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do you prune your tomatoes? #6909792
06/24/20 10:14 PM
06/24/20 10:14 PM
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 18,369
Green County Wisconsin
G
GREENCOUNTYPETE Offline OP
trapper
GREENCOUNTYPETE  Offline OP
trapper
G

Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 18,369
Green County Wisconsin
need a break from the news and crazy

I was out pruning my tomatoes this evening

hard to pinch off those flowers when a nice tomato sounds so good right now , but I like to get them above about 18 inches before they branch out or they end up so dense that the fruit is hard to pick and the plants never dry out in the middle.

my goal is always to get them over the top of the cage then drape back down , I fall short of that some times.

once they get past 18 inches or so I start letting them have more branches

[Linked Image]


how do you prune?


America only has one issue, we have a Responsibility crisis and everything else stems from it.
Re: do you prune your tomatoes? [Re: GREENCOUNTYPETE] #6909802
06/24/20 10:23 PM
06/24/20 10:23 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 41,592
Northern Maine
Bruce T Offline
trapper
Bruce T  Offline
trapper

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 41,592
Northern Maine
Never have


Nevada bound
Re: do you prune your tomatoes? [Re: GREENCOUNTYPETE] #6909824
06/24/20 10:42 PM
06/24/20 10:42 PM
Joined: Jul 2019
Posts: 415
South Dakota
P
Prn Offline
trapper
Prn  Offline
trapper
P

Joined: Jul 2019
Posts: 415
South Dakota
I let em do as they please. I figure that plant knows far more about making tomatoes than I do.

Re: do you prune your tomatoes? [Re: GREENCOUNTYPETE] #6909827
06/24/20 10:44 PM
06/24/20 10:44 PM
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 5,944
South metro, MN
C
Calvin Offline
trapper
Calvin  Offline
trapper
C

Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 5,944
South metro, MN
Neighbor lady showed me how to prune tomatoes...pull all the suckers off. Big difference.

Re: do you prune your tomatoes? [Re: GREENCOUNTYPETE] #6909835
06/24/20 10:48 PM
06/24/20 10:48 PM
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 15,520
Champaign County, Ohio.
K
KeithC Offline
trapper
KeithC  Offline
trapper
K

Joined: May 2009
Posts: 15,520
Champaign County, Ohio.
If you prune off the suckers, plant them and keep them moist, they soon root and have tomatoes too.

Keith

Re: do you prune your tomatoes? [Re: GREENCOUNTYPETE] #6909860
06/24/20 11:07 PM
06/24/20 11:07 PM
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 2,409
claysville, pa
imiller Offline
trapper
imiller  Offline
trapper

Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 2,409
claysville, pa
yeap suckers gotta go

Re: do you prune your tomatoes? [Re: Calvin] #6909861
06/24/20 11:08 PM
06/24/20 11:08 PM
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 23,480
New Hampshire
N
Nessmuck Offline
trapper
Nessmuck  Offline
trapper
N

Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 23,480
New Hampshire
Originally Posted by Calvin
Neighbor lady showed me how to prune tomatoes...pull all the suckers off. Big difference.


Yup....if you don’t pull off all the “suckers” ....your maters will split. The skin on the mater splits . I made that mistake....


It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.
Re: do you prune your tomatoes? [Re: GREENCOUNTYPETE] #6909862
06/24/20 11:08 PM
06/24/20 11:08 PM
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 6,501
Wi.
D
Diggerman Offline
trapper
Diggerman  Offline
trapper
D

Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 6,501
Wi.
If you transplant late, you should prune, otherwise I let them be.

Re: do you prune your tomatoes? [Re: GREENCOUNTYPETE] #6909867
06/24/20 11:14 PM
06/24/20 11:14 PM
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 8,113
Manitoba
N
Northof50 Offline
trapper
Northof50  Offline
trapper
N

Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 8,113
Manitoba
Get those leaves off the ground off, the rains spray the leaves and infection can enter there.
Hilling later to get root to grow out and draw in more moisture when the crop starts to fill, especially if you have dry/wet cycles
12 inches of roots in compost/organic can do a lot more than 3 inches in the ground I drawing up water in the heat of the day.

Re: do you prune your tomatoes? [Re: GREENCOUNTYPETE] #6909874
06/24/20 11:17 PM
06/24/20 11:17 PM
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 10,787
Asheville, NC
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charles Offline
trapper
charles  Offline
trapper
C

Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 10,787
Asheville, NC
Been pruning as you are this year. Too soon for an opinion. I live in an area that has many commercial producers. Our crop matures in August and September. Growers with large crops probably do not sucker. They do train their plants to a single stake. On second thought, their plants do not have low limbs so I guess they remove everything somehow.

Tobacco is related to tomato and it also has suckers. Farmers remove the suckers to promote leaf growth. About 50 years ago a chemical named MH30 was used to retard the development of suckers. Turns out it is harmful to your health, so not allowed anymore on tobacco. Maybe it. Can be used on commercial tomato farms. Probably not. You could spray it on grass and it would stop growing.

Re: do you prune your tomatoes? [Re: GREENCOUNTYPETE] #6909881
06/24/20 11:20 PM
06/24/20 11:20 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 2,192
AR
T
TurkeyWrangler Offline
trapper
TurkeyWrangler  Offline
trapper
T

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 2,192
AR
I never use to but have started doing it the last couple of years. Mainly just the suckers and lower down branches. You thin them too much in the south and you will have sun burned tomatoes.


Poor people have poor ways.
Re: do you prune your tomatoes? [Re: GREENCOUNTYPETE] #6909892
06/24/20 11:32 PM
06/24/20 11:32 PM
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 6,679
Newark, Ohio 83 years
Actor Offline
trapper
Actor  Offline
trapper

Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 6,679
Newark, Ohio 83 years
Me too! Suckers and lower leaves.

Garry-


“Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.”

Have been trapping 77 years…
Re: do you prune your tomatoes? [Re: GREENCOUNTYPETE] #6909906
06/24/20 11:48 PM
06/24/20 11:48 PM
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 2,897
American In the Pyrenees; Fran...
S
swift4me Offline
trapper
swift4me  Offline
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S

Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 2,897
American In the Pyrenees; Fran...
When I lived in CA I always grew my tomatoes in hog wire cages about 3 feet in diameter and I let them turn into bushes. Lots of tomatoes and no chance of mildew because the humidity there was never a problem. here, mildew is always an issue and after several years of mediocre or bad results in cages I started growing them like everybody here does.

I plant them deep, after removing the bottom most leaves, and train them up a single stake. Every sucker gets pulled asap, and as the plant starts to get taller, any leaf that touches or is close to the ground gets yanked. This also promotes growth at the top. I never pull off any flowers and as a result the first fruit I get is at the bottom of the plant. Every week I have to pull off suckers and lower leaves, and by the end I have plants that are 5 feet tall and 18 or 20 inches in diameter with about the same amount of fruit that I used to get but the tomatoes have more flavor. I think someone on here years ago said that you can raise leaves or you can raise tomatoes... which do you want. Leaves take sugar as well, so fewer leaves mean more sugar in the fruit and they ripen faster. At the end of the season if I still have green tomatoes I cut off 90% of the leaves and everything ripens quickly.

Ever since I have no mildew, and rarely if ever treat with copper sulfate. I've got 25 plants at the farm and 35 here in town.

For the last few years I plant 2 or 3 grafted tomatoes. With these you need a serious main stake, (I use a chestnut fence post), and then two regular stakes the angle out. I train the main stem up one stake and the first big sucker up the other one. These plants get big and heavy so you have to tie the tops of the two stakes to the main one to support the weight of the fruit. I get 3 or 4 times the fruit off these than a regular plant.

Just my two cents, but it works for me.

Pete

Re: do you prune your tomatoes? [Re: GREENCOUNTYPETE] #6909932
06/25/20 12:14 AM
06/25/20 12:14 AM
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 190
AZ
G
gotya Offline
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gotya  Offline
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G

Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 190
AZ
What is a SUCKER, please.

Re: do you prune your tomatoes? [Re: GREENCOUNTYPETE] #6909968
06/25/20 01:58 AM
06/25/20 01:58 AM
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 2,897
American In the Pyrenees; Fran...
S
swift4me Offline
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swift4me  Offline
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 2,897
American In the Pyrenees; Fran...
When you have a branch off of the main stem there is often a new shoot exactly in the crotch. That is a sucker. If you leave it on it will eventually become a big branch of the plant and it will bear fruit. It all depends on whether you want to train a single stem up a pole or if you want a bush. If you choose, they are easy to snap off with your fingers instead of taking the chance of infection cutting them with cutters.

If you have a limb that isn't exactly in the crotch of the two limbs that is not a sucker and you should leave it.

They show up during the entire life of a tomato plant so you have to look every week or so.

As for the skin splitting, I don't see a connection with pulling the suckers. Skin splitting for me has been a problem with over watering. An old Italian buddy who grew incredible tomatoes year after year told me that you can water them all you want when they are young, but once they set fruit just give them little drinks.

You should be able to grow Boone and Crockett tomatoes in Arizona, just a matter of the water bill.

Good luck.

Pete

Last edited by swift4me; 06/25/20 02:18 AM.
Re: do you prune your tomatoes? [Re: GREENCOUNTYPETE] #6909972
06/25/20 02:27 AM
06/25/20 02:27 AM
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 7,211
W NY
Turtledale Offline
trapper
Turtledale  Offline
trapper

Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 7,211
W NY
I don't prune um but after the dry spell we had the deer took care of my pepper plants and then decided to "prune" my tomatoes down quite a bit. Guess they were the most succulent plants around. Oh well...... they'll come back to me another way


NYSTA, NTA, FTA, life member Erie county trappers assn.,life member Catt.county trappers
Re: do you prune your tomatoes? [Re: GREENCOUNTYPETE] #6909974
06/25/20 02:48 AM
06/25/20 02:48 AM
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 3,575
N. Carolina
S
Scout1 Offline
trapper
Scout1  Offline
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S

Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 3,575
N. Carolina
When the first bloom hand forms, I move to the first limb below it. Go below that limb and remove everything below it. You may have to allow more foliage to form before you do that. I snip everything that grows outside my cages as well. As far as suckers, I think it depends on the variety.


-------------------------------------
DJT & MTG in 2024!
Re: do you prune your tomatoes? [Re: GREENCOUNTYPETE] #6909982
06/25/20 04:56 AM
06/25/20 04:56 AM
Joined: Dec 2018
Posts: 5,214
Crivitz WI
Sprung & Rusty Offline
trapper
Sprung & Rusty  Offline
trapper

Joined: Dec 2018
Posts: 5,214
Crivitz WI
Yes


No Jab.
Re: do you prune your tomatoes? [Re: Nessmuck] #6910015
06/25/20 06:47 AM
06/25/20 06:47 AM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 41,592
Northern Maine
Bruce T Offline
trapper
Bruce T  Offline
trapper

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 41,592
Northern Maine
Originally Posted by Nessmuck
Originally Posted by Calvin
Neighbor lady showed me how to prune tomatoes...pull all the suckers off. Big difference.


Yup....if you don’t pull off all the “suckers” ....your maters will split. The skin on the mater splits . I made that mistake....

Maters???? confused grin


Nevada bound
Re: do you prune your tomatoes? [Re: swift4me] #6910016
06/25/20 06:47 AM
06/25/20 06:47 AM
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 18,369
Green County Wisconsin
G
GREENCOUNTYPETE Offline OP
trapper
GREENCOUNTYPETE  Offline OP
trapper
G

Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 18,369
Green County Wisconsin
Originally Posted by swift4me
When I lived in CA I always grew my tomatoes in hog wire cages about 3 feet in diameter and I let them turn into bushes. Lots of tomatoes and no chance of mildew because the humidity there was never a problem. here, mildew is always an issue and after several years of mediocre or bad results in cages I started growing them like everybody here does.

I plant them deep, after removing the bottom most leaves, and train them up a single stake. Every sucker gets pulled asap, and as the plant starts to get taller, any leaf that touches or is close to the ground gets yanked. This also promotes growth at the top. I never pull off any flowers and as a result the first fruit I get is at the bottom of the plant. Every week I have to pull off suckers and lower leaves, and by the end I have plants that are 5 feet tall and 18 or 20 inches in diameter with about the same amount of fruit that I used to get but the tomatoes have more flavor. I think someone on here years ago said that you can raise leaves or you can raise tomatoes... which do you want. Leaves take sugar as well, so fewer leaves mean more sugar in the fruit and they ripen faster. At the end of the season if I still have green tomatoes I cut off 90% of the leaves and everything ripens quickly.

Ever since I have no mildew, and rarely if ever treat with copper sulfate. I've got 25 plants at the farm and 35 here in town.

For the last few years I plant 2 or 3 grafted tomatoes. With these you need a serious main stake, (I use a chestnut fence post), and then two regular stakes the angle out. I train the main stem up one stake and the first big sucker up the other one. These plants get big and heavy so you have to tie the tops of the two stakes to the main one to support the weight of the fruit. I get 3 or 4 times the fruit off these than a regular plant.

Just my two cents, but it works for me.

Pete


any pictures of what the grafted tomatoes and the staking look like?


America only has one issue, we have a Responsibility crisis and everything else stems from it.
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