A couple of years ago I grew two each of every variety of tomato that I grew that year. I talked to many people about leaving or removing suckers and got a different answer from each one so I decided to do a test. Since I had two of each variety I removed the suckers from one of the plants for each variety and left them on the other. I didn't do any sort of scientific analysis but I sure didn't notice any difference between the two mothods. One thing I did notice this last year tho is that the tomato plants that I remove the suckers on are much more managable on the stake.
Tomatoes ....... suckers
- Thread starter P. Dreadie
- Start date
For me this is a simple question. Determinates = no sucker pruning. Indeterminates = prune to single vine.
My reasoning is because determinates produce one load all at one time during their short lifespan. Pruning suckers on a determinate is basically equivalent to reducing your tomato count. Indeterminates I trim to a single vine because the crop is longer term. Reducing excess foliage by pruning to a single stem also reduces disease risk. Also, the quality of the tomatoes is generally higher and the size is larger on average.
My reasoning is because determinates produce one load all at one time during their short lifespan. Pruning suckers on a determinate is basically equivalent to reducing your tomato count. Indeterminates I trim to a single vine because the crop is longer term. Reducing excess foliage by pruning to a single stem also reduces disease risk. Also, the quality of the tomatoes is generally higher and the size is larger on average.
Same here, I've pinched off the suckers on some plants, and not on others and I really haven't seen a difference. The only thing I do from time to time, is as the plant grows, if there are any bottom branches touching the dirt, I cut those off in the morning and don't water it that day, so that it dries....I was finding that some of those branches were starting to get spots on them, and by removing them right away, it solved the problem.
I like 2 prune suckers because it looks neater and garden is more accessible, also trim everything up 12 to 15" from the ground to allow air flow throughout the garden. As others above have said it helps in eliminating disease. I also keep my tomato plants inside the cages as long as I can,as the season goes on though it is hard to maintain 100 tomato plants so they get a little unruly toward the end.