How To Prune Tomatoes in the UK

Pruning Tomato Plants to Shape

As far as pruning is concerned, tomatoes in the UK 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.

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 / cordon 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.

When to Harvest 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 (around October in the UK), 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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