HOW TO: Prune Tomato Plants
Pruning tomato plants can be easy.
Before you start pruning see if you can identify the following:
Main stem
Blossoms
Suckers
Dying leaves
You want to keep:
Main stem
Blossoms
You want to remove:
Suckers
Dying leaves
What are suckers?
Suckers are extra limbs on a tomato plant that divert nutrients from the fruit and critical parts of the tomato plant. Suckers are the lateral growth located in the crevice (often referred to as the armpit) between the main stem and the branches. On a supported tomato plant (caged or strung), the vertical growth is likely to be the main stem.
How do you remove suckers?
There are two ways you can remove suckers (and dead leaves):
Pinching them off using your fingernails
Clipping them off using hand pruners
Why is pruning important?
Pruning helps your tomato plant stay healthy. A healthy tomato plant maximizes the delivery of vital nutrients to the critical parts of the plant and fruit. Pruning also helps your tomato plants produce more fruit.
A few more tips . . .
Prune early and often. Anytime a sucker appears, pinch it off. Continue removing suckers throughout the season for a healthy plant with abundant fruit.
Sometimes suckers will regrow. Simply pinch off the recurring sucker.
Don’t leave clippings near the live plants. Tomatoes are infamous for their susceptibility to disease. The clippings need to be fully disposed of to prevent infection. (Do not compost tomato clippings.)
Don’t cut off the top growing area of the main stem, as it is vital to the plant’s survival.
For a visual representation of how to prune your tomato plant, and specifically how to identify and remove suckers, watch the video below.
Window to B’s greenhouse and kitchen . . .
