Top 10 Tips To Prune Your Tomato Plants

By Nandhini Devi

Wednesday, June 22, 2011, 13:58

Tomato, the red, juicy vegetable that serves as a basic ingredient in various recipes and salads, is the most domestically grown vegetable. You probably have a garden adorned with bright red tomatoes. But just leaving them to grow, without extra care, may damage the plants. Pruning tomato plants is very important to help the plant survive and bear tasty vegetables.

Tomato plants grow vigourously. The stems branch out easily and quickly, overriding all the other plants in your vegetable garden. Pruning your tomato plants helps it produce more fruits rather than foliage. Have a look at the below pruning tomato plants' tips to know more about gardening.

Before we proceed let's have a look at the different parts of the plant.

Main stem: The main vine from which all the parts of the plant grow. The main idea of trimming your tomato plant is to stop the main stem from sprouting into many branches.

Leaf stem: This stem emerges from the main stem and bears the leaves, which help in photosynthesis.

Flower clusters: These are the main parts of the plant, as they grow into ripe tomatoes. They grow directly from the stem.

Suckers: These are, most of the time, the unwanted parts of the plant.

Top 10 tips for pruning your tomato plants -

1.Tomatoes grow in two types, indeterminate / vines or determinate / bushes. If the tomato plant in your garden is of the latter type, then you do not have to worry about grooming as bush grows all the tomatoes at once and stops.

2.However, if your tomato plants are of the determinate type, trimming your plant regularly keeps them from rotting or spreading across the vegetable garden in a haphazard manner.

3.The main vine or the mother stem, usually splits into many branches. But try to reduce the number of branches to two. If there is more sun, trim this stem into a Y-shaped vine. This means you will have a small main stem and two long stems.

4.The leaf stems help in photosynthesis as they grow the leaves. So, leaving at least two of them prevents the fruits from getting scalded in the hot sun. Remember to pull out the dry leaves from these stems.

5.Check regularly for 'suckers', which grow between the main stem and the leaf stem. Gently pinch them off at whenever you spot them growing up to 3 inches on your tomato plant. Follow this pruning tip only if you have one main stem and one leaf stem.

6.If you are opting to have a Y-shaped stem, it's okay to leave one sucker, closest to the flower cluster to grow.

7.It's always better to grow your tomato plant vertically. Use garden nets, stakes or cages to grow your plant. You can also grow them against a fence or on a vine by twining the stems around the vine.

8.Whenever you have a heavy flower cluster, support it well, or the weight may damage the whole stem.

9.If you have too much sun and less wind in your region, gently shake the plant once in a while to help the flower clusters bear the fruits.

10.Check regularly for pests or worms. Use home made pest repellent to avoid damage to the tomatoes.

Regularly pruning your tomato plant by following the above tips, will get you bountiful of your favourite vegetable. Take care regularly, follow the procedure to prevent any damages to you beautiful tomato plants.