By Julie Christensen
More has probably been written on how to prune tomatoes than almost any other vegetable gardening task. Unfortunately, advice on pruning tomatoes is usually vague, conflicting or downright confusing. The truth is, tomatoes don’t absolutely have to be pruned. Some gardeners let them ramble on the ground and never prune them a bit.
However, pruning tomatoes is a good idea if you want healthy, productive vines. Pruning is a lot simpler than you might expect, especially if you do a bit every week so the plants don’t become overgrown. Here, we’ve included everything you need to know to become a tomato pruning expert.
The Whys of Pruning Tomatoes
Determinate tomatoes don’t need pruning – ever. These bush-like plants are bred to stop growing at a certain height and stop producing fruit at a certain point. If you prune them, you’ll limit their growth even more.
Indeterminate tomatoes are another story, entirely. These subtropical plants form sprawling vines, which if left to their own devices, become a tangled, unproductive mess. Sure, their foliage is pretty, but you’re not growing tomatoes for their leaves. You want healthy, vigorous tomatoes. Tomatoes need access to sunlight to ripen and sweeten properly. If the vines are allowed free rein, you’ll have fewer fruits and the fruits won’t look or taste as good.
How to Prune Tomatoes
When you first start pruning tomatoes, keep three rules in mind: first, never, ever prune above the top blossoms. If you do this, the plant will stop growing upward. The plant becomes bushier and less productive. Next, prune out suckers when they’re small. If you wait until they’re bigger, you risk injuring the plant when you take them off. You’ve also allowed them to divert energy from developing fruits. What are suckers? They are smaller offshoot branches that grow between the main stem and the branch. Learn more about them here. Here’s a YouTube video that demonstrates, and another shorter one.
Finally, examine the whole plant before you start removing suckers. Are there new suckers growing at the base of the plant? Take them off. What is the plant’s overall health and growth like? Go easy during hot weather or if the plant seems stressed. Still confused? Below you’ll find a step-by-step guide to pruning tomatoes.
- Prune tomatoes early in the morning whenever possible. The stems are crisp and snap off easily. During the heat of the day, they become limp and are more likely to tear.
- Look at the plant. Your goal is to train it so it has one central trunk with several strong, healthy branches. Once you’ve located the trunk and the main side branches, you might notice smaller branches growing in the crevice where the trunk and main side branches connect. These small ancillary branches will try to produce new tomato plants. You don’t want this because it makes the plant large and unmanageable and it actually reduces yields.
- Once you’ve located an ancillary branch, pinch it between your thumb and forefinger to remove it. Try to make a clean break and avoid ripping the plant.
- Drop the ancillary branch under the plant to decompose or discard it.
- Remember, don’t prune any stems that grow above flowers. These are new growth that will form more blossoms. Focus on removing the stems that form along the main branch instead.
- If a second trunk emerges from the ground, remove it. If you have lots of room, you can leave it and allow it to become a second tomato plant, but in most cases, it’s best to take it out.
Whens to Prune Tomatoes
So, now that you understand the principles of pruning tomatoes, you might be wondering how often you need to prune them. In general, once every week or so is usually plenty unless your tomatoes are extremely vigorous. Depending on the size of your garden, spending 15 minutes or so once a week is enough.
Don’t worry if you miss a week or two. Tomato plants will still grow and produce tomatoes even if they’re not suckered, but keeping them pruned increases your harvest and makes them easier to manage.
For more information, visit the following sites:
How to String and Sucker Tomatoes from Front Porch Farm
Pruning Tomatoes from Fine Gardening
Julie Christensen learned about gardening on her grandfather’s farm and mother’s vegetable garden in southern Idaho. Today, she lives and gardens on the high plains of Colorado. When she’s not digging in the dirt, Julie writes about food, education, parenting and gardening.Â
What is suckering? I’m new to gardening in general so all definitions and explanation are helpful.
Thanks for the feedback. We updated the post with a little more information, and added links.
I grow indeterminate tomatoes year round. I have one tomato vine that is three years old. I live in south florida. The first year I cut out the suckers, but then when the TOMATO VINE is a year old and has spread 30 foot, I prune it back hard to three foot and wait for the suckers to come back. They will put out new growth that will produce lots of tomatoes. I grow my tomatoes in super large tree size pots, each against a large fence 5 ft tall surrounding several acres. The vines grow into the fence and placing the pots 10 yards apart means each vining tomato has plenty of room to run. No staking, just threading vine through the expanses of fence. Keeps the crop off the ground and treating each plant individually, should it become necessary is easy. Stops the spread of disease too. So many homes have perimeter fencing. Why not use it? If you live in the deep south and grow tomatoes year round this is the easiest way to do it I have found. Worried about neighbors stealing tomatoes? (not a problem in my semi rural area) Plant a few extra and share the bounty. When my mango trees are ready to be harvested I put up a large sign that says FREE MANGOS. I am always asked, why don’t you sell them? I say I have more than I use and this gives me a chance to meet all the people in my town. I even give away seedling trees (Mine are the mono, not hybridized mango, Haitian type and breed true from the large pits. ) if they have a yard. This year one gentleman brought me lots of carrots and parsnips (which I don’t grow) and a pic of the “seedling” he had gotten 4 years earlier. It had fruit on it. It’s a lovely way to meet your neighbors and occasionally non-locals driving through will stop. This year we’ve had people from Japan, Germany, Venezuela and India stop for fruit. They are amazed that people hand out fresh fruit for the asking. The exchange with people from different cultures is always interesting. They went home with at least one positive experience about the friendliness and generosity of Americans. Share your bounty with those that don’t have and enjoy living in the greatest country in the world.
I’m from Michigan so I had no idea tomatoes lasted that long!
WoW! It would be nice if you share some pictures! Thanks!
Sounds great. Could you please show a few pictures?
Wonderful! It’s nice to hear about your story about sharing, especially fruits of your own work.I’m so inspired.Thank you for sharing.
Show me how prun tomatoes plants
I have my tomato plants growing and wanting to plant them because they are starting to loose some of their leaves which makes me believe they need more space to spread out. Also I heard that if you have tall plants that when putting them in soil in your garden you should lay them down on their side covering them up with soil just leaving a small amount sticking out of the soil. Could you reply about the two things I am thinking about?
Thanks. I’ve grown tomatoes for many years, but never pruned them until last year & I had no idea what I should prune. This year they’ll get proper pruning!
i would NEVER drop the pruned portion to the ground- this invites disesase
I have read on some other sites it is possible to actually root the suckers to become new tomato plants with similar or the same characteristics as the mother plant from which they were removed. Is this true & what would be the exact procedure for rooting the suckers if such can be done?
yes you can get them to root,stick them in soil and keep them moist. When doing this it makes clones of the parent plant same plant same disease resistance… Google cloning for the exact process for tomatoes
Yes you can,let suckers get bigger 8inch or so clip off close,n put n a planting pot with dirt,potting soil, n place n a cool shade for a couple day s one week,plant should stay straight n look good.I spray my stem with a mix of cinnamon n water or root starter n when I plant n the garden I soak with a mixture of efphon salt 2 teaspoon to gal,of water.
Would that be Epsom salt?
I put the suckers in a jar of water, sit it in my kitchen window and change the water every day. Takes a week and they root very quickly! Then plant them!
how do you know if it’s a determinate or indeterminate tomatoe?
The tomato record holder says to trim one correctly you item todos 18 branches in total all other suckers are to be eliminated within an inch of growth. Which means you have to check it literally everyday. I decided to no prune after the first month and let them go. Using concrete reinforcement mesh and ten foot conduits. With over two on the to go I hit 8 feet. Highly productive. Point being you don’t have to prune if you invest in support Systems, but you won’t break the record.
I started to plant tomatoes a month ago … i am happy that now it blossoms.. i dont know about pruning or removing suckers… but what i do is trimming the leaves near the flower… i saw a sucker but it also has a flower….
Q: how can i make it fruitful tomato??