Hello,
Well my cherry tomatoes are starting to flower which is awesome!!! I'm a newbie growing tomatoes and it makes me so happy to see the flowers starting to bloom.........but I'm having some trouble knowing if some plants or stems are suckers or not, please if you could help me.
[img]https://i353.photobucket.com/albums/r389/evo_flo/IMG01627-20110104-1600.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i353.photobucket.com/albums/r389/evo_flo/IMG01628-20110104-1605.jpg[/img]
The middle ones, now that I look at the pictures they do look like suckers but could you help me to be sure?
Cheers.
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rainbowgardener
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Not necessarily and there is a lot of variation of opinion of whether to remove suckers or not. Leaving them on you get a lot more branching, which tends to lead to production of more but smaller tomatoes. For those of us in very humid climates, it also makes a very full bushy plant with less air circulation, so makes the plants more vulnerable to some of the fungal diseases tomatoes are prone to. The people who say they leave their tomato plants alone and they do well, mostly live in more hot/dry areas, which may include you...
A lot of the "pro pruning" statements originate from certain commercial growing applications where single vines (all suckers pinched off) are grown. A series of single vines are easier to maintain and harvest in a greenhouse situation and provide more consistent production (timing and fruit size). Also, in some areas of the country/world growing on stakes is traditional so pinching off suckers is just what you do.
Out in the field most tomatoes are grown either sprawled and unpruned or supported by the Florida Weave technique, and if pruned at all only have the bottom suckers pinched out, to improve airflow as Rainbow pointed out.
If you want maximum productivity from a single plant leave it unpruned or prune out some branches to improve ventilation. Some people suggest removing all suckers below the first fruit truss as the best way to do this. if you are growing in a pot/container prune so that the top does not outgrow the rootspace.
For large fruited varieties, if you want maximum production per area plant close together and prune to the main trunk only. This usually means growing on stakes or drop lines, but it is arguable if the slightly increased production offsets the extra work/costs involved setting up the support system.
Out in the field most tomatoes are grown either sprawled and unpruned or supported by the Florida Weave technique, and if pruned at all only have the bottom suckers pinched out, to improve airflow as Rainbow pointed out.
If you want maximum productivity from a single plant leave it unpruned or prune out some branches to improve ventilation. Some people suggest removing all suckers below the first fruit truss as the best way to do this. if you are growing in a pot/container prune so that the top does not outgrow the rootspace.
For large fruited varieties, if you want maximum production per area plant close together and prune to the main trunk only. This usually means growing on stakes or drop lines, but it is arguable if the slightly increased production offsets the extra work/costs involved setting up the support system.
If I miss sucker's which are larger than2 inch's. I look at the branch if it has flowers I might leave it, Usually I do find them early, and they are small. Cut or pull off asap, now cherries are different because every branch,sucker,stem grows fruit. As long as the plant grows vertical its ok, but if I find a cherry plant slowing down growing vertical, I usually find a lager sucker branch I didn't cut off earlier.
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gixxerific
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