. Too many gardeners are unnecessarily hacking their plants to pieces, wrongly believing it is beneficial to the plant. In many cases, pruning vegetables is detrimental. Pruning plants causes stress, opens wounds in the plant for disease to enter, attracts insect pests and can seriously damage or even kill the plant.
Unnecessary pruning has become an epidemic in many vegetable gardens. I've fallen for many of these pruning myths, wrongly believing that pruning prevented disease by increasing airflow to plants while increasing fruit production. My garden suffered terribly for many years as a result of believing these overpruning myths. Through years of trial and error and education, I now almost never prune plants in my annual vegetable garden, and my production and plant health has never been better. This video tries to set the record straight: do not prune plants unless you have a good reason.
I use the following products* to grow vegetables and fruit trees in my garden:
Shade Cloth (Many Sizes): amzn.to/4bLbv72
Grow Bags (Many Sizes): amzn.to/3x4bJXO
Insect Netting (Many Sizes): amzn.to/3TYm134
Drip Irrigation Sprinkler Hose (Many Sizes): amzn.to/4eQSSki
Weed Barrier (Many Sizes): amzn.to/4dUWVeC
Jobe's Organic Vegetable Fertilizer (4lbs): amzn.to/45YHmh2
Espoma Plant Tone (36lbs): amzn.to/3Zgk98f
Jobe's Bone Meal (4lb): amzn.to/3uC5klp
Espoma Bone Meal (10lb): amzn.to/3X9s88a
Alaska Fish Fertilizer (Gallon): amzn.to/3XP5EHU
Alaska Fish Fertilizer (Quart): amzn.to/3wTE7Ms
Jack's Blossom Booster 10-30-20 (1.5lb): amzn.to/3KyPTzg
Jack's All Purpose 20-20-20 (1.5lb): amzn.to/3MQ4I2A
Jack's / JR Peters All Purpose 20-20-20 (25lb): amzn.to/44DUV58
Jack's Blossom Booster 10-30-20 (25lb): amzn.to/45FIuXh
Full Amazon Store: www.amazon.com/shop/themillen...
TABLE OF CONTENTS
0:00 Introduction
0:41 How Bad Pruning Technique Was Normalized
3:44 The True Cause Of Most Plant Problems
6:27 How I Created Native Conditions For My Plants
7:05 Most Pruning Advice Is Nonsense
8:02 Vertical Gardening Advice
8:40 Why Pruning Is Killing Your Plants
10:17 Why I Stopped Removing Diseased Leaves
13:01 How Pruning Attracts Insect Pests
14:48 When Pruning Is Actually Beneficial
15:41 Proof Of Concept: Growing Plants In Shade
17:56 Why Pruning Fruit Trees Is More Beneficial
19:07 The Failures Of Conventional Wisdom
22:21 Adventures With Dale
If you have any questions about why I stopped pruning my vegetable garden, want to know about the things I grow in my raised bed vegetable garden and edible landscaping food forest, are looking for more gardening tips and tricks and garden hacks, have questions about vegetable gardening and organic gardening in general, or want to share some DIY and "how to" garden tips and gardening hacks of your own, please ask in the Comments below!
***********************************
VISIT MY AMAZON STOREFRONT FOR PRODUCTS I USE MOST OFTEN IN MY GARDEN*
www.amazon.com/shop/themillen...
***********************************
VISIT MY MERCHANDISE STORE
shop.spreadshirt.com/themille...
***********************************
SUPPORT MY SECOND CHANNEL!
/ 2minutegardentips
***********************************
EQUIPMENT I MOST OFTEN USE IN MY GARDEN*:
Southern Ag Liquid Copper Fungicide amzn.to/2HTCKRd
Southern Ag Natural Pyrethrin Concentrate amzn.to/2UHSNGE
Monterey Organic Spinosad Concentrate amzn.to/3qOU8f5
Safer Brand Caterpillar Killer (BT Concentrate) amzn.to/2SMXL8D
Organza Bags (Fig-size) amzn.to/3AyaMUz
Organza Bags (Tomato-size) amzn.to/36fy4Re
Injection Molded Nursery Pots amzn.to/3AucVAB
Heavy Duty Plant Grow Bags amzn.to/2UqvsgC
6.5 Inch Hand Pruner Pruning Shears amzn.to/3jHI1yL
Japanese Pruning Saw with Blade amzn.to/3wjpw6o
Double Tomato Hooks with Twine amzn.to/3Awptr9
String Trellis Tomato Support Clips amzn.to/3wiBjlB
Expandable Vinyl Garden Tape amzn.to/3jL7JCI
***********************************
SOCIAL MEDIA
Follow Me on TWITTER (@NCGardening) / ncgardening
Follow Me on INSTAGRAM / millennialgardener
***********************************
ABOUT MY GARDEN
Location: Southeastern NC, Brunswick County (Wilmington area)
34.1°N Latitude
Zone 8B
***********************************
*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
© The Millennial Gardener
#gardening #garden #gardeningtips #pruning #pruningtips

[@TheMillennialGardener]

If you enjoyed this video, please "Like" and share it to help increase its reach! Thanks for watching😀TIMESTAMPS for convenience: 0:00 Introduction 0:41 How Bad Pruning Technique Was Normalized 3:44 The True Cause Of Most Plant Problems 6:27 How I Created Native Conditions For My Plants 7:05 Most Pruning Advice Is Nonsense 8:02 Vertical Gardening Advice 8:40 Why Pruning Is Killing Your Plants 10:17 Why I Stopped Removing Diseased Leaves 13:01 How Pruning Attracts Insect Pests 14:48 When Pruning Is Actually Beneficial 15:41 Proof Of Concept: Growing Plants In Shade 17:56 Why Pruning Fruit Trees Is More Beneficial 19:07 The Failures Of Conventional Wisdom 22:21 Adventures With Dale

[@LilGreenEyes1979]

I grew up on a farm in the PNW and quickly learned that a long growing season is a blessing and a curse trying to grow veggies in coastal Georgia. I follow much of your advice because you are one of the few channels that grows in a zone near mine.

[@stevenstritenberger1761]

Love your videos and I started using shade cloth in Ohio this year, my plants have never looked better but I was puling off dead or dying leaves down low and also any that had early blight. Glad to know I don't have to do that anymore and that I was actually harming the plans. Hope they can outlast the diseases. I was pulling suckers but not on determinates of course, now I'll let the others go too. Using the fish fertilizer as will as bone meal and a granulated type. Hopeful its going to be a banner year as I'm already harvesting tomatoes and that neve happens up here!

[@CeeSucg783]

👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 oh my goodness, I Needed this info. You know when you spoke about pruning and giving off scent, common sense said " you smell that, well you just sent an open air invitation" 🥺 . This video made me feel bad about my gardening practices. Whew I needed this wisdom. I appreciate you so much! 🥰

[@mpsorrentino]

One part of contention: "Nature doesn't prune," I disagree that is exactly what animals like deer do when they eat bits of a blueberry bush or apple tree, they are pruning them back just not in a way that is necessarily desirable for us.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

@@mpsorrentino what you’re describing is pest damage and can, and often will, kill trees and bushes. Deer are destructive forces and rarely help a plant. That being said, I clearly delineate between annual vegetables and fruit trees and perennials. This is timestamped in the video chapters. There is a massive difference between annuals that must spread all their seed in a single year to reproduce and a fruit tree that spreads seed over 30-100 years or longer. One has a sense of urgency, one does not.

[@steveanimatrix3887]

So you're saying my laziness is actually correct. My wife needs to watch this.

[@Tazzyone.]

@@steveanimatrix3887 lol 😆 I said the same. Its working.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Sometimes, the lazy way is the right way. But first, before you can be lazy, you have to set up a trellis that can handle all the vines, install drip irrigation prior to planting, hang shade cloth end of May and keep yourself on a 7-10 day fertilizing schedule. If you put in that work, then you can be lazy and not prune 😄

[@jamillefrancisco564]

Why do people say not to fertilize during hot weather?​@@TheMillennialGardener

[@Tazzyone.]

@@jamillefrancisco564 I think some dont water properly and it can burn the roots.

[@steveanimatrix3887]

@@TheMillennialGardener I literally do all of that except I fert every oher Sunday. It's part of being lazy :) I don't want to water or weed, etc. Sometimes I only go in the garden once a week. My garden is similar to yours.

[@kaceykelly7222]

I love it when a gardener has the courage to challenge the old standards. This will help a lot of us to have much better gardens. ❤

[@marysmith4811]

I love it when ANYONR has the courage to challenge ANYTHING... Because of recent events some of us have learned to basically question everything, and in some cases do the opposite.

[@user-vz2vv4qs8t]

I will be 77 years of age in a few days and after watching this video, you have changed my way of gardening after 57 years. Your logic is beyond belief, but it sure makes a lot of sense to me. I have never been a sucker puller, but I have done the rest, but NO LONGER. Thanks for an excellent and very informative video, and I will continue watching.......I have always thought you were the absolute best gardener on KZbin.

[@aliciakwong1149]

It's usually not his knowledge. He's does a really good job of reading the scientific data. He didn't quote any in this video but he quotes a lot of studies and you can look them up yourself 😊 it's nice he's done the work for us

[@lobodo988]

I’m not a bit worried about my plants receiving partial shade anymore, what a relief, no? I will still provide trellis & fence for all my vines because I just don’t want to step on them! HA! Plus they’re so much easier to see & pick when up off the ground. And Happy Birthday to you, I am also born in early July 👍

[@lindafreeman1687]

I completely agree with NOT pruning veggies. I have gardened all my life and have never pruned my veggies. On the videos I watch where they prune tomatoes and cut off the suckers I cringe. I also notice they have to plant 15 or twenty plants to get the same amount of fruit that I get on five plants that I do not prune. They are also replanting to try to get a fall crop because they didn't get enough fruit because they pruned and the plants died too soon where mine are still fruiting into late fall. You are also right about the amount of sun veggie plants need. I built 12 raised beds and placed them between my back fence and sheds where they receive some sun and some shade and they all produce well. Next we need to test the watering theory. I was told I should not water from above...but use a drip system on the ground as to not get the plants wet. My response to those people is....tell that to God...because He did not produce rain to come from below to water plants...he produced it from the sky so the plants can drink and refresh from their leaves as well as from their roots. I have always watered from above and rarely do I have to deal with diseases on my plants. I also think watering from above washes some of the bugs off...like aphids. Nature is smart. So good to see a video that looks at the real truth of the way things actually work best.

[@CeeSucg783]

😂😂😂good read😊

[@MichaelRei99]

You needn’t worry about anyone else pruning their plants it should not affect you at all. Denying there are benefits to pruning is just showing your bias as pruning has benefits you either can’t acknowledge or are to stubborn to acknowledge. You garden your way and let others garden the way they see fit.

[@mpsorrentino]

When it comes to watering from above, when you water is the more important part, early morning before the sun comes up is best it gives the plants and soil time to soak up what they need before the sun comes up and dries the leaves off. I used to be the plant waterer at a local Lowe's the tomatoes never had any issues.

[@65stang98]

@@MichaelRei99 he never said it affected him. It sure seemed to effect you though lmao

[@sunshineacresdreaming8351]

​@MichaelRei99 lol don't think that is what he is saying at all. But he's not wrong. I very rarely prun my tomatoes and less with cucumbers. I produce tons of both for most of the season. I only have back up cucs cause of the blasted cucumber beetle. There is nothing wrong with a different view. Why can't you be more polite and see there are indeed more ways to garden and all he was saying is what a lot of us know, but isn't the current popular thing to say? Honestly I hate seeing severely pruned tomatoes, they look so awful and sickly.

[@adotintime]

I do see your logic, however, there are a couple of things to consider. 1) Most of the tomato plants we have today are not naturally evolve to be what they are due to selective bleeding. So, the argument of letting them grow in the wild without human care and they will still thrive may be just speculation because these 'man-made' tomato plants have not been put under any real pressure for a long evolutionary challenge. 2) Most of the time, pruning off tomato suckers is mostly for the purpose of real estate management due to our limited space as we all want to plant more variety of plants (for fun and joy) in a small area. If real estate is not an issue and production is the main goal, then you are probably correct as more suckers will definitely yield more tomatoes in a shorter time but the plant will be definitely growing out of control in a small area.

[@BlackBelgianDog]

Exactly, wild species are completely different from what we have bred. They have usually small and maybe bitter fruits and are more resistant to diseases. They are evelvod to reproduce, not to grow lot of food to humans or other animals. And also, I live in colder climate and can't get bigger tomatoes ripen without pruning, there's just not enough energy in the plant to do that before winter comes. So pruning suckers give me less yield but at least I get some ripened. But good video anyway.

[@NicolaiAAA]

THIS. I didn't used to prune my tomato plants and they grew absolutely out of control. Sure I got tomatoes, but it was such a a hassle to figure out how to manage them because I don't have the setup that all these KZbin gardeners do. So now I selectively prune so I still get production, but the plant isn't going absolutely bananas.

[@anishinaabae]

@@BlackBelgianDogi also live in a colder climate as well and pruning tomatoes (along with most fruiting plants) is a must for me! i share land with my mothers garden, and i’ve been sorta running a very unscientific secret experiment: we’re both growing sweet million tomatoes and while i’m pruning back all of my suckers to create a single lead plant, she isn’t! can you guess who has larger, more robust fruit? 😊 her plant definitely has a higher yield, but her cherry tomatoes are the size of small marbles, whereas mine are golf ball sized! as with most advice, it’s dependent upon your location and your situation. it makes the most sense to prune back suckers if you live in an area with shorter growing seasons, or your setup doesn’t allow for a gargantuan sprawling plant! or maybe you’re like me and you just prefer the satisfaction a larger cherry tomato brings when you pop it into your mouth during a garden walk. 😂

[@baileydubs]

I have a 15x15 garden plot and have 5 tomato plants growing in close proximity to one another (about 1.5-2ft apart) and I have pinched off some suckers because I don’t have the space for all of them, but I also haven’t done only 1 stem like a lot of online gardeners recommend. Kind of an in between

[@adotintime]

@@BlackBelgianDog I do love the video as well. It opens up for us not to blindly accept anything at face value. However, it does depend on many factors regarding the benefit of pruning. The plant itself, the climate, the length of the growing season, and the amount of real estate are all important factors. I had a couple of tomato plants unpruned last year at the corner of my deck. They actually have a good yield, but the tomatoes are not able to ripen to the 30% stage with my limited growing season. So, I am forcing them to ripen using Banana. lol. Obviously, they have grown pretty out of control and did annoy me at the time. Having said that, the suggestion of pruning plants like cucumber that will attract more harmful insects makes a lot of sense, but not sure how else we can manage limited real estate without pruning them.

[@evemurton1133]

You hit the nail on the head! Just today I realized that the less time I spend hovering and being a helicopter parent to my plants, the better they grow! They want to be left alone to do what they do! But since we’re in charge of where they are growing, we end up hurting them. Humans are severely interfering, which explains why most vegetation we purchase at the store “look” perfect! They have been raised on everything unnatural from before they were even seeds. Humans are creating their own form of perfect fruit or vegetable because most people want to see perfect and will not buy anything that’s looks anything but. The most natural way to grow HEALTHY food, is to let it grow the way it knows how to defend itself from the harsh environments and pests. If we go in and snip them all up and manipulate their growth, one little moth or worm could/does devastate them! Like children, who need to play outside with friends who are living in all different environments to increase and strengthen their immune system! We keep wearing our vegetation and then wonder why they are dying. Let’s allow them to grow in as close to their natural environment as possible, and let’s keep our busy hands off and trust them to do their thing. We do need to provide the water and shade if we are choosing their environment, and throw our kitchen scraps into their soil to feed them. And then let them be and watch what’s happens! THANK YOU FOR THE BEST GARDENING TIPS!! I learn so much from you!!

[@TheMillennialGardener]

The phrase "killing with kindness" comes to mind. Our job as gardeners is to be stewards of nature, not to direct it. We should be checking our plants daily to ensure they are not being attacked by pests, wilting due to drought and not starving due to lack of fertilizer. We shouldn't be directing their every move. I try to treat them like kids. I provide a roof over their heads, food, water, and I keep them safe from the dangerous insects. Aside from that, they need to do their own thing and learn to navigate through the world

[@evemurton1133]

@@TheMillennialGardener I couldn’t have worded it better than that!

[@evemurton1133]

@@TheMillennialGardener I am always trying to figure out the best fertilizer. Do we need to use different kinds for different plants, or is there something I can feel good about using on everything? I recently used Miracle Gro water soluble in a pressure container and gave everyone a couple squirts at the base of the plants. Will that do for the bi-weekly feedings?

[@mcgritty8842]

@@evemurton1133 “we shouldn’t be directing their every move.” That is a fact. I noticed that the plants I allow to grow vertically without tying up have been growing faster than those that I do tie up. The more hands off I am, the more robust the growth “They need to do their oen thinf and navigate the world” bwahaha so funny, yet true. Plants really are just like people

[@adamsw2424]

I'm convinced that removing the oldest leaves from my yellow squash has allowed them to thrive this year

[@cynthiacollins2668]

My neighborhood rabbits and deer, not to mention the wind, laugh at the idea that pruning doesn't occur in nature!

[@samwall9411]

This guy is trippin. I prune my marijuana plant and get good results

[@Dpowell28]

​@samwall9411 same. I prune my mushrooms and they come right back. Stay trippy my friend 👽

[@easternacademy]

We never pruned tomatoes in our North Carolina homestead garden 60 years ago. I moved to the Mid-Atlantic and eventually opened a farm-to-table restaurant where I was the farmer. I grew tomatoes both in the field and in the high tunnel. I aggressively pruned in the high tunnel to assure product quality and continuous supply. In the field, I was less aggressive, but still pruned. Pruning was the most effective way for me to provide a steady supply to quality tomatoes throughout the growing season.

[@aprila7553]

When I hear such opposing statements, I want to know more! Thank you for sharing!! I know it's not easy because of criticism, but you're doing a good thing and it's appreciated. Also, that intro/preface was perfection.

[@mcgritty8842]

Having an open mind is such a strong quality to have 💪 ❤

[@TheMillennialGardener]

I know it flies in the face of conventional wisdom these days, but what makes more logical sense to you? Does a person perform better when deep wounds are regularly being inflected upon them, or does a person perform better when they're free from cuts and wounds? I've never understood why injuring annuals was supposed to help them. Seems to me having to recover from deep wounds would set them back, not speed them up.

[@pandorafox3944]

You are absolutely right. Some tomato plants got pruned, others did not. Pruned plants haven't grown, no flowers, etc... I never guessed it was that I was over pruning. Meanwhile, volunteer tomato plants, unpruned and wild, growing big beautiful leaves and fruiting copiously. 🤷‍♀️ No more pruning! Thanks!!! And those volunteer tomatoes are out in the full sun in 100+ degree temps!

[@TheMillennialGardener]

It's true. Every time we cut them, it's like having a surgery on our arms and legs. How can we expect to run and play catch if our arms and legs are constantly healing from deep wounds? Pruning hurts them, just like it hurts us. Only do it when it's absolutely necessary.

[@jean1228]

@@TheMillennialGardenerI’m really glad you posted this. Something always seemed weird to me about skeletonizing tomato plants. I’m going back to letting them do their thing.

[@JeffClow]

Every gardener - newcomers and veterans - need to watch this video. Your no pruning hypothesis makes perfect sense. Especially when you correctly equate it to ‘wounding’ a plant with every cut. My sincere compliments on this eye-opening video.

[@Francina214]

You are one of the most instinctual, natural gardeners Ive listened to and your communication skills are excellent.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Thank you! I appreciate it!

[@suedoe8710]

I wish I had this information 2 months ago. I’ve been pruning my tomato plants and they’re not doing great. I had my doubts but so many of the big gardeners tell you to do this and I started having doubts so I stopped. 😢Oh well, live and learn. But now I know, thank you.

[@tarawerner4271]

Same 🤨

[@bmiller1958]

I learned A LOT! I have always questioned pruning. This makes so much sense. And the shade…last year, just by chance and me being a novice (and not knowing any better), I planted 20 tomatoes under a Redbud tree. Those tomatoes outperformed every one of my tomatoes that were in full sun. 💯 agree with you on the shade!

[@Hybscrafthouse]

I planted my tomatoes in the pot. I moved them all over around the house and they like morning sun and shaded afternoon. Some of the old ones I put in the sun for several days before are not growing as well as the ones I always kept in my back porch.

[@enagreco3280]

Wow

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Yep! Tomatoes grow in the forest, not in fields! Emulate their native habitat. Give them warm temps, dappled light, rich organic matter and heavy mulch. They'll grow themselves!

[@jansmith9375]

God doesn’t need us to mess up what he perfected. I’ve pruned but wonder, if my father didn’t prune and he made a great crop of everything he grew, why do I need to prune. Thank you for confirming what I always thought. Great videos. Keep them coming.

[@deltatango5765]

I can vouch for everything you said. I am originally from the east coast. Out there, I had no idea what I was doing. I filled a raised garden with topsoil and transplanted my seedlings that I started indoors in March, watered about every other day, and that was it! I had more tomatoes than I could eat. Everything else grew great also. I successfully grew string beans, watermelon, corn and more, knowing nothing. The down side is the very short growing season. I moved to Arizona and have been watching KZbin videos about growing tomatoes for 7 YEARS, all of which said that tomatoes need a minimum of 6 hours of direct sun, and you MUST prune to grow bigger or more fruit, depending on how you prune. I've been following their advice for 7 years, and it's like burning money! Not a single successful garden in all that time! I had 3 tomato plants this year that were big, green, and bushy, and one tomato! The Arizona heat caused the leaves to curl and stay that way, and almost all the buds dropped off before they bore fruit. They were planted in good, fertile soil, had at least 10 hours of sun, and I watered and fertilized regularly and pruned as they advised. In 7 years, I've not had a single successful garden, other than kale. For some reason kale seems to grow like weeds in the winter here. I was very depressed until I saw this video. I FINALLY know what I've been doing wrong! THANK YOU!

[@lindag9975]

I hear you, having moved to the Phoenix area from Southern California. You must use shade cloth for almost everything here. The only exceptions are Armenian cucumbers. Malabar spinach, watermelons, and sweet potatoes can also survive without shade cloth. I use 50% shade cloth on most plants. But I also use wind resistant beach umbrellas over other plants. I follow Angela with the Growing in the Garden Facebook page, KZbin channel, and website, and am learning volumes from her. She is a master gardener in Mesa.

[@fredheineman9398]

And all these years I've been gardening I thought I was lazy, I've been gardening for 20+ years and have never pruned my tomatoes. For the last two or three years I have been watching you and several others and have learned so much. I still don't prune and my garden is beautiful and producing more than ever. What you say may go against conventional thinking but I agree with most of what you say. Keep up the good work. 👍

[@dexteryoung907]

Powerful video, So true we have to start looking at our plants and say to ourselves how plants in nature grow so well without being cut on. Thanks for this information, I won't be pruning my plants anymore!

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Thank you! I'm glad I got my point across well.

[@asprywrites6327]

Man 0:01 it's a shame that these times we live in mandate all these disclaimers and "please don't hate" lines...

[@TheMillennialGardener]

I don't think it's a product of the times. It's just how we are as humans. We are set in our ways, and we don't like being told we're wrong. Watch my old videos - I was doing many things wrong, at least for my climate, and I probably still am. I know I have room for improvement. I'm proud to be wrong, because if I'm wrong, that means I can get even more food per square fot. Being wrong means you can do even better, but some don't see it like that. Sometimes, the kindness you deliver the message with is the most important thing. I want to be clear that I'm not calling anyone out. I'm just trying to help.

[@mariacarter938]

@@TheMillennialGardener I have learned so much from watching your videos. Thank you for what you do.

[@theresa94010]

As soon as I finished watching this video, I rushed out to my back yard and moved all of my veggie plants to a shady area that gets morning sun only. They are in 10 - 15 gallon pots, not in ground thankfully. Im in San Francisco Bay Area and we are having a 90+ degree heat wave. You just saved all my veggie plants.

[@Hybscrafthouse]

All the ones I moved in the full sun got hurt and the one I only keep in the morning sun grows really well. I will never do as the instructions. 8 to 10 hours full sun in this hot summer will make all of them die from hot sunburnt.

[@Toggle_New_Top_2SeeCensored]

Full sun is a lie😂

[@hkandm4s23]

Oh gosh especially in containers, that's a recipe for disaster! Containers heat up and dry out faster than the ground. We way overcrowded our garden this year so that the tomatoes shade each other and still a few of the top flowers burn off. But thanks to hundreds of volunteer cherry tomatoes and volunteer marigolds we have a bunch of shade and hundreds of tomatoes growing.

[@theresa94010]

@@Toggle_New_Top_2SeeCensored - Yes, what a common misconception.

[@gregdoh]

Anytime I ask for garden advice I first ask, "what advice would you give if someone has blossom end rot on their tomatoes?", and if their answer is, "add crushed up tums or egg shells to the soil", I find someone else to get advice from. Great video, as always!

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Add a thick layer of mulch, install drip irrigation, water deeply 1-2 times a week depending on your weather. *That* is how you prevent blossom end rot 😀

[@eviemaddox3038]

@@TheMillennialGardenerYou should also ask what the plant is growing in. I had an amazing Roma that I started hydroponically and transferred to 5 gallon bucket with soil. Every fruit had BER. Instinct told me it needed to go into the ground. It was about 2 ft tall and bushy. When I transplanted into the ground, saw that it was root bound. After a couple of weeks, first Roma with no BER appeared!

[@corak.1347]

I add some leftover Oyster shell that I give to my chickens so when I transplanted my tomatoes to my garden, I threw it in there. So far, it seems to be working. Also, I have rabbits & use their poop for my plants. OMG, rabbit pellets are the bomb!! Every plant has grown twice as fast & produced more fruit. I've tried all kinds of fertilizers (you name it), but rabbit poop is the way to go. Hubby googled it & said it is one of the top fertilizers for a veggie garden.

[@WinsomeWinslet]

We live in Zone 7b where it's HOT and humid! We don't prune our tomatoes and we let them sprawl everywhere and they give us hundreds of tomatoes per plant. The only thing we do to avoid too many pests or disease is that we remove them once they are about 50% ripened and allow them to ripen inside. The taste is the same and we don't lose many tomatoes this way. I'm so glad you covered this!

[@LMLewis]

I have started doing this, too, and the results have been great. Fewer pests and less chance of tomatoes splitting.

[@user-xp1ex1zu3m]

I totally agree with your theory! Last year, I did not do any purring. I had a huge crop of tomatoes. This year, I took off the suckers from listening to a garden channel, and my tomato crop has been terrible. I am now hoping my plants will recover. Thanks for bringing awareness that gardening is different in every climate!

[@Tailfuzzy]

I experimented this year with my grow bag tomatoes. I pruned 2 tomatoes below the fruit like I saw someone suggest. They dead now. The others are still thriving here in northern Florida. The extra leaves shade the main stem and I think that’s why the leafy ones still survive in this awe full heat we are having. My opinion, north Florida tomatoes need some shade through leaves and shade cloth.

[@Skydiver63]

Yes same in NC. I hope I live another year to try and do it again and better. The heat is unbearable and I Messed up watching videos to say prune plants.! I wish I had seen this video earlier and I would have learned alot and also gotten that shade covering.

[@AdamTreier]

I hope ​you live another 40 years so you can perfect the art of tomatoes

[@Skydiver63]

@@AdamTreier ty😘 at 100 lol

[@jenmoxley9814]

I’m in Seattle and my garden gets maybe 3 hours sun at max. After years and years of being told I can’t grow tomatoes - this gives me hope. This makes sense logically and I’m not pruning anymore.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Keep in mind that in your short climate with not a lot of sun, you may actually need to top plants to keep them from putting too much energy into vigor. I'm not an expert in your climate, because I have the opposite problem - too much heat and sun. However, I strongly recommend you look at the tomato varieties Siletz and Legend. They were specifically developed by Oregon State University for your climate. They produce like crazy in 55-70 degree temperatures, and they ripen insanely fast. They are determinate tomato plants that only get about 36 inches tall, and the flavor is as good as an heirloom. I highly recommend you try those two. Those WILL grow and produce for you. These two varieties should not be pruned at all. Never remove suckers.

[@sethsmith9999]

I'm north of you in tulalip, and I get 3 hours on my tomatoes, and I produce so many tomatos that I just can't keep up with them

[@cindyciszewski4507]

Late in the season, I prune my tomatoes to get sun on the green fruits, and snip or flowers that have zero chance of becoming viable fruit.

[@lexxivexx]

Hi, fellow PNW gardener.. PDX, but I'm right at the confluence of Willamette and Colombia river, so my micro climate is different between neighborhoods just 2 miles east... We get warmer weather than y'all up there, but the Puget sound is going to have profound effects, so garden "zone" is essentially useless. Tualip, as another commenter mentioned, is a relatively protected inlet with more natual surroundings as buffer. It's just not comparable to Seattle! Same as Salem (about the same distance) has vastly different growing conditions than Portland. I'm lazy AF, so I prune twice: once in spring BEFORE I set out my BIG tomato starts (this year temps were too low at night, so I had to wait until June) and again when the heavy rains start back up between August and September. Also, don't bother with big varieties of tomatoes unless you want to babysit all season. Here, I can get away with brandywines and Cherokees okay, but it's the small tomatoes that do best with our drier, short summers and wet spring/autumn. Everyone I know in Seattle has better luck when they go for golf-ball sized or less. Also, biggest issue I see here is ppl planting right at last frost rather than wait for soil to warm. It's just plain better to keep up-potting starts until nighttime soil temps reach a consistent 50° (soil thermometers are super cheap) than put a little seedling out according to frost projections. Hope this helps, don't give up, but Millennial Gardener is right: we're working with basically the opposite of East Coast conditions.

[@marktoldgardengnome4110]

@@lexxivexx Pacific climate is affected more by ocean temperatures, whereas New England's temps are affected by climate from the west and Canada temps are much colder. Same basic latitudes, 45-47N degrees. Having said that, I follow a channel that is located in the northeast of the UK at a latitude of about 55N degrees. On the west coast zone 8a-9. Grow zones can be misleading. Soil temps are critical but then again ambient air temps are more detrimental than soil temps. It's entirely possible to go below freezing overnight even when the soil temps have reached 50/55+/-. Soil temp mostly refers to end of dormancy/germination. Air temps concern is plants/vegetation, anything that has exposed leaves, not able to withstand 32 or lower. Unless its cold hardy. And there's a real big difference between a frost and a hard freeze, the later is lights out. Problem with all of this is, especially newbies, if interpreted incorrectly, lets say, "I wanna know your zone, so I can have the same results as you!" or, "you can't cut suckers"? No disrespect, that's misleading. You are correct Lexx. IMHO, know your climate, know what your growing and adjust from there what works best for you. Good Luck in your Garden

[@nagasraka7290]

Thank you so much for this! I've only been gardening for two years but I had noticed a few things and this confirmed what I had been wondering. Last year (my first year gardening) I grew four cherry tomato plants, all the same plant. Two were in 5 gallon buckets and two were in the ground. Same watering, same fertilizer, same light, they were next to each other out in the garden. The ones in buckets were wiped out by disease in half the time as the ones in the ground. The only real difference was pruning. I never touched the ones in the ground and was constantly pruning off lower leaves on the container plants. This year I have 26 tomato plants and have only been pruning when necessary to keep them from becoming a jungle. They all look fantastic and have tons of fruit!

[@saintmig1101]

"Nature doesn't prune" AMEN!!!

[@donhorak9417]

Are you kidding me? High wind can snap off a tall plant. Pruning!

[@davidg81815]

Nature does prune. Ever seen a deer?

[@ryanennis3199]

@@donhorak9417 also what about wild life stress can be a good thing

[@brent9516]

Deer , rabbit, ? They prune your plants and trees

[@NicolaiAAA]

Nature definitely prunes - insects eating any of the lower leaves touching the ground. Or the young grasshoppers having a munchy session on certain plants.

[@kristenw1457]

This makes so much sense to me. When I first started growing and had no idea what I was doing, my cucumber plants gave me sooo many cucumbers, but since I watched more gardening videos and started doing the pruning and removing the sucker vines that many recommended, I got so much less fruit. I’m going back to leaving them alone. It seems like more and more things that we have been taught in life don’t make any common sense if you really stop to think about it. We have been so programmed to just believe what we have been told by the so called experts that we never stop to think with our own intuitions. The Great Awakening is finally starting to happen in so many areas of life. Thank you for not being afraid to speak out and be “controversial.” Sharing your intuitive common sense will help us all to grow more food, which is so important at this time. ❤

[@rachaellynee6560]

I have lived in Texas my whole life and have learned a lot of these things from experience and coming to logical conclusions like you have. Awesome video! Thank you for making this!

[@dawnmc3101]

I am gardening in the piedmont area of NC, and I appreciate that you are sharing your experiences with us. I hesitate to follow gardeners from other areas of the US who don’t know the challenges of summer heat, humidity, flash flooding and drought. The weather here sure does take a toll on plants and people alike!

[@pamelapoll7442]

I am a newbie vegie gardener in southern CO. Not only do we have intense sun but fierce winds. I bought a 8×8' walk in chicken run which is just a big cage with a roof. Then my husband and I cut polycarbonate panels to fit and zip tied them to the cage except for the roof and door. When I noticed the tomatoes were getting stressed by the heat, I threw a large 40% shade cloth over the roof and 2 sides of the cage. The tomatoes are VERY happy now. They are protected from the storms and wind. You are right about the shade.

[@caralinebennett4652]

Totally agree. My first year gardening so I trusted everyone saying prune prune prune if you want more tomatoes prune if you want to avoid diseases prune. Well now my cherokee purple tomatoes haven't grown since & the tomatoes I never pruned once FULL OF TOMATOES. Next year I won't touch my plants at all I guess ya live and learn

[@quirkyviper]

This is so helpful. I've had a few annual veggie patches and each year I've gotten stressed about all the tiny details (many of which, I cannot control, like what angle my house was built on for light exposure). I've challenged myself this season to just TRY. I've got a bunch of seeds and we are fortunate that there's a grocery store down the street, so I can learn without the pressure of lacking fresh veggies. Once I get it down pat, it's a wrap for the produce section!

[@lilolgreyhairdlady4093]

That's the idea!!! - just give it a try (again & again & ...)

[@sodsqad8089]

From my 40 years of growing not only vegetables but specimen palm trees, crepe myrtles, japanese maples and high grade cannabis in my nursery every year is different. You mentioned conventional wisdom several times which is mostly taught on youtube channels because of no in the field knowledge. My garden health dwarfs from what you have, not judging, I am glad you called yourself out and admitted teaching wrongisms in the past. I used to get so angry watching these gardening channels teaching the wrong way to grow a garden. Example, trim all the suckers off cucumbers. The trick is to trim the first 6 or so suckers off then let them be cucumbers. The main stem may grow a few more cucumbers but the suckers will provide you more cucumbers than you can imagine. Never trim suckers off determinate tomatoes. Fertilize regularly which most home gardeners do not do, they fertilize once at planting. I could go on and on. Thanks for a good video. I got your back!!!!!

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Gardening is a constant learning experience. That is why I love it. You can have 40 years of experience and you still learn new things every year. It never ends. One of my challenges has been constantly moving. I've moved 9 times and lived in 3 different states over the last 15 years. Now that I'm finally settled somewhere for the long haul, I've been able to really observe. I can't say enough about the power of observation. If you just sit down and really pay attention, it's amazing what you'll see.

[@sodsqad8089]

@@TheMillennialGardener Amen my friend. I cant wait to see your journey when you get to Florida where you planted a tree. Every environment is different and you tell it how it is. So much respect.

[@craigsickel5517]

@@TheMillennialGardener Are you familiar with Masanobu Fukuoka's book: The One-Straw Revolution ? Watching nature to guide farming is his theme.

[@lindagoldman2351]

Two years ago, I threw several tomatoes in my compost pile because birds had pecked holes in them. Within a month I had a huge crop of tomatoes growing my compost pile. It was the best tomatoe crop I’ve ever had. At the time I thought to myself if I’d had more sun I bet I could’ve even had a bigger crop tomatoes Now I realize the reason my tomatoes did so well that year was probably because they only got three or four hours of sun. Great video…very thought provoking.

[@Wellbaby94]

Hmmmm, I should have watched this 2 hours ago. I just spent this evening cutting back diseased leaves/stems on 4 of my tomato plants. The good news is that now having watched, I won’t mess with the rest! It makes so much sense and definitely saves a lot of work and mess. At almost 82 I am finally learning how to successfully grow tomatoes in Texas thanks to your sharing your knowledge in videos.

[@SCook49]

I took a page out of your book this season and did my tomato plants vertically and loved it. I used shade cloths last summer and also this year. The suckers got away from me, so didn’t prune them very often. Thanks for sharing the video!

[@mschuiming]

Im so glad to hear this. Im 77 and grew up NOT pruning-and it s always felt wrong. what a relief-since ive been pruning I dont get good harvests-so i thought i was pruning wrong. 🤦🏽‍♀️TYTYTY!!!

[@paulspanish-he2ki]

very helpful, thanks for sharing your experiences with all of us

[@TheMillennialGardener]

You're very welcome!

[@ECole-le7we]

My grandfather and grandmother had a big successful farm in South GA for generations. I never heard about pruning any vegetables. There was not time for that, and I doubt it they would even if there were.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

When I worked on a farm in New Jersey, we only grew determinate tomatoes. Hundreds and hundreds of Celebrity determinates. They were never pruned, but of course, you should never prune a determinate tomato. We ran a drip line for fertilizer injection, and that was it. They were never touched until harvest. That's how you get real production on a farm.

[@jeffreycook1935]

Out of all the gardening video's i've watched over the years the content you put out seems to be head and shoulders above the others. Your presentations are great and always noteworthy. Thank you so much.

[@marvinbrock960]

I’ve made lots of changes to my “system” based on your advice and have never found any of it to be silly or inaccurate. Thank You for your time and dedication.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

I appreciate it! The engineer in me loves building a better mousetrap 😀

[@Maggie-eq4cd]

I bought a shade cloth for my tomatoes and cucumbers as per your advice in another video. This pruning video does make so much sense. I am learning more. Thank you for sharing your information. Maggie UK

[@ctruth9487]

Big agree. I've lived in North Carolina all my life and have never pruned my tomato suckers. The only thing you're doing by cutting off suckers is cutting off future tomatoes. Do you want more fruit or not? It should be common sense to any gardener from day one. I never understood why people would repeat such nonsense.

[@Catherine-pp5nv]

You have challenged my thinking that some areas of my yard have too little sun to grow veggies. I will now be more adventurous and try planting some new areas.😊

[@dawnbaldi2389]

I appreciate everything you said and applaud you for taking a chance! I am a new gardener and I have learned a lot from you. You help me try to think critically about things and trust myself to go against what people have told me and to just try my ideas out!!

[@Vulcar123]

Thank you for the knowledge! Looks like I made a few mistakes this year as I've been pruning the blighted leaves on my tomatoes, but now I won't!

[@AjArpopP52]

I agree 100%. I’ve even thought about when I cut branches off my zucchini plants could it actually be throwing a scent off. I never prune thinking I was lazy but I noticed I never get any of the diseases others talk about it. I’ve never gotten blight. My only problem has been squash bugs in my zucchini and I will not use any kind of spray on my plants organic or not. I just flood the base every day and smash them as they come out. I check the leaves for eggs but I have been just cutting those leaves off but now after your video I will not do that. I will just use rolled up duct tape and pull them off. Thank you so much for this video. I now know I wasn’t lazy I was doing right. I don’t think you’re someone that thinks you better. You are always helping with good intentions

[@FM-Patriot]

I moved from Baltimore to western NC and I must say, Thank you for this video! I am ordering my shade cloth today and the pruning will stop. The sun is WAY stronger here than up north. My plants that only get a few hours of direct sun every day always did much better than the ones in full sun. We are often blinded by the "normal" ways of doing things even in the face of common sense. I am going with common sense on this one. Thanks again for the video!

[@teenagardner3623]

Coastal SC here. It's great making us think of video with a lot of practical sense. Why would annual veggies grow so many leaves in the first place, if not for own protection? A plants goal is to reproduce/make their fruit. Many leaves thru the growing cycle are for disease, pest pressure, and climate. What a lightbulb moment. Love it!

[@brianrhubbard]

Don't apologize. Facts and truths do not end where feelings start.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

It's true, but presentation means a lot, because you can't change hearts and minds if your approach doesn't come with feeling. I did it "the wrong way" for most of my life, and I'm proud to have proven my old self wrong.

[@MichaelRei99]

One mans truth is another mans opinion. Being that so many other gardeners disagree I’d say this is opinion.

[@brianrhubbard]

@TheMillennialGardener That's how we learn. It's so refreshing when people explain the process to prove their mistakes with visual proof and with valid research in hindsight. You hit it on the head with the tomatoes by research and execution of that method. The proof is evident in how happy those tomatoes look.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

@@brianrhubbard I love being proved wrong in gardening. If I'm wrong and there is a better way, that means I can grow even more food in the same space.

[@squidikka]

@@MichaelRei99 The stark difference between the two men is one thinks facts can be opinions if enough people tell him it's false regardless of what is easily observable, and the other will gladly change their mind once presented the observable data. As a man in a tiny hat once said: "Facts don't care about your feelings."

[@diananazaroff5266]

I watch a channel from Azerbaijan located in the Shahdag Mountains (Country Life Vlog). Their climate allows them to grow tomatoes out in the open and they let them vine along the ground. It blew my mind when I saw that and their results were phenomenal. I've never seen such beautiful, symmetrical tomatoes. Couldn't do that here, in Georgia, for sure. Because of you, I've experimented more with my annual veg. This year I moved almost everything to a space that gets morning sun until about 2pm, but it appears even that is still too much. I've got my asparagus in a kiddie pool under the almond tree and it's doing fabulous (plenty of sun in early spring, shady after harvest time). I separated my Roma tomatoes from the others and it appears they're getting way too much sun - so much so that I can't seem to find a good watering regimen. About 90% of my fruit has blossom end rot from me trying to water them enuf to keep the plants from shriveling up. Ugh... I've ordered my shade cloth and we'll see if I can save it all. I'm going to rethink my whole veg garden for next year. I've got plenty of shady spots and I'm gonna try it out for the tomatoes, cukes, etc. Thank you for your engineering mind, lol, and for the information you give.

[@CherieNorquay]

I love that youtube channel too 😊

[@TheWheelTurns]

watch that channel all the time. they have magic soil or magic seeds or something, everything they grow is HUGE, and no mosquitoes. very realxing channel

[@virsapiensfortisest922]

I absolutely LOVE that channel!!!

[@666evo666]

I work in a walled garden that has a massive greenhouse and I absolutely get sick of people asking me why Im not pruning my tomato plants, you hit the nail on the head, nature does not prune. When you go around pruning everything you are just making your plant susceptible to diseases. The only two plants in my massive greenhouse that caught a disease where two cucumber plants that had been pruned and yes I did use rubbing alcohol on the secateurs. Conventional pruning methods will obviously look aesthetically pleasing but that does not mean the plants will be better because of pruning year in year out. Thank you for going against the common trend, people just need to realize nature does most of the work.

[@stevenfeyl9332]

For me it’s there is no one size fits all or a correct or incorrect way to garden. Lots of people prune their veggies and have full sun gardens and have great and successful gardens. Listen to all the perspectives and go with what works for you. If you are struggling try a different method. Gardening can be fickle and there are so many variables in play from year to year. Always good to see what other people do and to challenge the norms and to experiment. I kinda enjoy pruning my tomatoes and have had success with this style but also don’t lose any sleep when one bushes out. I do appreciate the information you shared as a way to keep an open mind and to be open to changing as you have.

[@TheJohn1423]

Anthony, thanks so much for making this video! I think so many growers in hotter climates are used to following the common pruning and sun exposure recommendations. As a result, they are seeing poor results but not questioning their methods. After years of having poor tomato yields I started questioning how I've been going about things and these videos confirm some of the thoughts I've been having

[@nordicpink]

Yeah. I think this just decreased my cherry tomato yield

[@MichaelRei99]

@@nordicpink Nobody says prune your cherry tomatoes.😂

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Absolutely, 100%. "Full sun" for most of what we grow in annual vegetable gardens is a bad idea unless you live in Maine or somewhere at a high latitude. The sun is just too strong in most places. These species are native understory species. None of them grow out in fields, they grow under forest cover. How we ever got to planting them in full sun, I'll never know. They want to be under dappled light.

[@conniedavidson1807]

I've stopped trimming trees over my garden so they can provide shade to my plants. With the extra shade from the trees and shade clothe, my tomatoes and peppers are doing better this year than ever before. I've never been much for pruning everything.

[@deborahshelton9302]

ZONE 9b, ORLANDO, FLORIDA here. We've been suffering under extremely high temps (setting new records) and no rain since May. For the last 3 days, we've been under a heat advisory (heat index 111 degrees, 9-10 UV with high humidity). I grow all my veggies, organically, in several elevated 12' x 3' beds & I don't prune. Everything has been suffering. This year, I followed your suggestion to install hoops & cover the plants with shade cloths. WHAT A DIFFERENCE SHADE CLOTHS MADE!!! The plants responded so quickly. I watch you on YT almost daily. You always provide such great information! Thank you!!

[@brichter4669]

You are spot on, Anthony!! I agree with you wholeheartedly! Thank you so much for making this video. I too have come to realize that a lot of garden functions aren't that necessary as recommended. You opened my eyes when you posted your video about the Big Tomato Lie. I live in zone 9 in TX, but grew up in rural NW PA. My grandparents grew a very huge successful garden every year, About the only garden pest I remember is the potato bug. As kids, I and my siblings would take our little sand buckets and knock off the potato bugs with a stick into the buckets. In zone 9, the sun and heat are brutal. My container garden didn't do very well, because I grew it like we did up north and couldn't understand why it didn't grow well in south TX. After watching your tomato lie video, I decided to keep my container plants under our large outdoor pergola that has a slat roof, which provides diffused sunlight. My plants are growing great even though the temps are over 100°! I don't prune my indeterminate tomatoes plants either. Some suckers actually grow and produce fruit. So, I'm actually harvesting more tomatoes.

[@noonespecial5517]

Fantastic video! We stopped pruning our gardens overall and even stopped cutting growth on our property except absolutely when needed. Pests are more controlled and plants are doing well and we are saving our energy! Have not sprayed once this year. Lost some things but not enough to complain about. We are south central Texas. We do interplanting and let vines cover the grounds, use oak leaves and homemade compost to grow our soil. Gardening should be a joy. Not exhausting and expensive. When people come over they take pictures of our land. It looks like a fairytale garden. This is year 5 of our successful gardening. Hard for the garden companies to sell things if we learn how to do it on our own.

[@Katie-dp3jl]

Are you in/near Killeen? I lived there for 9 years. I only had one tiny 4x4 garden bed back then for my preschoolers (now high schoolers) and now that I think about it, I grew more fruits/veggies there with lots of shade trees than I do in my full sun garden up in DFW! And I knew nothing about pruning whatsoever.

[@noonespecial5517]

@@Katie-dp3jl Hi We are prolly 1.5 hours south, south east of Killeen now. We definitely utilize all our trees for shade and actually are beginning to plant mimosa (I know, invasive, but just means I don’t have to work so hard, they grow wild here, and these we feed the leaves to some livestock) for some nice filtered lighting. Have used some Moringa too here and there. We already strategically plant some things to help shade out certain plants. It’s been a struggle to figure it out but last year we sat and watched lots of things and just observed what the struggles were and why some things were thriving and some not. We began noticing how much good actually came from just assisting things instead of forcing them. Every year gets better by just continually applying things learned from prior year. # 1 thing… the sun is great but in moderation. The chaos garden theory has worked well for us over all. Planting a little here, a little there of the same thing to see where the items want to be planted.

[@katherinecarpenter3149]

This is my first year gardening, and this couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. Thank you so much for your thorough explanation! Tremendous help!

[@talinac6491]

You did the right thing! Make sense of all the noise. You and James are doing a great job!

[@deancitroni4447]

Yes! Say it, tell it , let people know it doesn't grow the same in all climates in areas.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Absolutely true. Where I live, we have incredible migration from New York and New Jersey (I'm from NJ), and people are so perplexed, because they have been growing tomatoes their entire lives and they can't keep one single tomato plant alive here or get any fruit. I've given several neighbors *the tour* of how to do it down in the South 😅

[@nordicpink]

I wish I would’ve had this information last weekend

[@brianrhubbard]

@@nordicpink lol

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Use this as an opportunity to run your own experiment. Keep pruning half your plants. Don't touch the other half for the rest of the year. See which plants perform better. Then, you'll know for sure next year.

[@JodiMontano]

Thank you. This all makes so much sense. A few weeks ago, deer heavily pruned 7 of my tomato plants. They're recovering and setting fruit, but prior to that, they were growing so fast that I had to add clips every several days. They have hardly grown any taller since the incident. All those wounds definitely set them back. This is my first year on a new property. I've been getting the Infostructure established. The soil is impossibly rocky, so everything will be in raised beds. I'm also older with back issues, and they're easier for me than ground level. It'll take a while to get shade structures and deer fencing in place, but knowing what to work toward is important. I learn so much from your videos.

[@tamardevane6635]

I tried pruning tomatoes once, some 20 years ago, after not pruning them for 30 years and I definitely had a smaller harvest, so didn’t do it again. It’s very hot her in Portugal, so we had a carport built for our solar panels, in the vege garden. Have planted tomatoes under it, in the shade. So, far, so good. I will try not cutting of blight, to see how that works. Toms produce quickly here, so this year I am trying starting this second crop (went in ground 2. Weeks ago, in my shade garden) to see how that works. The first 40 years of my life, we didn’t have tomato blight! ( born in the 50’s). But it is everywhere now. Many thanks.

[@ktlemongrass5129]

Glad to hear the proper way to grow them in Central America- I’m moving there!

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Keep in mind you'll need to grow them under heavy shade there. The sun will be nuclear. Never plant them out in the open. Forest shade is your friend. Bring some shade tarps with you.

[@ktlemongrass5129]

@@TheMillennialGardener We have extreme rainy seasons (~5ft+) in Costa Rica & the shade tarps help the plants not get too soaked or damaged, too. Would also help protect against some percentage of birds.

[@DebRoo11]

Is it stressing the plant or is it redirecting energy? For melons for example, i prune to have one to two melons per lead. I get bigger better melons thar ripen for harvest. When i don't, i get more melons per sey but they grow so slowly and many won't mature in time. It's actually easier for me to check for and remove pests like cucumber beetles, squash bugs and vine borers which i would get whether i prune or not. It does not take alcohol two minutes to kill bacteria, it takes 15-20 seconds. For squash, if i prune one huge leaf that is shading out new growth, i see a big growth spurt in the days after in tbe fruits and the rest of the plant especially in the leader shoots which form new female flowers. If i don't prune and my plants get unnecessarily huge, i am using up precious space where I am trying to grow other veggies. I respect your advice and will take it into consideration but i think there is a place for pruning and it has never killed my plants. Has it stunted them? Maybe... But i harvest a lot of fully matured and wonder food so that might be something I'd have to experiment with.

[@BryceBandstra]

Thank you so much for your tips. I started a garden this year at thirteen and I have harvested 28 non-bitter, Ashley variety, cucumbers from three plants and there are more coming. I also just harvested my first watermelon (19 Pounds), with many more coming. Also, my strawberries and rosemary are doing amazing. I am so glad I found you, Thank you!

[@tinabloomfield7228]

I live in Michigan.. and I normally prune my tomatoes, this year I want to just let them go wild and just keep the leaves off the ground for the first foot off the ground. I want to see how much they grow without pruning them ❤

[@kittiecorner]

I love your channel. You always provide common-sense answers as you discuss pros and cons while making your points. I'm 76 years old. I grew up on a farm as one of 3 kids. We worked for hours in the fields, transplanting acres of tomato and broccoli plants, then harvesting them. We also had to walk through the hay fields in the sun, turning over the round bales of hay and also the rectangular straw bales. Nowadays the bales are huge, but in those days, 50's,60's & 70's, they were small enough to handle. We'd walk along the rows and use our feet to push them over so they would dry evenly. All this work was done in the middle of the day. Nobody ever said, "Hey, let's wait until it's cooler out." My point is that you could NEVER do that now. In those days, the sun was hot, but manageable. I don't recall a single time I ever felt overwhelmed by the sun. Now, the sun burns. I live only 4 miles from where I grew up, so it's not the kind of change you made. It only makes sense that plants which grew perfectly healthily sixty years ago are no longer able to survive the destructive rays of the burning sun we have to contend with now.

[@letfreedomring4240]

I agree! I never prune.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

I do basic pruning to the transplants prior to transplanting. After they are transplanted, I do not prune *unless* the season is drawing to an end, my plants don't have much left to give at that point and they're so unruly I have little choice. Pruning in spring and the first half of summer, I avoid wherever possible.

[@brandyjean7015]

I don't either, I tend to trust Nature.

[@brandyjean7015]

When I moved almost a thousand miles northward, the 1st thing I did was observe & talk to a couple of senior native gardeners.

[@funkibloo3811]

Thank you❗️❤

[@MichaelRei99]

@@brandyjean7015do you live in a cave with no clothes on? Then you don’t trust nature!

[@stampinwithmoo8462]

I think you’re brilliant. It makes so much sense when I see the damage in my garden and devastated. It may be a little late this year, but I will certainly in the future consider not pruning.

[@carolmorgan6734]

Having grown up in East TN, I have never pruned my plants. When I see a tomato plant with a stem and 10 leaves I aways think, WTH? Your right nature doesn't prune, but I do remove dead stems and leaves. I will stop that. I have two channels of gardening I watch, you are my favorite. Wonderful information.

[@kijihigh6826]

How disappointing! I started my first garden ever this year and was told that pruning is absolutely necessary or they will not produce in abundance. Now I am hearing not to do it. I have been pruning for weeks. Now what?

[@asmooshi9752]

You will be fine, as long as you did not strip your plant bare it wont be a huge deal if they look healthy.

[@DavinStewart]

Experiment! Try withholding pruning for one of your plants and see what effect it has. If that works then you might want to adopt that practice.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Everything I've learned in my garden came from decades of growing and experimentation. I used to heavily prune my plants, but through years of trial and error and experimentation, my views have changed, because I've honestly compared things side by side. Use this as a teachable moment. Stop pruning half your plants entirely, and keep pruning the other half. Compare the two groups and see how they react. Next year, prune half your garden and never prune the other half at all. See how they react. Keep doing the thing that works best. For me, it's *never* pruning my annual vegetables, hands down.

[@rejectconvenience]

Hell yeah, great video - "nature doesn't prune", what a great point.

[@MichaelRei99]

Nature doesn’t grow tomatoes in a garden so you better quit gardening.

[@rejectconvenience]

@@MichaelRei99 Yeah, like, I don't know how to code an application, I better quit using computers 😂

[@TheLordbal]

Facts 😚

[@mcca555]

Yes it does. What do you think deer do?

[@rejectconvenience]

@@mcca555 Does eating the entire plant count as pruning, though?

[@user-mc6jz9er8w]

I 100% agree! I have watched so many videos that recommend hacking the plants and all that goes along with it----the alcohol wipes on the cutters etc. I haven't ever done it and will never do it. Thank you for taking the time to make this video!! Well done!!!!

[@albertnett7864]

Too many videos about hacking plants out there.

[@TheRoadprincess]

Best video ever for learning how to thank things through. Not just gardening, all life can be reevaluated! Thank you!

[@wendellsullivan2341]

The biggest difference between your garden and mine is the spacing between plants. My garden's purpose is to feed my family for a year. I'd need a 5 acre garden the way you plant.

[@MichaelRei99]

Also bushy plants invite mosquitoes to get out of control.

[@Katie-dp3jl]

@@MichaelRei99can’t you just plant lemon grass or lavender or something that the mosquitoes hate? Either near the plants, or just close to the house?

[@MichaelRei99]

@@Katie-dp3jlTried that doesn’t work on Asian Tiger mosquitoes.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

I'm not sure what you mean. My plants are so close together they're literally growing into each other as a giant wall of food. It's almost impossible to tell where one plant stops and another starts.

[@DexterKing-gz6gs]

I live in Central Georgia and the summers are scorching hot. The Millennial Gardener is correct about the heat stress on tomato plants. We are taught that peppers and tomatoes loves heat but the direct sunlight in the summers will stunt your plants. I have the shade from my house plus large fruit trees that provide partial shade. Great video!

[@CrestoneColorado-yj4we]

Growth mindset right there! Thats why Im still gardening after 30 + yrs… because you just keep learning. Im with you, not in the difficult South, but at 8,200 ft in the desert, unnatural place to grow anything but Junipers and piñon. Every year I learn, I get surprised, I mess up. But we keep gardening. Solid video.

[@Boringcountrylife]

DUDE!!! You and my 2024 results have confirmed my same instinct. The first 5 years I grew tomatoes they did really well. Then the last 3 years I have done the pruning game and my tomato plants and harvest got worse and worse. This spring I said "Forget this pruning time dump, I'm just going to ignore the plants." And they look and are producing A-maz-ing! Hope you found it worth your time to make this video and share your thoughts.

[@ladyela9283]

Actually, this video is OUTSTANDING! I grew up in a home where my grandfather grew tons of different vegetables and fruit trees - he never pruned, and we never lacked. God created plants with a "desire" (if you will) to live and produce, just like He created us with that same desire/propensity, all we need (and all they need) is nutritious food. All the unnecessary stuff people publish is because they need content to keep going, but it makes gardeners want to quit because of the time required to do all the other people say to do. You are such a blessing, and I can feel the honesty and truth in the things you say.

[@susierosefinlay]

Thank you for your guidance. I used to live in the mountain zone 8a. And now I live in Las Vegas 9b. Everyone was telling me that I need to prune my plants. I wouldn't. I have 2 heatmaster tomato plants that are 3' - 3.5' high and about 2' wide. They are loaded with leaves...protecting the fruit from the off the charts UV and heat. At my place it was 124*F yesterday, July 8th. For next year we will be adding 50% shade cloths to the north garden. I'm planning on a hog wire tunnel on the east side of the house to grow all our vining plants. I'm watering out 2 Golden Dorsett Apple trees in the morning, when I get home from work and before I go to bed. I moved them to where they get part sun during the day. They both had apples. One tree had the apple roasted on the tree. I removed the mini apples from the 2nd one in order to get it to survive the heat. (Really hacked off my Sweetheart.) The leaves were curling up. I showed my Sweetheart the new leaf growth this morning. To help with the heat stress I'm going to water them every 2 weeks with a organic water soluble fertilizer. My bush beans have roasted on the plants from the heat. The joys of gardening in the desert.

[@WildOrchardOasisFarm]

I'm fairly new to tomato growing after moving from Oregon to Arizona 3 years ago. Last year I tried pruning and between the heat, chipmunks, and pruning, I had a horrible harvest. This year I planted several under 40% shade cloth and several in dappled direct sun unpruned and left to sprawl. I'm getting a good harvest and the plants seem much healthier. I'm also doing better at fertilizing with granular and liquid fertilizer regularly. Great video!

[@DR-rw7es]

Love this message! I saw a video about a month ago about not pruning tomatoes so I thought, why not. To my surprise the suckers on my cherry tomato vine grew beautiful clusters just like the main stem! I can't wait to see what shade does for me... Time to stop moving my tomatoes out in full sun every day. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!!

[@user-yy4zm6yz7c]

I too am in the Wilmington area. Born and raised in Wilmington I now live in the Hampstead area. It's so encouraging to hear that you give me how to garden in this area. My father was a farmer so the DNA runs deep. Thank you!

[@dpend]

I’m grateful for your videos. First time grower from seed this year and I’ve had lots of success. I’ve grown in containers before and never felt like pruning made much sense, so it’s nice to get a confirmation of that intuition as I’m starting to grow vegetables on a bigger scale.

[@Bee_Cathy]

Thank you for the video. As I was pruning like a “good gardener” last week I was thinking if any plant has an issue I am spreading it from plant to plant. No more pruning this season! Looking forward to seeing the plants enjoy the rest of the season.

[@jasminkasarajlic1312]

So this year I just accidentally did what you explained , had no idea what I was doing, just got frustrated with weather being so cold and rainy (Iowa). Instead of hovering over tomatoes, pruning and all that stuff , I decided to water it , occasionally fertilize it and leave it to tomatoes to do their thing. I did prune very random only if the leaves were touching the ground and all those suckers were going wild. My plants are not huge but they have bunches of flowers and now they are turning into fruits. I am a happy little grandma gardener! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and support!

[@DawnMLaPointe]

Thank you for confirming some of my suspicions about these practices! And thank you even more for shortening my garden maintenance to do list!

[@jingcc0121]

Going to try this in my garden this year! I remember my Dad’s garden was never pruned and he always had a fantastic garden and great harvest.

[@zjah888]

Thank you for all the years that you have to experiment and learn so you may share your knowledge to us. As a new gardener, I feel blessed that I don’t have to waste a lot of time and effort to have a productive garden. You did the hard work for us.❤❤❤

[@GL4speed]

I love watching you anyway...now even more. I've been experimenting with this in this years garden. My unpruned plants are way better off than the pruned ones. Perfect sense when looked at from the most simple logic. Thanks for this video brother!

[@hopecantrell8436]

Gardening is a journey. It’s trial and error. I know I learn (a ton from you) what I want to do better for the next planting season. I appreciate your humility and sharing what you’ve learned from past mistakes.

[@janine8933]

I am so glad to hear this information. I live in Northern California and I used to put my tomato plants where they only received 4 hours of sun.....they did well. I listened to videos, tomato plants need minimum of 6 hours of sun and you need to prune here and there, also need good air flow etc. So I had been doing things correctly, until listening to bad advice. Well, I am going outside and will be moving them, to be slightly shaded when it gets real hot in the afternoon. Thank you, for sharing what you have learned. Now I know that pruning tomato plants is pure craziness. Some people push pruning like the health of your depends on continuous pruning. Have a wonderful weekend. 😎

[@MichaelRei99]

It isn’t pure craziness. I can’t believe you are taking one mans opinion as gospel truth when so many successful gardeners differ. Now that is pure craziness!

[@oldmanfigs]

Your videos are the most valuable on these subjects….thank you for your bold truthfulness!

[@GreenGranny]

Thank you for your emphasis on differing gardening rules for different climates. I have been struggling with learning gardening on youtube videos. I live in an area much different than the cool temperate PNW where I grew up. Today where I am now it is 117°. 10 days 110 and above. I did prune before this week in an effort to save some plants, salvia and catmint, so they didn't have to try and keep the moisture in their leaves. It's a big piece of land. I don't cover everything with shade cloth.

[@hkandm4s23]

Agree totally. I'm in Oklahoma and it's currently 102F highs during the day. My tiny garden is out in full sun and there's not much we can do to change that, but due to having chronic pain and toddlers I've never been able to get out there and prune everything. The first year, i was in labor when the seedlings had to go out in the garden. My husband planted a ton of cherry tomatoes way to close together underneath the Cucumber trellis. It was a mess but it was so crowded the plants shaded each other and we physically couldn't pick all the tomatoes. The frost came and there was still a ton of fruit. Now every year the volunteer cherry tomatoes are my best producers. They shade everything, sprawl into every empty area on the ground and we just let them go and lift them up to pick every day. We don't thin our cucumbers anymore and we always have hundreds. When we tried to grow regular tomatoes we spaced them normally and got no fruit because it was way too hot..... this year we packed them in, 2 plants per hole, don't prune and we have hundreds of tomatoes ripening. My garden is only 12x14' and we just let it go and do the work to give some support and squeeze between the plants to harvest. Even my pumpkins.... they got attacked by borers, but we planted them so thickly, we only lost one vine completely before borer season was over. Any other vines have healed up and are back to flowering.

[@Lexanderthel]

As a small gardener in PA this goes against what I’ve always been told and thought about pruning my tomatoes, but I’ll give it a try the rest of the year. Keep up the great informational content!!

[@LMLewis]

I garden in Texas in Zone 3. I started out growing my tomatoes in the sunniest part of the garden and pruned then. Spider mites were a terrible problem and the fruits suffered sun scald. The plants often wilted and began turning brown by June. The next year, I planted the tomatoes in part shade and left two main stems instead of the recommended one. The plants stayed greener a bit longer, there were fewer pests and sun scald decreased. My neighbor's tomatoes were already brown and done as mine remained green. This year, I decided, as an experiment, not to prune at all. I have seen very few pests and the plants are still going strong in July, with temperatures in the 90s. The real challenge comes with the approach of temperatures in the 100s, but I am hopeful that the plants will survive it. Also, as another commenter noted, I have found it helpful to pick tomatoes before fully ripe. The scent of a ripe fruit also attracts pests. (I don't spray anything. I'm okay with having a few pests because that is part of the natural cycle. If nothing else wanted to eat my tomatoes, I'm not sure I'd want to, either.) I further increase the odds in my favor by growing plants that have good resistance to disease and good heat tolerance. My favorites are Italian Heirloom and Eva Purple Ball (another heirloom) both indeterminate, flavorful and suitable for canning as well as serving fresh. This year, I tried a new variety, Thunderbird (a hybrid determinate). It is currently producing loads of tomatoes in the 12 to 16 oz range. But, for flavor, the Italian Heirloom is still my favorite. I have a LOT of pollinator friendly plants in my garden that also attract predatory insects and I make the garden a haven for birds. I regularly see birds and toads looking for insects among my vegetables. I think that, too, reduces the vulnerability of my vegetable garden to dangerous pest infestations. I saw some newly hatched squash bugs on a squash plant recently and made a mental note to come back and pick them off. I forgot but when I returned two days later, I couldn't find a single one.M y pest control crew had beat me to it.

[@doreen643]

I have my first year garden going and I had pruning on my list of to-dos this weekend. I'm crossing that one off! Thanks!