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Pruning Tomato Plants

Blue OnionBlue Onion Posts: 2,995
in Fruit & veg
Do you prune your tomato plants?  Have you tried any deviation or experimentations?  

Last year I allowed four or five suckers per plant on indeterminate varieties to grow and fruit.. it was quite a jungle, I just cut anything that grew above the top of my frame.  I got TONS of cherry tomatoes.. more than any other year, but I felt they were delayed and I had TONS of green fruit at the first frosts (I cut off whole tresses and ripens them on in a box in the kitchen - using them daily for three or four weeks).  

So this year I have been very strict in cutting off all suckers, and just last week I pruned off lower leaves as advised in a number of blogs to reduce disease and make base growing suckers easier to spot.  I've also pruned the lower leaves on my semi-determined for the same reason as reducing disease and aiding airflow, etc.  

I don't feel like the tomatoes have ripened any sooner, despite all my daily work.  Time will tell whether pruning the lower leaves helps with disease.. it certainly looks tidier.. but I am concerned about removing leaves that are putting sweetness into my tomatoes.  

Then I read blogs like this that make me question the whole practice.  

What are your personal experiences and experimentations?  


Utah, USA.

Posts

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    A great set up you have there Blue Onion. 

    My view on leaves is generally to leave alone.
    Leaves are the engines of plants, they provide all the energy for plants via photosynthesis. If you remove a healthy leaf there's less energy getting to the plant so there's less energy for fruit production - that pretty much sums it up.

    I cut off leaves that lay on the ground and I cut off leaves that are yellowing and no longer up the job they are there for.
    Other than that I leave them to it.
    Toward the end of the season when it's just a matter of waiting for existing fruits to ripen, then I cut off leaves to aid air circulation as their job is done.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • purplerallimpurplerallim Posts: 5,287
    I used to take off more than just the base leaves, before a discussion with Pete two years ago. I tested leaving all but bottom leaves on a gardeners delight last year. It was a much healthier plant and fruited longer. My only problem was the the trusses were harder to keep an eye on and some bent because the fruit became so heavy😊 
    So this year all leaves are on, and I do pinch out side shoots from Alicante , but not from Roma as it does better as a bush. Hope this helps @Blue Onion
  • strelitzia32strelitzia32 Posts: 758
    Coincidentally this year I've ended up with some red cherry toms growing cordon and some growing however they feel like it (all same variety, I'll check what one later). I never got round to tidying the latter up, so I've just left them.

    I'm seeing absolutely no problems with the unpruned ones - they are full of large vines, ripening nicely. I'm actually getting a better crop on the unpruned compared to the cordon. 

    I've thinned out a few leaf stalks, and cut off the weakest thin suckers from the base and axil growth now to stop the plants getting ridiculous, but mostly they've been left alone. 

    Assuming all continues as is, I'm probably not going to bother with strict cordon training in future.

    I usually start taking leaves off from mid August, I find the extra space and reduced foliage helps (or maybe that's my biased perception). I rarely have to ripen on a window ledge.
  • herbaceousherbaceous Posts: 2,318
    I grow Sweet Million in the greenhouse and Harbinger outdoors, the Sweet Million get pruned according to available space but I let the Harbinger cover a 1 metre trellis as it chooses.  Last year the majority of the huge Harbinger harvest ripened so lots of lovely fresh tomatoes and pots of pasta sauce. This year I am expecting more green tomatoes so green tomato chutney this year.

    I am a lazy gardener so faffing is out but it doesn't seem to make that much difference, the weather is more of an influence I find.
    "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it."  Sir Terry Pratchett
  • purplerallimpurplerallim Posts: 5,287
    Its all to do with space for me. Growing cordon is my way of getting everything in the greenhouse. 😁 The season is too short for me outside, but any "leftovers" go out so nothing is wasted.😁
  • Blue OnionBlue Onion Posts: 2,995
    Thanks for sharing your experiences, I'm thinking I might let it grow a bit wilder next year.  Hopefully we can all go out and about our business next summer, and not worry about catching death from a neighbor or checkout person.. then I wouldn’t harass my poor tomatoes so much.  
    Utah, USA.
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