Tomatoes - Suckers and Pruning tips

Zone - 6b
My opinions and some facts about suckers ,how to identify a sucker, also how and why I prune the lower branches.
This only pertains to indeterminate tomatoes .as far as I know, you should never prune or pinch a determinate tomato as they produce all their tomatoes in one short (approx. 2 week) period.
pinching will not "hurt" a plant but the benefits will be determined by your growing zone, avg growing days, type of support system and "what grandma always did".
I wish everyone good luck and a good harvest ,,by pinching ...or not pinching.
or in my case .."selective pinching"

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• stymye
• tomato
• tomatoes
• heirloom
• organic
• pinching suckers
• tomato suckers
• pruning tomatoes
• disease
• leaf
• leaves

[alicat1101]

Really nice tips! I'm also growing in Zone 6b, and I'm definitely going to try pinching a sucker for a fall crop this year. Glad to see the wind didn't take out all of your tomato plants.

[stymye]

@alicat1101 cool,give it a try.. I've found that doing it the first part of July is best .. of course who knows how the weather will be ..

[cfenster]

I subbed. Check out our garden channel. My son has one too. (dpfenster09) we look forward to watching your garden grow!

[stymye]

@cfenster thanks , I sub'd to both your channels.. lots of good vids !

[Praxxus55712]

Excellent info!! Many people assume I don't pinch the suckers but that's absolutely not the case. I pinch the ones at the top of the plant to encourage the lower ones to grow for stability. If I were staking or tying mine, I would do it exactly this way. :)

[stymye]

@Praxxus55712 true , different growing regions and growing methods will dictate the better way to grow and prune.

your technique vs mine are a good contrast of just 2 ways to do it . It's up to the grower what works best for them , I wanted to show one way I do it as there is no set in stone "have to" prune or not. Lots of misinformation out there ..I'm surprised how many people believe that suckers don't grow tomatoes and drain the plant !

[larryhughes72]

Great video...I always wanted to know exactly what were suckers and you video showed me exaactly! Thanks for all the other info as well....!

[fudgedogbannana]

I pinched a tomato once in Rome but she slapped my face.

[GardenMatreshka]

Thank you for the very information! I wish I had seen your videos BEFORE this growing season.

[mediamaker2000]

There are trade-offs whichever way you do it. I pinch off anything under a canopy that won't get enough light to be useful for plant growth/production. I also base pinching, if any, as to what part of the plant I want to majority of the hormones to go in that particular time of the growth cycle. Pinching affects a plant's hormone distribution which affects how much and how well it fruits. I'm still learning about that aspect of it.

[Thesmalltowngardener]

Excellent info!!