tomato 1 stem?

tegaan Mon May 23, 2011 2:17 pm

Hi,

This is the first time I am growing tomatoes and 1st time SFG. Could someone explain in very detailed detail what leaving only one stem on the tomato means? Does it mean all other stems? I do not want to kill my tomatoes but I want healthy plants with lots of tomatoes. I'm confused.

thanks, kari

jumiclads Mon May 23, 2011 2:23 pm

I was not sure exactly what it meant so I googled and found this. Link

UnderTheBlackWalnut Mon May 23, 2011 2:49 pm

I'm a newbie but my understanding of "single stem" is that indeterminate (or vining) tomatoes will produce suckers which could cause there to be multiple main stems. These type of tomatoes will grow all tall as you or the weather lets them. The "single stem" method is designed to grow your tomatoes from one main stem and not let them vine out, thus producing more in a small space. The important thing is that these are INdeterminate varieties. Determinate or bush varieties don't just keep growing up, they do stop and bush out so it isn't recommended to do the "single stem" method with them.

There is a lot of good info in this post about "single-stem" method of pruning vining tomatoes....also more info on what to search for...

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t7048-i-don-t-understand-how-vining-toms-can-be-grown-in-just-one-sf

There is also a video that has been recommended on this forum more than once on stringing tomatoes and pruning suckers:

How to String and Sucker Tomato Plants

Hoggar Mon May 23, 2011 3:36 pm

Here is an article & a Video I found to be very helpful.

The Benefits Of Pruning Tomato Plants

How To Prune Tomatoes

quiltbea Mon May 23, 2011 3:50 pm

UnderTheBlackWalnut.....
I'm happy to see you post the video site for "How to String and Sucker...." I highly recommend it to the newbies in our community garden. Its very clear about how and when to remove those suckers.

Of course, suckering is for indeterminates (vining tomatoes) and not the determinates (bush type).

Indeterminates are long and vining and the word is long.
Determinate is a shorter word and the crop is shorter as well.
Its an easy way to remember which is which.

petals1973 Mon May 23, 2011 11:33 pm

This is a video of single stem tomato plants towards the end of the growing season

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc6_ATF4lp4

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