Pinch Those Suckers???

[probe1957]

Greetings all.

I have planted two varieties of tomato plants this year, Roma and Celebrity. These performed very well for me last year so I figured I would only plant them.

What I thought I would try is to stake all my plants, as I have done in the past, but this time I thought I would pinch all of the suckers off to a single stem. I expect I will really need to do that because I planted the plants 2 feet apart with 3 feet between the rows.

Now to my question. I read somewhere that you shouldn't pinch suckers off or Romas...that you should let them grow multiple stems. Is there anything to that?

Tell me it is okay to prune my Romas to a single stem and that I didn't screw up by planting my plants so close together in anticipation that I would be able to do so.

Thanks kids.

[JayPoc]

well....both Romas and Celebrity are determinate, if I recall correctly. Over-pruning determinates greatly reduces the yield (or so I've heard)....

[hendi_alex]

Celebrity is a determinate but gets taller and produces over a longer season than most determinate varieties. The plants grow so vigorously that IMO thinning out the suckers probably makes sense. But just as an experiment, why not thin out a vine or two and compare the results to those that are not pinched back.

[probe1957]

Thanks guys.

Quick research leads me to conclude both Roma and Celebrity are determinate and should not be pruned.

There seems to be a difference of opinion on whether or not they even need to be staked. I would appreciate some guidance on this issue too.

[mattie g]

Just my experience:

I had a volunteer Roma last year that went berserk. It ended up flopping over, so I popped a couple stakes in the ground and tied them together to try to prop up the plant. I eventually gave up and let it do its thing. In the end, it was nearly 4' tall and spread out about 7' or so in diameter on the ground.

That plant produced into October, although the quality of the fruits dropped as the season went along because the plant got fairly diseased. Nonetheless, I harvested many, many lbs of tomatoes from that thing over 3-4 months.

[hendi_alex]

Both my roma and Celebrities get pretty tall, at least four feet, so for me staking works best. You can let any tomato sprawl if you wish, but there again for me, vertical is neater and works best.

[n8young]

I had not Romas, but San Marzanos last year, and I pruned them to be a single vine style, and trellised them on a 6 ft trellis. My plants flopped over the top and produced a ton of tomatoes. I do believe however, that my variety was also indeterminate.

[PaulF]

I am firmly in the camp that believes in no pruning unless the vines are dragging in the dirt or you need air flow around the base of the plant, but then I grow heirloom/open pollenated tomatoes exclusively and cage everything because mine all grow to at least eight feet.