To Prune, Or Not To Prune Tomato Suckers?

Hello Nema,

It looks like not many folks have responded to your post, so I will give youmy two cents´ worth.

On the question of suckering-- I remove the suckers on my plants depending upon which sort of habitus the plant has...a ´bushy´ habitus or a cordon-type.

If the plant has a bushy habitus, it will not grow tall and is to remain, thus, short and bushy.
If the plant is the ´cordon-type´, then this type may (and should be) suckered so that it can grow tall.

I can tell you what I do with my own toms.
The plants with a bushy habitus I remove no suckers at all, and I do not prune them, unless they are really growing well.
The cordon-types, I remove all suckers throughout the life of the plant. All suckers except the so-called `king sucker`. I leave this one because it´s like having two plants on one...and I handle it as if it were an individual plant--that is to say, I sucker it, etc.
The king suckes is located at the bottom of the plant usually at the first leaf-stalk junction. If there are two, then I keep the thicker of the two and remove the other one.
(It has to be said that not everyone agrees with doing this--it is a personal choice).

In terms of ´pruning´--I almost never prune the plants with a bushy habitus. I only do this if the plants grow to the top of my little greenhouse. Some years they do that!
Pruning a cordon-type is something that I do on a regular basis, depending upon how hard it grows.
My theory is that if the cordon gets too verdant, it only takes food away from the fruit.
Pruning heavily allows for more air flow.
It is important to reach a reasonable balance here. YOu do not want to remove too much, and you need to decide which ones to leave and which ones to remove.
I leave the leaf that is above the tom fruit clump.

Also, once the cordon reaches the top of my greenhouse, I lop the top off because I do not want condensation to build-up on the glass and come into contact with the plant. It is a place where disease can develop.

Of course, if you are growing your cordon outside, you can do as my uncle did and tie it onto a very long pole. Depending upon the plant species--they can grow surprizingly tall.
I once saw some that were being grown commercially on hydroponics in a greenhouse that were ±16 meters long! They just keep going and going under those conditions.

I must disagree with the notion that one must plant many plants to harvest many toms. I believe that your net harvest depends upon what sort of plant you are growing...and how you handle the development and care of the plant.
To illustrate--from the six plants that I grow each year, I have enough to eat fresh, can, give to friends and colleuues and the Food Bank. Just six plants.
If it is a year that I am growing primarily for canning-- then I use twelve plants, and the amount that I get is overwhelming. I literally cannot get rid of them all without giving to the Food Bank.

Well Nema, I hope that this posting has helped. Remember it is only MY thoughts, there are many ways to reach the same goal...but this method works well for me.
I have made a number of posts on this and related tom subjects on here, but I can´t recall how I titled them all. Sorry Sad

Try here for a few--

http://www.gardenstew.com/viewtopic.php?t=11584&highlight=toms+haircut

http://www.gardenstew.com/viewtopic.php?t=10869&highlight=toms+haircut

http://www.gardenstew.com/viewtopic.php?t=10339&highlight=toms+haircut

_________________
Sjoerd http://www.volkstuindersvereniginghoornenomstreken.nl/Page11.html

Once again, thank you all for your help. I had a big long post typed up yesterday and when I hit “submit” I got a “try again later” message and I lost the post, so I went outside to till.

Sjoerd, you had me confused with the “cordon” type tomato plants. I’ve never heard of that kind here in the U.S. and I order tomatoes every year from catalogs that have several hundred varieties. So I did some internet sleuthing and I now know that it’s not a kind of tomato, but the way that a tall tomato type is pruned and shaped.
I can’t very well show you a picture of the tomatoes I grow because in 4 of my raised beds (see pics of my raised beds: http://www.gardenstew.com/about15076.html) every year I grow 8-12 different kinds. I plant 6 plants in each 3 ft wide by 12 foot long bed spaced 2 ft apart and fasten them to a trellis made from heavy cattle fencing. I grow Cherrys, Romas, Bush types, Beefsteaks, Grapes, Saladettes, an Early type, an Heirloom or two and sometimes one of a different color, striped or hollow for stuffing. So I guess I’ll rely on the seed catalog’s description to determine if they are a tall type and indeterminate.
Thank you for your pictures, they’ve helped me see how the tomato plant should look and will make the job easier. I can see now that fewer branches should allow better air circulation, more sunlight to the lower parts of the plants and help prevent soil splashed diseases.

What do you fertilize your tomatoes with?
I try to be as organic as I can by saving vegetable scraps, coffee grounds and eggshells and combining them with grass clippings and leaves to compost. I till some compost into
the soil and the rest I use as mulch. I’d love to find a source for aged cow manure to add to the compost, but so far have had no luck in finding a farmer who is willing to part with any.
So, I do work a little 12-12-12 fertilizer into the soil before planting and when the plants start to flower heavily, I top dress with some 6-24-24 under the mulch.

I appreciate you helping and sharing your expertise. Although I’ve been gardening for 30 years, I find there is always more to learn.

Thank you,

John