tomato trimming?

jmosciaro 5/15/2011, 11:17 am

This is my first garden and it is doing very well. Now that my Tomato's are growing I am not really sure how much to trim them. I have been trimming off the branches as they come up and the plants are getting taller. However right above the places where I trimmed a branch a new branch has formed. The "new" branches are starting to be large branches now and I am wondering if I am supposed to trim them as well? Also, there is quite a few flowers on my Tomato plants and I am wondering if those are the start of tomato's? Thanks for the help you guys have been so helpful!

quiltbea 5/15/2011, 12:11 pm

Are you trimming all the branches?

On vining (indeterminate) tomatoes you just want to pinch out the suckers between the main stem and the branch. It will form in the vee between the two. You only do that as the plant grows, not all at once.

If its bush (determinate) tomatoes, don't trim away a thing except the bottom few branches so the rain and water won't splash on your plants. That you do for ALL tomato plants.

You need to go to Youtube.com and enter Tomato Suckers and watch a couple of videos so you can see it firsthand.

You might be trimming off the blossoming branches by mistake.

Good luck.

jmosciaro 5/15/2011, 3:22 pm

I just watched the video and it seems like they are only trimming the suckers that are down low on the plant. I trimmed only the branches as they formed and left the suckers. In Mel's book on page 159 he says to "cut off the branches, and the best time to do it is when they are wry tiny". Before that he talks about the "theory behind pruning to one single stem" It seemed to me like he is talking about getting rid of all of the branches? I do have a cluster of tomatoes coming from the main stem on a supersweet 100 plant so I was assuming that is how it would happen on the beafsteak and early girl's as well?

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