sucker confusion

[HoneyBerry]

My used-to-be neighbor grew lots and lots of tomatoes. One day he was picking the leaves off of his tomato plants. I thought that was strange, so I asked him why was he doing that? He said that he was removing the "suckers" because they suck nutrients from the plant. He showed me small leaves forming at the top of the branch. He said that he was removing the larger leaves so that the new smaller leaves at the branch-stem junction could have more nutrients to grow. It didn't make sense to me, but he considered himself an expert, and I didn't know a whole lot about growing tomatoes. This year I have 3 tomato plants in my garden and they are doing very well. Yesterday I was thinking about wherher or not to remove the suckers. Part of me wanted to let the plants grow naturally but at the same time I was curious about suckers and if it was best to remove them or not. I was thinking about how leaves collect the sun's rays so it didn't make sense to me to remove them. So I went online and did some research. I did find information about suckers and why some tomato growers remove them. But what is funny is that my neighbor was doing it wrong. He was removing the wrong leaves. He would remove the big leaves so that the small sucker leaves could grow rather than removing the small leaf sprouts at the leaf-stem junction. I am thinking that some of you will get a good laugh from this.

[rainbowgardener]

Yes indeed, he had it backwards!!

[Gary350]

Last year I had 18 tomato plants that produced about 550 lbs of tomatoes for the summer that = 30 lbs per plant. I never remove suckers anymore. Years ago I tried it both ways, 1/2 my plants had suckers removed the other 1/2 didn't and I could not tell any difference in the harvest. For me removing suckers has not worked but that does not mean it will not work for someone in a different geographical location with different weather, different elevation, different soil. I live in TN it gets a bit too hot in summer for tomatoes the extra leaves from suckers is good it makes extra shade for the tomatoes. Extra leaves make more chlorophyll for the whole plant that should be good too. If you have several plants try removing suckers from some and leaving suckers on others then see which works best for you. It will be interesting to know if someone can prove removing suckers is better.

[wisconsindead]

Last year I had 18 tomato plants that produced about 550 lbs of tomatoes for the summer that = 30 lbs per plant. I never remove suckers anymore. Years ago I tried it both ways, 1/2 my plants had suckers removed the other 1/2 didn't and I could not tell any difference in the harvest. For me removing suckers has not worked but that does not mean it will not work for someone in a different geographical location with different weather, different elevation, different soil. I live in TN it gets a bit too hot in summer for tomatoes the extra leaves from suckers is good it makes extra shade for the tomatoes. Extra leaves make more chlorophyll for the whole plant that should be good too. If you have several plants try removing suckers from some and leaving suckers on others then see which works best for you. It will be interesting to know if someone can prove removing suckers is better.

I think the primary argument for removing suckers is for managing how the plant grows. It is taking an unruly growth pattern and turning it into something easily manageable. I think you make good points. I would be surprised to find out that in general your output per row foot/square foot would be equal or less using hard pruning compared to no management. I would also be surprised to find that there is a considerable percentage of indeterminate tomato growers/producers not using hard pruning. It seems to be the go-to way to grow tomatoes. If you were hard pruning you'd probably want to plant more densely to allow for production of other vegetables, or more tomatoes. In your case, hard pruning but not increasing plant density probably would work to lower yield.

[dtizme]

Better air circulation could possibly be a reason for removing them? I remove them just out of habit. my cherry tomato plants always do well but I never seem to have much luck with the larger tomatoes. I have a black krim plant this year with 2 tomatoes on it. lots of flowers but they've all gone brown now. The only heirloom large tomato plant I've ever had much success with was pineapple variety. I probably got 10-15 tomatoes off it. I don't fertilize at all except put spikes in when I plant. is that the problem?

[HoneyBerry]

I don't have an opinion about suckers at this point, whether to remove them or not. I need to experiment and see how removing them or not affects the plant. One year I had 7 sprawling tomato plants so I know what that is like. I did not remove the suckers, just let them grow naturally. The plants were something like 'Jack-And-The-Beanstalk' tomato plants. I had heirloom tomatoes coming out of my ears that year. I bought those 7 plants from my organic tomato plant friend. She started them very early and in a greenhouse. The early start seemed to make a big difference. She also used high quality soil. She even filtered the water to start the seeds. I thought that the filtered water was unnecessary.
My plants are doing pretty good this year too but are not as big as those 7 huge plants that I had. This year I tore down my compost pile and then planted the tomatoe plants in the rich soil that was at the base of the pile. I haven't fertilized at all and have 3 very healthy thriving plants. Sungold Cherry and Brandywine. I've been picking the Sungolds for a few weeks now. Sungold is a very good choice for a cherry tomato. I will probably grow them again next year. My Brandywines are still green but are looking good.

[dtizme]

I guess the question is does it take more energy to keep growing the suckers or to heal itself ? Cherry tomatoes are my favourite to grow. I tried 3 different varieties this year. sunsugar, black cherry and mexican red grape. Of the 3 the only 1 I will be growing next year is sunsugar and maybe a Super sweet 100 or 2. The black cherry taste alright but are to large for my liking and producing poorly. The plants about 6 feet tall and only has 4 clusters on it. The red mexican grape is producing alright but I can't even eat them. very bland dry taste. The 1 sunsugar plant I have growing is a beast and the taste is awesome. Its got 4 shoots coming out near the bottom and each shoot is about 6 to 8 feet already and I counted approximatly 200 flowers on it already. The taste is awesome as well and size is nice, not to big which I like. sunsugar is more than likely the only cherry variety I'll plant next year.

[HoneyBerry]

Yeah, cherry tomatoes sure are fun to grow. I put Sun Sugar on my list to try. I saw some odd colored cherry tomatoes at the health food store. They don't look appetizing but they probably do taste good. The are sort of marbled rusty brownish red color. Not bright red like tomatoes usually are. The store mixed them with Sun Golds, probably to brighten them up because they are so drab looking.
I also have one ROSE DE B cherry tomato plant this year but no harvest yet. That what the plastic tag says. It must be abbreviated.

[applestar]

“Rusty brownish red” is “black” in tomato color, so if they are good, they will have flavors like Black Krim — usually described as “deep” or “smokey” and sometimes with salty front-end flavor that adds to complexity of taste.

This should make for interesting savory contrast to the strongly sweet flavor of the other variety.

[HoneyBerry]

My BrandyWine tomatoes look nice. One is turning red but I'm going to let it ripen some more on the vine.

[imafan26]

How do you keep the birds away? The birds around my house would go after any good tomato at first blush.

[HoneyBerry]

I have been more concerned about humans than birds. This year, I planted my tomatoes in back so that the humans are less likely to steal them. I haven't had much issue with birds in my garden, but I do see crows around. Now you got me thinking about laying down some bird netting or putting an owl statue on the fence. But humans might steal the owl statue so I need to be careful about how I do it. So far the humans are the bigger problem.