If you grow tomatoes, you've probably heard about pruning them, or pinching out the suckers. But where does a sucker grow on a tomato plant? And how do you go about pruning? And, is it really necessary in the first place?
The fact is, certain types of tomatoes respond very well to judicious pruning. Pinching back your tomato plants is one of those garden tasks that doesn't take much time, but can get out of hand if you let it go too long.
I've written an article about pruning tomatoes that lays the entire process out for you: what to prune, how to do it, and why. If you're growing tomatoes this summer, and need to keep them controlled because of space limitations, this is definitely something you might want to try.
Comments
Out of the many articles I read, I felt that this article was MOST helpful in explaining how/when to prune suckers and where they are located on the plant.
The photo was also exceptionally helpful.
THANK YOU !
This is my first time growing tomato plants. Are the yellow flowers considered to be something that needs to be plucked off or is that considered a fruit?
Hi Brittnay,
The flowers will eventually become fruit. Sometimes, if it’s very early in the growing season, I pluck them to give the roots more time to get established. And, if you’re growing tomatoes in the hopes of growing the largest, you’d pluck several blossoms and leave a few to mature. But if you’re just growing tomatoes to eat throughout the growing season, leave the blossoms on and enjoy the tomatoes they’ll soon become!
Thanks for reading!
Colleen
Hi Colleen! I’m currently reading up on tomato care because I recently grew a couple from seeds (very recent). So while I’m not quite in the pruning stage (but would love to be there soon!) it’s good to know. Apparently, plucking is quite common among plants. I’ve seen similar advice with petunias and strawberries. Until a couple of weeks ago, I had no idea there was a point in doing all those.
is it true while watering your tomato plants your not supposed to get the leaves wet?