The tomato plant, or tomato plant, is one of the most popular crops among horticultural enthusiasts in virtually the entire world. This plant has its origin in South and Central America, but currently its fruit has made a place of great value in a good part of world gastronomy.
This plant requires some care that we must take care of if we want to learn well how to grow tomatoes and, thus, obtain good quality fruits. One of the most important in some types of tomato is pruning. If you want to know more about how to prune tomatoes and when to do it, keep reading us in this Green Ecologist guide.
When to prune tomatoes
You have to differentiate the different types of pruning that are applied to the tomato plant to know when to carry out each one. So, to know when are the tomatoes pruned, pay attention:
- Sprouting or pruning of sprouts, in which the so-called suckers are removed from the tomatoes, is carried out once or twice a week during the warm months. As soon as spring arrives, an indeterminate tomato plant will begin to produce a large quantity of these shoots, which we must remove before they grow too large.
- The leaf removal or defoliation Maintenance is done on a regular basis, removing the leaves as they wilt or damage.
- The sprouting It should be done when we believe that the tomato plant will not have time to fully develop new fruits. That is, about a month and a half before the worst temperatures arrive in the warm months, or three months in the cold ones.
In any case, no pruning should ever be done with the plant damp or wet, as we could cause it to become ill. Knowing all this, now let's see how to prune tomato plants correctly.
Types of tomato plants
The first and most important thing to know before starting to prune our tomato plant is to identify what type of plant we have. Depending on this, it will require different care. There are two main types of tomatoes: determinate and indeterminate.
Indeterminate tomatoes
Indeterminate tomato plants grow non-stop, so pruning suckers is very necessary if we want to collect tasty and good quality fruits. These tomato plants also need staking and produce tomatoes in a fairly staggered manner throughout the entire season. Some indeterminate tomatoes are the beef heart, the black cherry or the muchomiel.
Certain tomato plants
Determined tomatoes, on the other hand, are more bushy and compact. Once they reach maturity, they stop growing, and also produce all their fruits simultaneously, which requires a much faster harvest. These tomatoes are much less demanding on pruning, as they don't produce as many suckers. Some particular tomatoes are marmande, cherry gold nugget, or roma.
In addition, we recommend you to know +30 types of tomatoes. Once we have identified what type of tomato plant we have, we proceed to pruning.
How to prune tomato plants
¿How to prune tomatoes at home or in the garden? Whether the tomato plants you have are in your field or garden or if you have them in a pot at home, take note of these steps and guidelines for pruning tomato plants:
Sprouting
Indeterminate tomatoes need regular sprouting when the growing season arrives. If not, the plant produces suckers in a good part of the axils between the main stem and the secondary branches. If we allow these shoots to grow, they will develop to as large as the branches from which they were born and, in turn, will give rise to new suckers of the tomatoes. This entire development process involves a huge energy expenditure for the plant, which does not allow it to allocate enough resources to the production of fruits, so it would end up producing small and few tomatoes.
Thus, de-budding should be done once or twice a week, and we simply must remove suckers from tomatoes by hand. If they have not developed too much, they will come out easily with a pressure of the finger and the nail, without causing great damage to the plant. If they have grown too long, use some pruning shears properly sterilized.
Leafless
As the tomato plant shows yellow or wilted leaves, we must remove them to promote aeration and the use of nutrients. However, it is better not to remove large amounts of leaves or branches at once so as not to weaken the plant excessively.
Usually you have to remove older leaves and close to the ground, in addition to those found on the fruit bouquets. The pruning of leaves in tomato plants must be done with sterilized scissors, although in some cases where they are very dry, they can be removed by hand.
Topping
When the plant will not have time to produce new generations of tomatoes, the apical bud is pruned or upper part of the stem. In this way, the plant focuses its efforts on fattening the tomatoes it has available, instead of continuing to grow. It is done by leaving one or two branches above the highest flower cluster. In the following season, it must be repeated with the stem that has been formed as the main one in its vertical development.
Summary of the basic steps for pruning tomatoes:
- If you are using pruning shears, sterilize them first.
- Observe the plant from a distance to detect the parts that you are going to prune according to the type of pruning you are going to do. Thus, if you are going to do only a leaf removal, look at the withered or very old leaves, if you are going to de-sprout the plant, look for the suckers and the shoots that have to be pruned and if you see that it is not advisable for the plant to grow higher, observe well to the area of the apical bud.
- Proceed to remove with your hands or cut with the scissors the necessary parts to make a good pruning of the tomato plant.
- Take a good look at the entire plant, picking up some branches to make sure you've removed everything you need and you're done. Remember to clean the scissors well again.
Tips for pruning tomatoes
To finish, here we leave several tips on how to prune tomatoesEither prune cherry or large tomatoes or whether they are potted, in a greenhouse or in the ground.
- Always use sterile tools when pruning any part of the tomato. Also, and especially if you smoke, wash your hands with soap and water before doing manual de-budding.
- When the first flowers appear, prune the branches below them. In indeterminate tomatoes, clean directly, while in determined ones you can wait for the leaves to turn yellow.
- Most cherry tomatoes are of a certain type, so they do not need extensive pruning. In addition, they value quantity more than quality, which allows them to grow more.
- In greenhouse tomatoes it is especially important to prune the low branches so that they do not shade the ground and allow a greater aeration of it.
- The stems removed during de-budding tend to root very easily, allowing a new tomato plant to grow in just 15 days.
Now that you know a lot more about pruning tomato plants, you may be interested in learning more about tomato cultivation. For this, we recommend these other Green Ecologist guides on How to grow organic tomatoes and Growing tomatoes in a greenhouse.
If you want to read more articles similar to How to prune tomatoes, we recommend that you enter our category of Cultivation and care of plants.
