You're Pruning Tomatoes WRONG! This Mistake Will DESTROY Your Harvest!

[@TheMillennialGardener]

If you enjoyed this video, please “Like” and share to help increase its reach! Thanks for watching 😊TIMESTAMPS for convenience: 0:00 The #1 Tomato Pruning Myth 2:54 When You Should NEVER Remove Suckers 4:24 1st Reason To Prune Indeterminate Tomatoes 5:49 2nd Reason To Prune Indeterminate Tomatoes 8:12 3rd Reason To Prune Indeterminate Tomatoes 9:24 Why I Almost NEVER Prune Cherry Tomatoes 10:54 Why I Stopped Removing Diseased Leaves 12:19 Summary Of My Tomato Pruning Technique 14:17 Adventures With Dale

[@donnabrooks1173]

Dale is a genius!!! LOL. 😂😂😂😂. He just tickles me to death with all that cuteness. ❤❤❤❤

[@jjteacher7482]

😂 today was the time I had to prune today. 😢

[@AwoudeX]

you're the one that is wrong regarding not pruning the suckers. Yes you get more flowers, yes you get more unripe tomatoes, but at the end of the season, your total production will be crappier, because the plant cannot support that many and ripen them before the season ends. That or the fruit will be quite smaller... Single stem and getting many kilo's of tomatoes from a single plant, good size etc.

[@donaldduck830]

This video from the guy who whinges all the time about disease and varmint pressure. I prune my tomatoes so that they get air, and whenever I don't do that, the plants get sick and I get ZERO harvest. Don't be greedy, cause only healthy plants produce well. I need to force myself to prune a LOT, just because I experienced the problems when I don't. 3sq ft? Planted "no prune" "wild" tomatoes a few years back. Covered 9sq ft each. A second attempt with pruning two years later yielded far better results. Beefsteaks: I prune weak suckers because they will break under the fruit's weight anyhow. Got a new variety this year: Less than 5ft tall plant, lower half hangs full, the flowers at the top all turn brown. And soon it is time to prune flowers cause the fruit won't grow before first frost anyhow. I got the brown rot. If I remove brown leafs right at the start, it remains manageable. Whenever I am lazy, it spreads rapidly, infects the stems and fruits and I lose my harvest. Removing dieased leafs is NECESSARY. TY.

[@donaldduck830]

TL, DR: You cry about disease pressure, but if I treated my plants like you, I would get zero harvest. I need to prune intensively, cause whenever I was lazy, I experienced massive problems both with brown rot, wilt, and even some vermins that ate my fruits (and I got only brown leftover crumbs underneath my plants).

[@gingersnack36]

My dad grew tomatoes and cucumbers commercially. They always removed the suckers and I think it's so they didn't get a bunch of small fruit. Due to the energy going to the suckers by taking them off it produced bigger tomatoes which would make sense. I'm not asking a question about what was in the video I'm referring to when I was growing up.

[@jjbasson]

the other part of this is basically instead of having a second stem come from that same plant and root system, you can still have a second stem there, just growing from a second plant/root system. you'll get more roots faster that way than if you had a single plant try to expand into all that root space. so overall it's more fruit per square foot to do single stems.

[@familyguyts9627]

@@jjbasson exactly

[@strngenchantedgirl]

I don’t prune suckers and my fruits are huge. I think pruning to single stem started with professional growers because that was staking method that became popular and prevents fungal diseases. But they also plant way more tomato plants. When you don’t single stem you need to give indeterminates 3-4 feet of space. Single stem only really needs 12”. And you can pack the plants in.

[@ashdav9980]

This year was my first year where I didn't prune suckers off. I got a bad case of poison ivy that kept me out of the garden for several weeks and so by the time I went back to the garden, the suckers and plants were out of control....lol. Now, I'm at the point where I have a ton of tomatoes, but only the first ones on the vine are a good size, the rest are smaller. I was wondering if it was from not pruning suckers and all the leaves sucking energy from the plant, or whether some of the plants cross bred with my cherry tomatoes (not sure if that's even possible). I'm disappointed that the tomatoes are small, now they are ripening up and need to be picked, but not really sandwich slice size. I think next year I will go back to removing a good amount of suckers. I grow them with vertical support, so I usually put them closer together anyway.

[@gingersnack36]

@@ashdav9980 yes the new growth pulls the energy away from the current fruit development. I did the straw bale method this year and have had amazing results. 5 bales, I bought Bale Buster off of Amazon for prepping the bales.

[@pinklightninglights]

I've been growing tomatoes for years. My grandmother taught me to prune the suckers, as have all of my friends and neighbors. I do the opposite. I remove the lower limb and leave the sucker which results in a boatload of tomatoes!! Glad I'm not the only one who does it this way.

[@jeannedinovo5543]

That’s why it’s called a sucker, it is stronger at sucking up the needed nutrients to make flowers, hence tomatoes. I do it sort of 50/50. Some suckers get pinched off while others I remove the lower stem as you do… guess it depends on the looks of each, which looks stronger and the location also. My neighbor said there had to be a balance of leaves to flowers, because too few leaves couldn’t provide enough energy to make enough flowers, or ripen the resulting tomatoes. Too many leaves use up all the nutrients and few flowers result or flowers are covered by leaves and cannot be pollinated by bees. It’s all about balance 👩🏼‍🌾!

[@michaelmead7578]

I am same way I just let them grow and get a butt load of maters!

[@65stang98]

this is how i do it as well. I still trim off branches for airflow that arent suckers but the sucker branches themselves stay on the plant. Which in turn branches off that will also get pruned.

[@Thebattleofreligions]

How are the sizes?

[@yes-ik1it]

I do the same thing. remove the lower branch and let that sucker grow. As long as you feed the plant throughout the growing season, all the tomatoes should be full size and healthy.

[@zest4organic]

Dear Dale - I have taught organic horticulture my whole life, in the UK and grown tomatoes all my life and I learned from your video - you are an excellent, excellent teacher. Thank you so much.

[@davidlaughlin5715]

Thank you so much for being a great vessel of knowledge and spilling it upon us!!! I, as many many others have learned a lot from you! I may be opening my mouth and "removing all doubt" of my stupidity, but here goes. 😂 With the coming of first fall frost I would think pruning suckers in late summer or early fall (in cooler climates) when new suckers WONT have time to grow AND produce would allow more energy to the established plant in the "end of season" crunch. I just think it could be another factor in deciding TO prune.

[@dustyflats3832]

@@davidlaughlin5715this is true. It depends on climate very much of what to prune out. Colder climates don’t have a huge window to ripen tomatoes.

[@mikegray5719]

if thats the case wtf have you been doing for 25 years? do you bang your head against a wall? This guy is funny but thats all he is

[@edwardsever6389]

😊

[@JohnSantosuosso]

What I liked best was, its not simply about removing all of the suckers or none of the suckers. Starting at 4:24. Your "3 reasons why you may want to prune your indeterminate tomatoes" provides a basis for determining what approach may be best for our individual circumstances and objectives. Well done.

[@casual454t1]

I always thought that pruning off some of the suckers was to root them for more plants.

[@jeanwonnacott2718]

My hubby grew tomatoes. He asked me why I cut a sucker, cuz he NEVER did....he was right. Thank you!! You get a subscription!! Jeannie in Lakeport. I am 60. First time ever tried gardening last year....hubby has heart failure, cannot garden anymore, so, I tried...will do better this year!!

[@Dlrnckgoekwk]

I noticed that suckers later on bear fruits….hence quit pruning them against all advice. You’re the first one to speak my mind! Thank you 🙏

[@urbugnmetoday3183]

Of course they do, but if you want a better quality and better size tomato you prune

[@Snakebite10th]

You can still prune the suckers. Put them in water. After they root well, plant them. Then you have a head start from starting from a seed. Also you'll have later fruit from a new plant.

[@EssieKaye-f3q]

The suckers also start their fruit clusters after fewer leaves, compared to the central main vine. I think it's a decent compromise to leave some suckers in place but top the suckers so that they themselves don't vine out too far.

[@ladypinkylee]

This is the clearest to-the-point tomato pruning video I've come across. Thank you for this!

[@juliettel.302]

Totally agree! This has been my experience the past 20 years, so I only prune as needed for air flow & get rid of disease leaves & the lower ones. I always get plenty of tomatoes. Nice to hear from an experienced gardener who feels the same too since many KZbinr gardeners I watch usually recommend pruning off suckers.

[@danielbacallao6244]

Thank you. I overpruned my tomatoes last year and had a very low yield. I learned the hard way. Thank you for breaking down.

[@FarmerC.J.]

I remove the suckers then root those suckers for more tomato plants ! Living in Ga it also helps with air circulation to remove the suckers.

[@mari-at-wiredlikeme8728]

Me too!

[@its.me.charlotte]

Do the suckers then have enough time to grow to a large enough plant to produce tomatoes? I’m new at this

[@FarmerC.J.]

@@its.me.charlotteI guess it depends on the length of your growing Season. Here I’m still harvesting tomatoes in November! I hope that helps! All the best for a bountiful crop!

[@k.g.9749]

Same

[@MichaelWysocki-ks5xt]

At the very least I trim off the lower branches once they really get rolling. Even if I don’t trim much of anything else. It helps in a lot of ways.

[@conniejsanford4202]

You are amazing and you have taught me so much about the things a farmers daughter knows but has forgotten or brushed away. I remember my gramps growing tomatoes the size of large grapefruits. As they grew he wove them around & into an 8ft teepee shaped iron frame and never cut them back the tomatoes literally hung inside the frame for easy picking. He never was plagued with disease as he used corn starch n a light salt spray on the garden Toward the end he sprayed with water to remove the build up and let the chickens n rabbits finish n enjoy them.. We had hundreds of quarts of tomatoes every way and gallons of fresh juice. You remind me of my papa n your love matches his..in the garden. Thank you!!

[@katfiveknives2658]

From my experience, I pick off the suckers until the main stem is thick and strong - then I allow suckers. This seems to work best for me.

[@mikedavis2969]

likewise

[@ReapingTheHarvest]

But if you let the plant go without removing any suckers for say the first 2 feet of vertical growth, then the plant grows slower and makes a bigger stalk. I also wait to stake them for a while so the main stem gets really thick, esp here on the florida coast with constant wind. But at around 2 ft tall I start pruning suckers selectively. If you prune and stake from the start you get lanky flimsy vines because the plant keeps pushing vertically and relies on the stake for support.

[@dr.robertt.mullaneiii1561]

I like to encourage a giant root system in the beginning by loosening the soil down 2 ft or more and creating a hole about that size. I pack it full of peat, manure, compost and perlite.. my plants get enormous with huge yields. Four or five foot square beasts. But I am doing this with a variety like 'fourth of July'. I trim to get air flow and keep leaves off the ground. Fertilize regularly of course. I use cages and sometimes need stakes as the sucker branches grow large. Never thought to try another way though it would be interesting to do both methods and compare outcomes.

[@flavia.a.rodrigues]

@@ReapingTheHarvest exactly..!

[@LisaMT1218]

​@ReapingTheHarvest, thank you. This makes sense and explains my really tall weak plants last summer!!

[@karendyer6949]

Hi. Not being a very experienced gardener the first few years I grew tomatoes I never realised about pruning. I then started to listen to advice telling me to do so. Looking back now after your video I remember how much more productive and easy it was originally. Many thanks I will now let them grow again.

[@gamerclownz2783]

You should not listen to this guy, this is really bad advice.... while you may not want to prune all of them off doing so will definitely result in better tasting and bigger tomatoes.

[@Howwerelivingfishing]

It depends on what kind of tomatoes you have

[@robertchristman6962]

Prune early and root them. More plants

[@Mom2MrBabyHaikin]

Same!

[@michaellane9079]

​@@gamerclownz2783quit pushing this myth. Its simply not true.

[@elliottdmann]

Second-year, noob gardener here. Thank you! Last year, I had one tomato plant which only produced four tomatoes before the summer's heat (I'm in Texas) killed everything. This year, I have six tomato plants, and there's TEN tomatoes growing on them this morning! I found your channel to learn how to better care for my garden, and this is the tomato video I needed.

[@chrissmith7259]

All my tomatoes are indeterminate. I only take off suckers (side shoots) to make new tomatoe plants. I put the suckers in water and they will have rooted in a week or sometimes even less. I then plant out these rooted suckers (Cuttings) and hey presto I have a new plant. I choose the best plants to take these suckers from for rooting.. When I don't take out the suckers I get more tomatoes but smaller overall. This is such a quick way to increase tomatoe plants when shop purchased they are really expensive,

[@kylerichard1285]

The problem is that for a lot of growers, the season isn't long enough to do that

[@ShellyEdwards-ul9zf]

I do that too

[@floridaman4073]

I am in Florida and do this as well. Have a dozen friends that have tomato plants from my garden. Plants can be expensive. I have given away so many starter plants to friends of bananas, avocado, Papaya and others. Don’t charge for them, just have the satisfaction of introducing friends into gardening.

[@EssieKaye-f3q]

I end up having way too many young tomato plants from propagating the suckers. I mostly give them away, but by late summer, I caution adoptive parents that the vine won't have enough time outdoors to give them fruit. But if they can raise the plant indoors, they can get winter tomatoes. Over the winter, I grow my suckers, then propagate THEIR suckers. In this way, I keep the plant going and even if I don't take it to the fruiting stage, I have tomato plants ready to go into the garden come spring. Very useful for varieties I don't have seeds for, exceptional varieties, expensive varieties, and hybrids.

[@robynrowe8305]

Here in Australia l propagate suckers for a longer growing season, being sub tropical here in Queensland we can grow tomatoes for 6 months maybe 7

[@magenta4443]

Thank you! I'm an older gardener that runs out of energy. You explained it SO well that I can do the minimal pruning on my determinates and just the lower branches below the flowers on my determinates.

[@lindafoxwood78]

You make so many great points. Last year I ran only one stem tomato plants, 2 feet apart in a 9 foot row beside my house. Only 4 plants; they grew over my 10 foot bamboo supports, so I ran them back down to six foot high when the frost hit in October. I pruned every leave/stem up to just below the fruits as the vines progressed. Best season every for me growing tomatoes. This was the first time I tried this idea and I was amazed of the results. As you did with your cherry tomatoes, I let 4 plants go without pruning and made all the sweetest canned salsa I could, 20 quarts. WOW.

[@Morgan2XL]

Try clean light daily to control blight but must prune commercial style.

[@maryfarnham9806]

I'm trying this ,this year Thanks for sharing ❤

[@JustcallmeDebbieB]

I literally need you to give me a lesson. My dad grew but never taught me...I have no idea now, just started my first 2 and think I need more ...equipment.?

[@jayduplessis7698]

This is one of the (many) things I love about tomatoes - they are so versatile! You can grow them in so many different ways, depending on your space, support structure, etc.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

There are so many different great types. Growing a diverse selection is key.

[@afriendtoo6971]

I watch the one channel here where the family grows commercially and the hundreds of tomato plants just lay in the field on the ground and vine out uncontrolled just like mother nature would do. Thousands of tomatoes without all the coddling and work.

[@jayduplessis7698]

@@afriendtoo6971 Yes, that is one way of doing it. But that method will not be the best in all climates and with all varieties. For example, I know there are Italians who grow their semi-determinate sauce tomatoes like this - they just walk through and harvest lots of tomatoes in a short space of time, and don't care if the plants are dying. But if you have a wetter growing season you might not get a crop before the fungal diseases destroy the plant, and if you grow indeterminate plants it will be very difficult to harvest (I've tried this - you don't even see half the fruit, let alone get to them). So if you want to grow them "wild" (without pruning) the best way is to buy or build a big tomato cage and grow them off the ground (see "the Tomato Man" - he grows them like this... he doesn't spray).

[@savagerc5752]

Facts, leave it alone, just give it support and let her grow!

[@DavidLish-hf5lm]

spot on.

[@dlillianb1368]

My growing season is too short to allow all the suckers to grow. I must pinch some off so the energy can go to the flowers and already forming tomatoes. 😊

[@spockmcoyissmart961]

That is the biggest determining factor for me. I have a short growing season, so I give my plants fertilizer in the hole, then later worked into the ground to help them grow faster. I want those plants on speed to produce. If I lived in kalyfornia, it would of course be different. No frost dates to worry about either early or late in the season. All the time in the world to grow and experiment with/without suckers.

[@anthracite405]

I haven't ever pruned my tomatoes but am considering it to focus nutrients into developing tomatoes before frost date in New England

[@holdawg]

Same here. Utah tomato grind 💪

[@gibsongirl6816]

My garden is only 16x16. And I grow on trellises. I always single stem except for this year. Deer came and topped off my tomatoes. I have no main stems. The plants are huge now with all the suckers I let grow. It was a huge learning curve for me. I enjoyed this video alot. and it literally is practical this year. I didnt prune lol and learned alot

[@jayduplessis7698]

Also, your tomato plants look FANTASTIC! I'm so glad that after all these years of struggling you finally have such success with tomatoes. You give the rest of us hope!

[@TheMillennialGardener]

It's 100% the shade cloth and straw bales. Getting the plants out of my native soil and under shade has made *all* the difference. If you live in the South, growing under shade cloth is mandatory as far as I'm concerned.

[@dustyflats3832]

@@TheMillennialGardenerlol, I’m in Z5a, WI and have shade cloth over tomatoes. It’s Hot here. Don’t forget about microclimates. We just had 101*F and many high 90*F days. We had been in extreme drought also and the shade was necessary.

[@highwayroadrunner206]

Fantastic video! I plan on following your advice regarding pruning my tomato plants. Greetings from Greenville, NC. You mentioned shade cloth, what is it and how do you use it. It gets extremely hot here from mid June to end of August. The heat stresses the hell out of my tomato plants. Thanks again for an awesome video.@@TheMillennialGardener

[@Maspets]

@@highwayroadrunner206 Haha, this just keeps getting more absurd. I thought it was annoying I had to put up a trellis, now I'm supposed to be erecting a fucking tent (that is also 100% prohibited in my neighborhood). Not happening. I live minutes from MG. If he's right I guess I can't grow tomatoes.

[@charlesstuart1119]

❤😂😂😂❤​@@Maspets

[@MicahCoy]

If we're talking about branching, topping indeterminates early (when they're like 18" tall) allows you to create multiple primary stems low on the plant. You can then spread them out and trellis them (and subsequent suckers/branches) for max yield while minimizing overall height by spreading the vigor.

[@kerrydeshotels9691]

How about when they are 4-6’ tall

[@LB-vl3qn]

@@kerrydeshotels9691 Good question. I'd like to know, too. ~ Lisa

[@MsLookinup]

I did top mine when they got that tall because I didn’t know to do it earlier, so now, the suckers are too high for me to manage effectively, making my plant top heavy, and maybe not allowing as much time for fruit to develop as would have, if I had topped the plants earlier.

[@ashdav9980]

I'm 5 foot tall and I top them when I can't reach them easily anymore. I find if they are allowed to keep growing taller, those fruits get smaller and less desirable as the plant seem "spent" and out of energy by that point, and it's too late in the season to grown them big anyway.

[@AwesomestGreatestMostestFunny]

This, it only works if you control the overall plant growth.

[@CindyPurses]

EXTREMELY HELPFUL. Another gardening channel tells us to prune off suckers to make the main vine stronger than trying to support any extra branches. But what you say makes SO MUCH MORE SENSE...and I BELIEVE IN YOU!!! Thank you so much for always being so detailed and descriptive, explaining all the reasons why. You are SO knowledgeable. Thank you so much!!!

[@Mr.Popeye2u]

I have growing tomatoes for over 50 years and I agree with what you are saying in this vodeo.

[@travisevans7502]

I do single vine prune for all the reasons you mentioned I was told it would produce more fruit but after years of growing tomatoes I know it doesn't I grow 25 to 50 different varieties I even prune my cherry tomatoes and still get tons of tomatoes more than I can eat but I am growing 11 different varieties in about a 15 ft row 13 total plants and 27 large tomato varieties 15 are in pots the other 12 are in raised bed 15 ft long only using a 1 ft row of it with 2 more rows of various pepper varieties about 20 I believe don't remember how many I planted in that bed one other reason I single vine prune is I will get fruit to ripen sooner than not pruning lots of good information in this video👍

[@kapantais]

University of Michigan did extensive study on this subject. Pinching suckers had no effect on tomato production. Leaving them also had no effect.

[@thebowshock7729]

Hey, could you kindly link the study?

[@peterbrittain1963]

same with the Myth of not growing corn and tomatos near each other .. corn worm and tomato worm are the same worm .

[@hackiehackerson]

I did a test a few years ago, two of the same indeterminate plants, in the same raised bed. The one I left the suckers on had tons of flowers but dropped a great deal of them. I do leave two main stems (yet another experiment) and it works for me. I have enough tomatoes that they are too heavy for the plant and I'm constantly tying them in different areas.

[@phackdaphish]

I moved into a new house last winter and I realized that I planted my tomatoes in a half sun area. Usually, I single stem but getting kind of nervous since 2 tom plants are barely fruiting so I'm letting the suckers with flowers grow hoping to increase the chances of fruit production. This video helped validate my thoughts.

[@rabiafuwai6835]

I am seriously eager to learn how to grow tomatoes. I have watched videos that encourage pruning n I applied to my farm and I got nothing. Now I'm going to apply this new knowledge. Thanks so much for sharing with me. I appreciate.

[@gail7998]

I feel I just hit a gold mine! You provide such GREAT information and it's so useful. I've always wondered about pinching off the suckers. I've been doing it the past few years and will STOP doing it, starting today. You do a GREAT job teaching. You're so easy to listen to. Beautiful garden you have!!!

[@TheMillennialGardener]

I'm glad you're enjoying the content. Please note that with my beefsteak tomatoes, I still do and will continue to pinch off some suckers here and there. However, that's because they will get too unruly and I will run out of means to support them. If you can only support a certain number of main stems, you will need to pinch off suckers to control them. However, there is no biological reason to remove suckers, so if you can support the tomato plants, you don't have to touch them. Removing suckers won't make them fruit more. It will make them fruit less.

[@gail7998]

@@TheMillennialGardener got it! Thanks again 😊

[@TheGreenAcreWI]

You'll end up with smaller fruits if you let the suckers grow. If quantity is more important to you than quality, go ahead and let the suckers grow.

[@hahahahagrin]

I think the "whole story" is to "manage" your plants as you've stated. One person indicated they prune until the base stem is strong, and then let-er-go from there unless unmanageable. I think conscious effort produces the best results.

[@michaellane9079]

​@@TheGreenAcreWIyour statement is completely untrue. That is simply a myth. Not pruning suckers and thus growing a big plant does not compromise size or quality of the fruit.

[@matthewkheyfets1309]

Prunning tomatoes for Max yields means keeping as many main stems as you can support, KEY, while still having a decently organized plant structure. This is especially important when growing larger tomatoes since each tomato is a much larger energy sink

[@SeamusHarper1234]

Yeah and that results in keeping 1 to 3 stems and removing everything else in my opinion..

[@matthewkheyfets1309]

@@SeamusHarper1234 I actually keep as many as I feel the plant and cage can support. For cherry maters, it is a lot more. For beefsteaks, usually 4-5 depending on stuff.

[@AwesomestGreatestMostestFunny]

Yup, leave too many suckers and your plant will get out of control.

[@susanflaharty1724]

I’m removing some suckers. I never knew until this year that removing the suckers would help keep them from becoming unmanageable. I am keeping 3-4 stems and the plants look so much better. There are only two of us so we don’t need hundreds of tomatoes. Thank you for your videos. ❤

[@jessicawright4102]

Yeah I love cherry tomatoes, but I would get tired of harvesting hundreds of them 😂

[@lauriharding6286]

I am so with you! I like tomatoes but I need a managable plant too!

[@beentheredonethat6584]

I am tired of harvesting now and it's only mid August! My cherry plant produced 500 ripe fruits before I stopped counting. Now I harvest and give them all to the local Food Bank. I was giving them to my neighbors but they have been avoiding me :) Being somewhat lazy, I only prune suckers that I notice. My plants are massive and I harvested more this year than ever before. I took 12 Big Beef and Ultra Girl weighing 8lb 12oz in one picking and i have taken at least 20 from each plant so far. Compared with my neighbors who prune, my harvest is many times larger.@@jessicawright4102

[@JanLunde-xg8sm]

Ja but freeze the hundreds down, great for soup wintertime 😊

[@EssieKaye-f3q]

I agree. I don't even take home tomatoes for the most part. They are more like garden snacks. Vine to mouth.

[@anastasiyav1045]

Thank you for such informative video. I pruned my tomatoes to single stem last year and even though the plants were nice and healthy i didnt get much fruit. This explains it now.

[@sbffsbrarbrr]

Absolutely agree with you. I've done both in the same year and the harvests from the plants that were pruned, with the suckers removed, were considerably smaller. I will no longer be doing that.

[@jenniferpocaigue2508]

It's nice to know my negligence was beneficial last year 😆. Not gonna lie though I did a similar experiment with my eggplant last year, the ones I didn't prune were so much more productive and healthy looking. Smaller fruit but I was ok with that

[@Nik.No.K]

It depends. I started my tomatoes late and I’m in a northern climate. If I let all the suckers grow it’s just going to be a waste because the frost will kill the plant before those suckers have time to produce anything and it’ll just take more energy for greens. I’m certainly no expert but I believe in a situation like this it’s going to be best to prune pretty heavily to try to get the plants to produce fruit before the winter comes. I don’t need each plant to give me 100lbs of tomatoes, I just want to get anything at all from them. Plus mine are a bit crowded so a bunch of suckers is going to get everything bogged down with all the foliage. Like everything else I don’t think there are any hard rules here. It’s all situation dependent

[@DoxxyLover57]

I take green tomatoes at the end of the year and can sliced dill green tomatoes. This is an excellent substitute for pickles. I found great recipes on the Internet.

[@julieearsom719]

I've been a "pruning rebel" for a few years now. I prune branches as needed for airflow and leave the suckers. Huge harvests!! ❤❤❤

[@TheMillennialGardener]

There should be no official way on how to prune and indeterminate tomato, because every gardener has different needs, growing season length, weather, etc. The idea that there is a "best way" is not true. Pruning is usually necessary to a degree, even if it's only to manage the plants, but it should be done carefully and with good reasoning.

[@julieearsom719]

Totally agree ❤

[@Montanafelines]

This vid is 9 mo old. Maybe you will see this 😊 please tell me if you can, with indeterminate what about stunting the height to no more than 4’? I have no way to support very tall ones. Any tips?

[@ronharrill6494]

Yes an inverted cage on top of the cage

[@EssieKaye-f3q]

​@@Montanafelines You can top the vine at whatever height suits you. There's no point in letting the vine grow out beyond what you can reach or what your supports can manage. But I think if you are going to top a vine in the early or mid-season, you may want to allow a couple suckers/laterals further down to make up for cutting off your main vine's vertical potential.

[@guroberger4101]

So true. I'm so glad you shared this. I was just out in my garden ten minutes ago and I was thinking why should I cut off the suckers when they produce so many flowers? And then I found your wonderful video! So glad I saw that! Thank you!

[@kr_herbert]

I've been doing it wrong all this time! Thank you. Kathy

[@kevinmiller1068]

I subscribed because this video may save my garden from the misinformation I followed for the past 3 years!! I feel like someone who has been watching CNN or CNBC!!! I've been chopping off suckers and wondering why my tomatoes were producing NOTHING compared to previous years and blaming the weather!! THANK YOU!!! I will watch 10x more than I have before!!

[@PisceanKiwi]

Nature knows best. We are here to support her. Much love and good luck. ☮

[@mrwormtester]

Thank you for clearing this up! I ran into the pruning suckers advice some years ago but when I went all out this year it didn't really make sense. Your other videos also helped clarify the differences between determinate and indeterminate tomatoes. Now I only prune bottom leaves and some center leaves for air flow and I almost never prune off suckers. My only issue is that I underestimated how big some of the fruits would get and am having to cobble together more supportive trellising. It's not a bad problem to have :)

[@angelasnyder3752]

Yes, I observed this in my garden. I only trimmed leaves at the bottom. We had great production. Also, not properly managing the mass tangle of plants is the biggest failure this year. Blight did hit hard and I think was worsened when I removed the affected leaves. Great harvest, but the life of the plants maybe limited by that management failure. Thank you for the education!

[@ThatEmoGirl]

when i get blight or any other disease. I keep a couple sets of sheers and carry a bucket of bleach water and a rag and wipe them before each cut so it dont tranfer the disease to other plants or a different part of the plant. it works for me.

[@brianmartin2172]

I just started growing tomatoes this year. I grew tired of supermarket tomatoes that are tasteless and longed for the tomatoes I knew as a kid. I thought it would be easy I thought tomatoes grew like weeds lol. Wrong! Thank you for this video u have saved me time, energy and heartbreak !

[@johnporco599]

Right on MI. I love your videos where you buck the system. My dad did minimal pruning, that’s the way I always managed my plants. Granted spacing was about 3 feet apart and I constructed elaborate trellises. My dads brother, my uncle Jim was into growing giant tomatoes so he single stemmed and removed some clusters. He was in the local newspaper for growing a 3-1/2 pound Italian variety. My moms brother, Uncle Tom stuck to his rule of 3 main stems per plant. He easily grew the most tomatoes of anyone. Around 30 uniform tomatoes per plant. I basically incorporate all pruning methods depending on the variety and the result I want. Great video!

[@gwenkilby]

I only grow indeterminate varieties and realized a few years back that pruning suckers was pruning off the tomatoes, so I started letting them grow enough to produce flowers and THEN prune the tip, IF I don't want the stem to continue. You're right, very few videos explain this! Thank you sir!

[@turtleman5111]

Interesting! I've been removing suckers until my plants got SO big(I used to have a big garden, had to move, so now I only have a couple in containers that I can baby-sit almost daily). Sounds good, though! Let the suckers grow until they produce(flowers or toms), then snip the tops?

[@gwenkilby]

@@turtleman5111 That's how I do it! And then when my main stem(s) start to get too tall, I'll leave suckers from the bottom of the plant and let them become the main stem and trim back the original once it's been full harvested. Happy growing!

[@BrickTop06]

Whewww what a roller-coaster. I grew up never suckering unless I was dealing with disease or if the plants were out of control. Then, about 5 years ago, I started suckering like crazy to manage air flow, disease and working with the assumption that less "green" growth = more "red" growth. But now that I hear your explanation I think I swung the pendulum too far in the wrong direction. Back to balance this year! Thanks!

[@cnursery]

We call suckers "side-shoots" here in the UK. I grew tomatoes commercially for years. You start by implying that the removal of "suckers" is a very bad thing to do. But then you qualify it, depending on the method of training, variety, type, spacing, indoor / outdoor, etc, etc. Commercial growers of tomatoes will always remove suckers / side shoots because it will maximise the overall yield of the crop (not just one plant), maximise quality in terms of size, ripening and pest / disease control. Basically, it will improve crop management. Will it DESTROY your harvest? No.

[@ferdabayazit4859]

I respect your experience, but commercial growers know how to garden to make money. Most of us are gardening to make our own food. It isn’t the same goal and certainly isn’t the same product. Especially when it comes to tomatoes. Ask anyone their opinion of store bought tomatoes anywhere in the world, it is the same answer. There is little tomato taste.

[@yellopinki]

Same here

[@theeyesehaveit]

10 months later…new year for growing tomatoes for me. Refreshed my self watching this one again. You do a great job of educating us. TY. Barbara in Alabama

[@noimagination99]

I've watched a lot of 'Tomato Pruning' videos, this is one of the BEST. Thanks!

[@rawls101]

If you want lots of smaller, lets nutrient dense fruit, keep your suckers. Trim your suckers in order to have larger, healthier fruit.

[@wendykolodzinski9086]

Great information! I have fallen into the 'remove all suckers' myth. I am going to change my ways. Thanks!!

[@EssieKaye-f3q]

Repentance and redemption. 😂

[@ObsessiveAboutCats]

Yep, definitely a lightbulb moment and 100% applicable to the indeterminates I'm planning for next year. I will be rewatching this several times. Thank you very much. Your information is always clearly explained and very relevant. I appreciate you.

[@janenewman8939]

Thankyou for confirming me in what I thought these last 2 seasons. I tentatively did it last year and again this year. This year I have beef steak and have 2main stems on them looking good and strong. I pruned at the bases and allowed another stem near the top when plants are above knee high. Leaves and stems thick and green. Will see how they grow. I let my cherry tomatoes self seed every year in the same garden. Grow intermittent plants in between seasons. When the seeds come up I don't weed them out.

[@Mase326]

That’s exactly what I do with pear/cherry tomatoes! Kept a random seedling from either Fourth of July of Early Girl last year and it did great and produced a ton of fruit the last two weeks of season, until the chickens got out and ate everything but the stems. I keep getting more and more cold/heat tolerant tomatoes every season, too. I have them popping up in my yard now and staying alive through the first several light frosts in spring and fall with zero intervention from March into December 🤯 no fruit at those early/late points but still super impressive! Took a hard 20*F freeze to finally kill them off all the way to the ground outside of the greenhouse.

[@jeancampbell4341]

Im in South Africa. Thanks for this informative video. i was taught to remove suckers and have wondered why i dont get many tomatoes. I always blamed the soil PH etc. So now im inspired

[@karlirosek]

i did a test with my cherry tomatoes and pruned two plants and let the other two grow to their tomato hearts desired…and the ones i didn’t prune surprisingly had much bigger cherry tomatoes and had way more tomatoes. it was awesome to watch the progression!

[@spiderman0863]

Cherry tomatoes with grow in a hat.

[@chrisschultz1580]

I feel that pruning for air flow is important for all tomatoes, not just indeterminates. I grow semi determinates in 22 inch diameter wire cages. I remove a lot of the internal sun leaves that are mostly shaded out anyway. I leave enough to provide photosynthesis and some shade for fruits, but also to allow much better air flow. I do not remove suckers or blossom trusses, only sun leaves. This method works well for me, so I can not agree that you should ONLY prune your indeterminate tomatoes.

[@Mlanding1]

I prune this way too. Shaded sun leaves must go, and all suckers must stay.

[@donHooligan]

agreed. i got a (edit: -Baby- ) Better Bush tomato plant this year and i have trimmed out so many leaves....and it is loaded. i have to re-inforce the infrastructure this weekend. it gets humid here, and as soon as a leaf starts getting nasty i get rid of it. always have tomatoes to give away.

[@bobbiduval7961]

What is a sun leaf please?

[@Mlanding1]

@@bobbiduval7961 Its a side stem that only has leaves for photosynthesis. Not a sucker or flower cluster.

[@ejack4961]

That is exactly what I do and harvested and canned 342 lbs of tomatoes last year from 20 plants. 😂

[@jasenanderson8534]

Great advice, as usual. I've let my cherry toms go crazy like this and the fruit yield is excellent. Totally agree with the pruning to suit the support if needed, otherwise I too have left the suckers with my indeterminates.

[@omeshsingh8091]

This is an excellent video. So many videos just parrot conventional wisdom. Pruning is an art with many considerations from broad environmental/seasonal factors all the way down to the microclimate of individual plants. I'm in Cape Town, South Africa. Now, in late summer, my goal was to get my indeterminate plants 18" off the ground and split each plant into two leaders going up to my overhead supports which are six foot high. I'm also planting with close spacing (18") so that I can have more plants in the growing space for artificial selection purposes. (I will terminate unproductive plants and save seeds from the plants that performed better with closer spacing) Next tomato season I will a be growing couple of new varieties for my garden. This will all be with wider spacing (30"), and again I'll get them 18" off the ground for air flow, but I will then let them vine out to four leaders. I also plan to stagger my open pollinated indeterminates to avoid hybridization: Black Krim (July-Oct) Pink Oxheart (Sep-Dec) Berkeley Tie Dye (Nov-Feb, but will keep it going as long as it keeps producing) I will also plant my own hybrids seeds in a separate area.

[@alexandrashier5216]

I've ALWAYS wondered why its so commonly recommended to remove the suckers, and it never made sense to me. Awesome, thanks for sharing this!!

[@Restorations.by.Rachel]

This was very helpful, thank you. I was confused as to why the suckers should be pruned when I noticed that they produce flowers, but was doing “as told” (I started pruning them a little later in the season, so that’s why I saw flowering). It was really helpful how you described the why of each pruning scenario and how each sucker becomes a main stem. This will be helpful for the rest of the season and moving forward. And congrats on your 500k milestone!👏

[@afriendtoo6971]

I always leave the suckers and cut back the large stem below it by about 2/3. Have a huge harvest every year.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Thank you! It's been a fun ride getting to here. I can't explain why removing suckers became so popular. I think certain trends just catch fire, and then they become perpetuated on their own energy without a lot of thought behind them. It turns into an "Everybody knows that..." kind of situation. Always question conventional wisdom, because it often isn't vetted!

[@LB-vl3qn]

@@afriendtoo6971 Help me understand, please, what you mean by 'cut back the large stem below it.' What large stem do you mean? Thxvm. ~ Lisa

[@afriendtoo6971]

@@LB-vl3qn --- The one directly below the sucker. It looks like the sucker is growing out from it. You will notice it usually gets darker and the leaves thicker.

[@LB-vl3qn]

@@afriendtoo6971 Got it, thanks 🙂

[@elainemiller9943]

Awesome info. I decided this year to do very little pruning of suckers. My plants are out of control 😁 and I love it. Tons of fruit being produced. Thank you for the great videos and the informed gardening advice. You rock!

[@benprovan]

I grow indeterminates on vertical strings and fully remove all suckers, using 12” spacing. For denser spacing and for vertical strings (where the support is one string), removing suckers is necessary.

[@jjchan60]

I learned so much from this video! I'm a statistic, I've been doing it wrong and wondering why when I knew nothing my tomato plants were better. Thank you!

[@ninonardella5825]

Thankyou so much, you are the clearest and best talker I have ever heard on you tube. You always deliver great information in the most concise manner. Great work!

[@kcbknitter]

I really appreciate you breaking it down like this. I had started to single stem prune mine and not really happy about how it was affecting my plants. I had already stopped so this helps me feel ok about my choice.

[@jameshancock7285]

From a very youg boy, up into high-school, my parents grew big crops, for food and to sell. Never, in my lifetime of working with them, on these crops, did they ever pinch or cut back anything. We always had an abundance.

[@NatureScapesStudio]

Our familes were farmers and tomatoes were just tomatoes and were never staked or realized. They grew randomly in the ground. We had garden space to not worry about it. I was too young to know about diseases or pests but we always had plenty to eat and can.

[@JuanVic-nr8lu]

Pruning the suckers isn't for more tomatoes, its for higher quality fruit and you start to get fruit earlier as the plant isnt wasting energy on suckers.

[@matchpoint14]

james, all this talk about cutting back and pinching is so unnecessary. I agree with you I just let mine grow unless I see a limb touching the ground.

[@sheilaa1333]

Thx! I was afraid I’d ‘ruined’ mine by not removing the suckers. 😊

[@KRM844]

Very informative video!! I just have a small backyard garden and just recently converted it to a greenhouse but everything I know about gardening has come from my dad and he always told me to punch the suckers off. I am going to try and let them go like you said and see what happens 😊

[@onlythetruth883]

Any update as to how it eventually turned out? Thanks

[@EssieKaye-f3q]

Great video! Last year, I went nuts removing suckers and was disappointed by the yields. Other people in my community garden had wild unmanaged tomatoes that were sprawling, inter-vining, breaking cages -- a hot mess, but they had loads of tomatoes. But the vines I grew hydroponically inside my apartment HAD to be not only pruned vigorously but also topped early because they quickly outgrew the lights and sent weak spindly vines toward the windows.

[@sylviesas2992]

So informative. I learned the no pruning rule years ago... but never got the explanation... This was thorough! Wow Thank you.

[@WholesomeRoots]

Thank you! I have been screaming this from my soap box for decades and I don't understand how pruning every sucker ever became a social media trend. I also made a video about this last year where I go into details about the science behind this. I hope more people try the proper methods of pruning and see how many more tomatoes they will get! Good video! ❤

[@eddiegazeta4203]

Awesome! I’m doing a few experiments with my tomato pruning this season. Thank you for the valuable information. We live in NC and get a ton of rain then sun so I’ve been pruning where I’ve seen early blight. This year so far has been epic! Keep Growing bro 😅 with the cool videos. Much appreciated

[@daniellelariviere9878]

Me watching this having pruned all my indeterminates to be 1 stem☹️

[@mickeymcdoogle119]

I did the same

[@TheMillennialGardener]

It doesn't mean you can't be successful. You can let them sucker out for the rest of the season. Keep in mind if you have a short season, single-stemming can lead to faster ripening fruits since you'll have less tomatoes overall. If you have a short season, the more tomatoes you have, the longer they'll take to ripen.

[@MrWhdahel]

Same here! Thanks for this info!

[@cherrylhansen8045]

Me too! I'm in Burgaw NC, so I will be listening to you more often.

[@kristensmagicalcreations]

Great video! I'm so glad I found your channel. I do this too. I actually take off the lower branches and just keep them pruned up for air flow. I have a question... should my Brussels have sprouts yet? I have big, beautiful healthy plants with no sprouts! 👏😅 please help me 🤷‍♀️💙🌿🍅

[@cr8858]

Thank you! I learned a lot and you reduced my stress level exponentially because the REASON one prunes determines HOW and HOW MUCH to prune. Again, thank you.😊

[@jeffbotkin1405]

I made this mistake this year and I’ve got one plant the has twice as many tomatoes because I let it develop two main stems. Think you are spot on in your analysis of pruning. Thanks for the help. I plan to keep watching

[@rick31869]

Finally I met someone who realizes what i have know for 4 decades !!! lol . i produce so many tomatoes compared to other people around me lol lmao !!! the more vines , the more flowers , the more tomatoes lol !!!! its really a no brainer !!! leave the suckers on people !!! .... i am not looking to grow a world record tomato , i want more tomatoes !!! i buy heavy duty 5 ft tomato cages , i flip one on top of each , i use a rope at very top to hold in vines an extra ft . they grow to top , and eventually come back sown , i carefully organize them . stay on top of everything and airflow and you wont have any problems ! ...... i would rather have 100 lbs of medium to large tomatoes then just 10 lbs of extra big ones !!!

[@thomaspullman3143]

So many people abuse their tomatoes. Please end tomatoes abuse!

[@StopWhining491]

I've been abusing my tomato plants for years. I'm so ashamed.😔

[@rousefire]

My first time growing tomatoes in a bout 20 years. I made mistake after mistake and still have a plentiful harvest. Been giving bunches away . Only five plants. Next year I hope to cut down on the blunders . Your videos are informative . Good job.

[@gaminawulfsdottir3253]

Good, no-nonsense information and a straightforward delivery. Thank you!

[@janellem6436]

Probably the best tomato growing video I've ever seen. - ontario, canada

[@jeansroses7249]

it's frustrating; I watch one video by a gardening "expert", who tells me to prune off the suckers, so I do it. Then I watch another gardening "expert" who tells me not to prune off the succkers. All I can do is experiment and find out which one is correct. I must admit that I think the first guy didn't mention the different kinds of plants, and I guess that makes a difference

[@nishpakshagupta8331]

I am keeping one plant with sucker, and that plant has more flowers. I think it's better to allow one or two sucker's to grow. We should take middle path.

[@CBe-ot8vu]

You can't generalize all tomatoe genetics into one group. Did you listen to the whole videos? Semi determinate tomatoes, determinate tomatoes. Indeterminate tomatoes, semi Indeterminate tomatoes. LISTEN WITH YOU EARS @JEANSROSES7249. Your the type of person to interrupt the person you asked a question in the middle of getting ur answers with your own answers

[@davea.2311]

Also depends how long your growing season is, leaving them on may produce more flowers but if they don’t mature into ripe fruits you’re better concentrating on the single main stem and harvesting all the fruit produced.

[@jeansroses7249]

@@davea.2311 thank you; good point

[@Brooke-st1kc]

Both methods have their benefits! Pruning them you can have more plants closer together, you'll get less tomatoes per plant but more plants in the same place. Indeterminate plants can also get SO bushy and are prone to disease. Pruning will help.

[@grahamhawes7089]

I did very strict single-stemming for two years and got poor yields compared to when I allowed my plants to bush out. It was also way more work. I’m going to follow your advice this year and let my cherries sprawl in a convenient corner of the garden, and grow more determinate and dwarf-types for big harvests in my short season! With two kids I also just don’t have time anymore to be out there pruning and tying every day!

[@barbarajeanbraceletlady3090]

He makes sense. That’s why I never get a lot of tomatoes because my neighbor told me to remove the suckers.

[@kaneikaika]

I'm a new tomato gardener, and I find your information very helpful. Thanks 👍🤙🤙

[@davidjudd951]

I bought into this pruning of suckers myth the last couple of years. The yields were way, way down. This year, I went back to my previous way of growing, and just left the suckers alone, except for the ones that are lower near the bottom, and now only prune yellowing branches. My yields are off the charts again this summer. Just the way they used to be. And the tomatoes are huge.

[@rogerspaulding6569]

Do you have a discussion on topping off a tomato when it gets too tall?

[@psisky]

Cut to the height you like. Mine are 6 feet in the greenhouse. 7 or 8 trusses on each.

[@martinklawinski2933]

Very grood Video. Some people say "you have to prune!" Others say don't prune... You say prune If you need and It depends what you want to achive. My tomato and pepper plants are a real mess but full of fruits. I want to make some cuttings or air layers to overwinter some plants indoors. This plant will be in a very small place and so i plan to allowe only one stem. I will keep some suckers because It's very eassy to accidently snap of the plants top and so i need an alternative main stem.

[@Satisar]

Talking from a minimalist gardener, super helpful.

[@Linda-9037]

So let nature take its course...I have always let my tomatoes do their own thing...they know best...I get alot of tomatoes.

[@rosebrown5256]

I discovered this on my own. It doesn't make sense to get rid of suckers with flowers on them. Do any of you ever wonder if our forbears did all the pruning, trellising and pollinating to their veggies.

[@jessicawright4102]

No, I don’t wonder that at all

[@TheMillennialGardener]

In fairness, many of the vegetables we grow have had the natural disease resistance bred out of them over generations of seed-saving to prize the recessive genes that produce the large fruits low in seeds. Also, we're growing this plants far away from their native habitats, and our locations are often overrun my invasive pests these days. That being said, less is often more. Giving them vertical infrastructure to stay off the ground and external fertilizers is a very good idea. Watching them for pests and spraying organic pesticides when necessary is a good idea. Hacking them to pieces often isn't.

[@marycrane7320]

Many old timers let's their tomatoes sprawl. My father planted 120 ever year and let them go. Deep straw mulch and 10bfeet apart Never pruned and ewe had so many tomatoes we could feed an army. Single stem came from commercial growers I grow mine up but keep as many suckers as I can

[@EssieKaye-f3q]

I don't wonder about that. I also don't wonder how abundant their crops were, although you seem to be starting with the assumption that our forebears grew massive quantities of quality fruit (which I highly doubt). I really think it's enough to compare one year to the previous and next and noting how different methods affect outcomes. That's how my agronomist father taught me. Every year, for each crop, there was a batch doing things the same old traditional way, a batch trying to replicate previous success, a batch trying to correct previous failures, a batch trying something new. I'm more like my dad and less like my fellow community gardeners in this regard; less about "this is how we've always done it," and more about "what if..." and "how can we better...?)...

[@terribryant1956]

I respectfully disagree. I've been gardening 40+ years I learned from my Grandfather and I sucker all my tomato plants and my fruit is large and abundant. I've picked 75 tomatoes regular size in 24 hours off 8 plants.

[@georgeharvey3062]

Thank you for clearing this up for me. I have been so confused about this subject. It amazes me how much I need to learn about gardening to become good at it. This gives me a new found respect for farmers.

[@fayee8986]

I have tried not but one time to eliminate the suckers. And answer my opinion I was very dissatisfied in the Yale of the tomato plant ... I prefer planning and taking care of my tomatoes the old-fashioned way as they have Through The Years done in the south.... we've always had a huge yield of tomatoes each year.❤❤❤❤❤... maybe the difference is from north to south most of these videos wonderful as they are Northern I would imagine growing anything in the South would run different❤❤❤❤ I'm glad I found your channel really a blessing thank you very much.... keep them coming 🤩

[@nowthatsdank6281]

The point of trimming indeterminate tomato plants is to get larger tomatoes more often, not more tomatoes overall. Combine this with the space saving, extra disease resistance, and incease space for more varieties. You can fit almost double the amount of tomatoes when you single or double leader. This is common knowledge. Don't know what you're on about. Honestly the only prominent KZbinr I've ever seen say that pruning indeterminate INCREASES yield is you. You literally said it multiple times in videos this year alone. Will provide you with the video timestamps if you want.

[@derghiarrinde]

You're going against mainstream here, why not make an experiment to prove your claims? It should also be easy to include table with all yields in the end of the experiment video. That would be interesting.

[@juliebee3254]

There have been many experiments measuring yields of pruned vs unpruned. The yields are 3:1 unpruned to pruned. If you want to grow LARGE tomatoes you *can* prune, but even that isn't necessary.

[@EssieKaye-f3q]

Umm... Yeah, you can conduct your own experiments if you want to prove something to yourself and don't mind replicating other people's results (to which there is scientific merit). You can even post a vid of your results. You'll get a fair share of likes, I'm sure. Besides, he's not going against mainstream; just against a certain online stream of gardening pundits who can't even give the logical reasoning behind the received wisdom they are spewing as if it were their own ideas

[@Lisazab]

I actually tried pruning the suckers last year, and my yield did decrease. This season I’m leaving them. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@cancelchannel3394]

Larger yields of smaller tomatoes, 60 years of experience says you don't know what you're talking about "/

[@jefism]

I grow cherry tomatoes predominantly and agree with you. If someone wanted BB tomatoes maybe I'd not prune.

[@pigslave3]

He mentions this in the video, calm down gramps

[@chrisevans1255]

All the commercial greenhouses grow single stems and they don't do anything that ruins their profits. Total fruit weight is higher on a single stem.

[@MelAtlNP]

He was talking about determinate not indeterminate

[@jefism]

@@MelAtlNP sick burn

[@beverlydixon1510]

Thank you so much for this information I am a newbie at gardening before seeing this video I remove all my suckers from all my tomatoes plants 😢thanks again you have a blessed one!

[@phillipja2010]

Excellent video. Your absolutely 100% right. Never remove suckers.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

You should never remove suckers from determinate varieties. Indeterminates, you can, but you need to be selective about it. Robotically single-stemming often doesn't make sense. Single-stemming is only good in certain growing situations, like in high density greenhouses. It doesn't make sense for most outdoor gardeners.