Barefoot Gardener Pruning Tomatoes

[bulleuston76]

Suckers always grow between the main stem and a leaf branch at a 45 degree angle to them both. The reason they didn't have hairs on them is that it was new growth and had not yet developed...anyway it's always a learning curve for all of us. :)

[kipstrange]

This is wrong. She's cutting healthy growth off. Silly bitch.

[shelby123227]

While, the way you are trimming the leaves off the tomato plant is correct , this method is correct for a Determinate tomato plant. For a Indeterminate tomato plant you would remove the suckers which are locate in the, I call It (the arm pit of the tomato plant stems). You can find out which plant you have by looking at the tag. It is clearly stated which one it Determinate or Indeterminate.

[Stugazo21]

The right way to remove suckers is ... look at the base of the stem and look over the plant... Reach down at the base of the plant and rip the whole plant out of the ground and wait for another plant to grow... stronger to

[benjy545]

Ok, I'll give it two days. There's a lot of conflicting advice on how you should prune tomatoes. I think the branches give the plant strength to produce fruit rather than take nutrients away from fruit production. The "suckers" are between the axle and main stem apparently.

[benjy545]

I just followed your pruning instructions and have since discovered that I have done it wrong and have possibly killed my plants. Please don't post anymore videos.

[inmanart]

@benjy545 Are they dead? Give them a couple days and you'll see them looking so healthy and the fruit will get all those nutrients. Don't worry - they'll be fine, but I'm sorry I have caused you so much grief.

[n2deep2100]

I must agree with most of the other posts you are cutting off branches but I am not so closed minded not to try other methods of growing my tomatoes I am going to try this against my oldr methods which just included the suckers and I will see how things come out thanks for you video

[turtlesoup57]

I've been scared to death about the pruning thing! Thanks for the tip about the "hairy" stems. I feel much better now. Infact, I'm heading out there right now!!!!!!! Happy Gardening/.

[bargata]

Oh no, Mother Nature knows what she's doing but you don't! Those are not suckers that you are removing, those are the leaves of your main plant. Your tomato needs leaves for photosynthesis so don't go too crazy with removing them.

[kithp]

You sound just like Drew Barrymore. 7 kids? wow :)

[chriscreateharmony1]

Thank you lady simple and straight to the point.

I love your video.

You are obviously following your heart in your garden and this is how it should be.

[ginny0015]

Suckers are easy to pinch off when they are young. You are cutting branches off that are not suckers. : O

[buck8744]

Sorry I cringed when u cut the main stem branches!

[stymye]

congratulations you just cut off branches... please don't post any more till you know what your doing.. this is very bad information.. the "fuzz" is on the main stem !!,, the things coming out of the main stem it are branches!!!.. also do you realise that "suckers" produce blooms and tomatoes? and provide the plant with energy?

[jelad100]

great way to get sunscald on your tomatoes. At least leave some growth on the top to shield the fruit as it grows.if growing downward is the criterion for a sucker then dont stake your plants....lol. This video is scary, too many mistakes for the novice

[jelad100]

great way to get sunscald on your tomatoes. At least leave some growth on the top to shield the fruit as it grows.

[fkelly84]

i seen suckers but you didn't cut them....you cut some healthy branches off instead! lol..... im sure by now you know what suckers are... you should put up a new video

[DC180]

i was drunk and fell on my tomato plants... i crushed them :(

[MoralInvasion]

She also admits she's a 'novice gardener' and so is not the ideal person to be giving advice on growing anything, including tomatoes.

[MoralInvasion]

Seriously with the best intentions this is misinformation and you should remove this video. The leaves you're removing are producing nutrients that produce fruit, the lateral growth only should be removed. Also overhead watering encourages fungal diseases, rain water is acidic and discourages such.

[MoralInvasion]

This woman is a moron, she can't tell lateral growth from leaves! She will have few tomatoes this year.

[evelynrocks1]

@MoralInvasion

Thanks for your opinion, but you are oh so wrong!! We had so many tomatoes that we had enough to share with friends and neighbors and put up around 2 bushels! (And that doesn't count the ones we ate along the way!)

[SuperWebtraffic]

I like how people jump up and down and say you are cutting off the leaves and robbing the plants of nutrients well the people who try this actually are enjoying the best tomatoes in their life. I have trimmed my tomatoes like this for a few years and yes you can tell what branches will get fruit by whether or not is has the fuzzy hair. Tomatoes are fun to play with so try it both ways and you will see this lady is 100% correct. When you trim away the excess leaves you actually get more blossoms

[aus2045]

Has anyone seen the pinhead that prunes all the leaves off, just back to the fruit? Just put more nutrients in the soil, let the plannt do it's thing

[aus2045]

Suckers make leaves and flowers, both are good for your crop.

[lol1lady916]

i just tried it and well my plant looks pretty bare but i hope that it keeps growing up and and i hope to get more fruit :)

[Andromsoft]

hey,

I really like your show and your quirky approach. I like that you have fun with this video, but the comments below are correct - the bits you were chopping off were leaves, not suckers. By cutting off the leaves, you're preventing the plants from producing nutrients and energy to go to the fruit.

Obviously everyone has different techniques, but it might be worth running a video like this by other gardeners first as an accuracy check, just to make sure you don't mislead anyone.

Thanks!

[FLAUrbanHomesteaders]

This is the hard part. It's like clipping your dogs nails. You know it's good for it, but you are afraid to hurt it. But if you root the suckers, you can get lots more plants.

[corvin007]

You can't even tell a leaf between a branch... hmmm

[artsire]

you are just trimming leaves, not suckers, which normally grow in between branching nodes. i prune the first few suckers of the season and let the rest go. which seems to work well.

[skullcollector29]

Cool video the hall idea of having a vegetable garden at home is have to have fun so we all have different ways to take care of our plants watch the videos and enjoy them ...! just a personal opinion...!

[HackerGuitarist]

It's a good thing that tomatoes are very tolerant of their >>>branches<<<< being lopped off,,,by the way, suckers produce tomatoes.I would highly reccomend a good gardening book, you obviously no idea of what a sucker is. I'm not normally mean with replys but this is very bad misinformation you are spreading

[titamarie07]

Thanks for the "fuzz" tip - one of the best tips yet! Hope it works....

[wcm68tn]

Fraud. You are NOT The Barefoot Gardener.

[DBSpy1]

So if its bald,off with its head,nice tip.

[adramatictheme]

great vide this was quite helpful.

subscribed!

[PLASMOLE]

FINALLY...........Its the ones with the fuzz on them...........No one has ever explained it this easily to me before..........It kills me too when I accidently knock off a fruit..........THANKS!!!!!

[sharonsfella]

Thanks for the idiots guide to this most of the other videos never mention the fuzzy part, this makes it so easy for me. Excellent video, well done.

[imbus4]

THOSE ARE NOT SUCKERS!!!! Suckers are not determined by whether or not there is fuzz...a "sucker" is a secondary stem which grows between the main stem and its leaves (in between the "V") What you are cutting are leaf branches off the main stem.

[cajohn19m]

Thank you very much!! =]

[plum413]

bravo  well done

[vitimind]

I just plucked the non-hairy downward growing "suckers" and I felt like I was trimming the stem! Made me nervous. This is my first year! Thanks for your help!

[tigerpa0505]

@vitimind

Wow you already are at the pruning stage? Where do you live? I had the most amazing crop off these plants! It worked! I had so many tomatoes that my neighbors were eating all they wanted as well.

Good luck and keep me posted!

[Geefa1234]

what you cut is not sucker!!

That is the leave !!

Go back and lear more

[dewton232]

@Geefa1234 I was about to say the same thing! I never saw her cut off a single sucker, only leaf stems!

[amyamy7777777]

gr8 video thank you soooooooooooooooooo much .. you were one of those very few people that can actually speak english so that the beginners would understand...i am just about ready to start removing the suckers on my tomato plant..thanx again

[skeptisx]

in my experience growing tomatos i found removal of lowest 2 branches only is best method,,,you get slightly smaller fruit but much more of it wich makes for more weight per plant

[mookiedoi]

thanks! that's the best video Ive seen on the topic

[melodysurf]

Thank you for some excellent tips and advice and a great video too!

[yellowgroove]

Nice video and good tips, can you help with mine? i posted a response and rated/subscribed.

[inmanart]

I would start by getting those top stems down to where your fruit is. Then get any non producing stems out of the picture. It will look a little 'naked', but your fruit will thank you! They will be able to get all those nutrients that have been wasted on the healthy follage. Give your plants some Epsom salt and powdered milk (1 tbls spoon of each per plant) sift it around the base and water it in, that will give those tomatoes some extra pluck. Good luck and let me know how it goes!