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How To Prune a Tomato Plant
(continued - page 3)
Pruning to
Shape
As far as pruning is concerned, tomatoes come in two forms, bush (or
determinate) and upright (indeterminate or cordon).
Bush varieties do well for cultivation outdoors because they
require no pruning for most of the season. Remove any yellow or decaying
foliage as soon as possible to avoid the spread of disease.
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If your bush tomatoes become too large to support themselves, either trim out a few
major branches or add more support canes - the side branches can then be
tied into the additional support canes.
Limit the number of trusses of
tomatoes to seven or eight by pinching out any surplus ones. |
Upright varieties are commonly cultivated in pots, grow-bags, the
greenhouse and sometimes outdoors in open soil. When
the first fruits begin to form, the plant will produce side-shoots in between the main stem and the leaf stems.
These side shoots (see arrows in diagram on the right) should be removed by pinching them
out with the fingers. If allowed to grow they will produce a mass of
foliage but few tomatoes. Any shoots which have been overlooked and
allowed to grow should also be removed (see X in diagram). If you click
the picture on the right, a real picture will appear identifying two
side shoots on a real tomato plant.
Lower leaves which show any signs of yellowing should also be removed to avoid the risk of infection.
When the plant has developed six or seven trusses of tomatoes (normally
around
July time), 'stop' the plant by breaking off the growing tip. If
any more than seven trusses of tomatoes begins to develop, pinch them
out to encourage the plant to produce good quality tomatoes rather than
an abundance of low quality late-maturing fruit.
Harvesting
Tomatoes
Pick as soon as the fruits are ripe (colour and size will identify this) for the best
flavour - eat as soon as possible. This also encourages the production
of more fruit. As soon as a frost threatens, harvest all the fruit
immediately and ripen them on a window sill. With upright varieties, it
is possible to gently flatten the plants onto the soil and cover with
horticultural fleece to protect them from the frost.
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