How To Prune Tomatoes - And Why Its So Important! Episode 210

Welcome to the Simple Garden Life Podcast, a program dedicated to keeping the yard
of gardening simple, fun and always rewarding. Now Here are your hosts,
Jim and Mary Competti. Hello and welcome everybody. I'm Jim Competti along with
my co host and wife Mary Competti, and today we are going to cover
the subject of pruning tomato plants, not just when they get overgrown, Mary,
but throughout the entire growing process. And it really does make a difference.
It really does make a difference in the success of your tomato plants,
you know, starting from just a few weeks after their planet all the way
to the end of the season. Yeah, it really does. And as
we talk about it, it's not a process that you wait till they grow
to do this. We'll get into the whole thing today, but it really
matters that if you start early pruning these back, allowing some air in,
it leads to a better harvest. It's a whole lot of good things and
we'll cover them all today. One of the things we want to hit right
in front, and we'll get to this is about a lot of people think
pruning is only about pinching suckers. You used to hear that a lot in
the old days. We'll cover that, but we're actually talking about pruning branches
off to open up space at the bottom and through the middle of the plant
and keeping it from getting too big. Yeah, I'm pruning and pinching are
two different things, but we'll cover them both today. Yeah. One of
the things that's more important anything else is that earlier you get started in this
process, the better. So if you're listening to this and you're like us
right now, we're in June, which seems like the middle of August because
we're in a massive heat wave already, but you get started early in the
season when these plants are young, it really makes a difference. So why
do you prune? I guess that's the first subject we want to cover.
You know, left to grow as they please, tomato plants pretty much morph
into a tangled mess of stems, shoots, roots, you name it,
leaves, and it's not just a mess or an isore, but it really
causes problems for the tomato plants. Yeah. I think we've all had that
neighbor, that friend, that gardner, and maybe even ourselves that have at
a tomato plant go a little bit too wild. And you can't even see
if there's any fruit on the stems. That's right. And you know,
here's the important thing about tomatoes. You know, they need air, light
and nutrients to bloom better. And if they bloom better, that means you're
going to get more tomatoes. And when they grow wild like that, it's
not so easy for them to get especially the air and the light and the
nutrients themselves. Also, people don't think about this, but when your tomato
plant is all tangled up and it rains, or you get a light rain,
some of that rain never gets down to where it needs to go.
It's just shield it off by that thick growth. So, you know,
overgrowth blocks light and air. It can keep you know, water from reaching
the roots. And when plants become overgrown with a lot of stems and all
those resources that the plant uses and the nutrients they're going towards, you know,
building all of that growth, that's not necessarily good for producing tomatoes.
Right. The whole goal of having a tomato plant is to have actual tomato
fruit at the end of the season, not to have as many branches that
you can have or have a tall, tall tomato plant. You know,
in your garden. Yeah, we talk about this with fertilizing. Some people
think, you know, my tomatoes are just huge and they're bright green,
or not my tomatoes, but my plants. But I'm not getting allot of
tomatoes. Well it's concept. When you over fertilize, you get all this
foliage growth and it doesn't do anything to help. But you know, pruning
takes some of that back, and as you'll see, it really directs the
resources right to the tomatoes. So you know, too much leaf canopy near
the ground also is a big difference, and that's what we're going to talk
about first as we get into this, because it not only allows that light
and air and but it makes it easier for you to water and it really
helps with pest and disease control. Right, And I think the first step
in all of us and pruning our tomato plants is to take those branches off
the bottom. Your plants aren't huge yet, but you really don't want your
stems and leaves to be touching the soil. That's right. So okay,
so we'll get to that. Let's go to this sucker's question. We talked
about this a little bit earlier, so let's tackle the subject. Suckers are
not okay, So what are they? I guess that's the first question.
Not people, No, they're not. They are the small shoots that sprout
from where a stem and a branch connect you. It's it's really the best
way I've always described it is, it's what forms right that v area between
the two you know of when you have a stem come up, that's a
sucker. A sucker is never going to produce fruit, and so in the
old days, everybody would always pinch those off. Here's the thing you can
do it. It does help a little bit. It's going to conserve some
resources. I will say, you know, you can do it with your
fingernails. You can just punch them right off and it's going to take that
out. I've never had a big problem with leaving some suckers on. I
mean, I know there's people that are just really like, you've got to
get everyone. I don't think it matters as much as physically pruning your tomato
plant, like we're going to get to But it's not a bad practice because
again, none of those are going to produce tomatoes, right. Those suckers
do take some nutrients away from the rest of the plant. So if you
see if you pinch them off and do it while you're pruning, so you're
not doing double duty work. Yeah, and you know what, it's just
I always it's so big because a lot of people think that is the only
way to prune a tomato plant, and it's not. You you're taking the
suckers off, they're not going to produce fruit. But I wanted to cover
that subject, you know, before we get into the heart and the soul
of pruning. So we're going to take a quick ad break before we do
so, though, I just want to remind everybody that you can sign up
for our podcast at simplegardenlife dot com. We also have a whole slew.
What we've done now is we have an article that goes along with every podcast
and vice versa. That way, you know, some people like to read
that information and it's it's a little different. I mean, it covers the
subject, but we also put all the resources in that article. Anything we
talk about, whether it's today's article, we'll talk about, you know,
what you can use to prune, and when we've done fertilizing articles, we'll
talk about different kinds. We put all those links to everything right in there
on that article, so you can have an easy resource to help you out
again at simplegardenlife dot com. And then if you can't get enough gardening,
you can check out our other two main gardening sites, which are Old World
garden Farms dot com, the original the Mother of it All that started at
Mary, and then this is My Garden which really gets into specific plants.
But again, simplegardenlife dot com is where you can sign up to follow along
with our our podcast and also get all of our detailed articles on gardening.
So we'll take a quick ad break and we'll be back with our question of
the week and we'll get into the heart and soul of pruning your tomato plants.
And we are back and let's go to our question of the week.
Mary and I like this week's question. Yes, this is from Michael who
lives in Huntsville, Alabama. He asked what is the best tool to use
for pruning tomatoes? And do I need to worry about treating where it cut
off large limbs from the plants. We get the treating question a lot,
and I think it stems from when people are used to trimming bushes or trees
in the fall and used to paint them or spray or you know, cover
those because the SAP's coming out first and foremost. You do not need to
treat what you've cut at all with anything. There's products out there. The
branch is kind of heal on its own. That sap actually runs out a
little bit, closes off pretty quickly. No worry about that, Michael.
So you can prune away. You know, we like to prune early in
the morning or late in the evening, just because it's easier on us.
It's also a little easier on the plant too, and that that will help.
But no need to tread them at all about what to use. This
is a great question. So Mary, you know, she'll go out and
she does a lot of sucker pruning in earlier in the year. She uses
their fingernails. She'll just cut them right off and always laugh at it.
And I'm like, you know, that's the best perfume in the world,
right, because if you don't like that, you know, a good sharp
pair of garden scissors are great. Um if you grow heirloom tomatoes though,
and we'll have a link on this. Garden guru has one is really good
at they're ratcheting pruners. You can use them all over the garden if your
hands, if you have a little trouble with the strength in your hands and
scissors get tired. These are really nice. They ratchet down. They'll cut
anything, way more than tomatoes. But they do a really, really good
job. So one more note, go ahead, Mary. No, they
also they not only ratchet, but they also spring back, so it makes
it nice. Let's work on your hands. Yes, I mean they really
do. They. I like that because you just carry them everywhere. Again,
always carry some some wipes with you, some antibacterial wipes or a little
bit of you know, bleach and water, just a teaspoon less that even
in a gallon of water, and dip those in between plants. If you
do have disease on your plants, it is so easy to transmit it from
plant to plant, whether it's tomatoes, peppers, whatever you're talking about.
So I always make sure you clean those between. But great question there,
Michael. I love to talk about that. And no, you don't need
to worry about putting anything on them. And those ratcheting pruners will really work
for you. So let's cover a couple more important things. Is wind to
prune. We hit that the morning and the early evening, that heat of
the day, they'll run a little bit more sap and it's a little bit
harder on the plant. And then the important of those sharp clean cuts,
and we just talked about that with shears. Tearing cuts is more damaging to
plants, right, And you know we're going to get the question, and
I think we should clarify. You don't have to have ratcheting shears. You
can use a pair of scissors that's dedicated to your garden. Use what you
have on hand. The ratching shears are great for people that have arthritis or
have difficulty with their hands, but you can use a pair of scissors.
Yeah, just make sure whatever you use they're very sharp. The sharper,
the cleaner the cut, the quicker it's going to heal. Jagged edges on
a tomato plant are not good. They're going to have more spots for that
have to heal for the plant. So quick clean cuts or what you're looking
for when you're pruning. So you know, we always ask what's the most
important. You know, it's pruning the most important task, but really for
me, it can pruning can be broken down in three distinct types of pruning,
and the first one we're going to talk about. And to me,
I think to you probably too, this is probably the most important for the
health and long term success of your plant, and that's bottom pruning, right,
taking off those bottom limbs and foliage is very important. Yeah, So
determinates and n indeterminates are going to be a little different. You know.
Determinates grow all at once and you get your produce. Indeterminates we're going to
grow throughout the season and get a little bit bigger. Determinates tend to be
a little bit smaller, but we like to prune six to eight inches off
the bottom of our plants. Now people get nervous, like, my plant's
only a foot tall right now, Jim, And I'm like, well,
listen, you know, you take a little bit of time. But I'm
talking. By the time these it's mature into the first of July and they've
grown to size. For determinants, you know, eight to twelve inches,
we take almost twelve to eighteen inches on our indeterminates up underneath on our airloom
tomatus. What does that do well? It does a lot of good.
First of all, it makes it really easy for you to work your plants
around your soil. You can water when you need to water right there,
you can get to the bottom, you can put compost around it, you
can keep the weeds free. There's not a tangle of limbs down there.
But it also helps keeps insects from having an easy lift up to your plants.
Right if the branches are down to the ground, all insects have to
do is just climb onto the leaf and can get up to the top of
your plant and seconds. Yeah, and it's also a great hiding place for
them, and people don't think about that as well. When they're all down
low, you can't see anything and it might even not be insects. It
can be animals, small rabbits. You know, it gives you give everybody
a chance when you keep all that lush growth down underneath. Finally, then
and probably even more important, it really helps deter disease, you know,
you know blight, all these things that spoiled driven from the soil. Well,
that happens when it splashes up on the leaves. And we talk about
how important is the multiplants. Well, if you mult your plants and then
the leaves are touching the ground that can still happen. So by pruning up
underneath your plants, it really helps in those three distinct ways. And I
can't stress enough if you do anything this year. I always tell people this,
If the only thing you prune is the bottom of your plants, you're
going to help your plants more than you ever thought you could. Right and
now that the tomatoes are in the ground, a lot of people have tomato
plants that are two to three foot tall or maybe even eighteen inches tall.
Is it okay for them to go ahead and take those bottom branches off,
knowing that the plant's going to grow taller. Yeah, And that's that's a
great question because sometimes people think, well I didn't get started early. I
don't want to. I don't want to, you know, butcher my poor
plant here. Get those limbs off, you know, take them off,
just do them a little like for us, Like right now, we probably
are three to six inches because our plants are small, and a few more
weeks will take another inch off to get to that full you know, eight
to twelve determinants and up to eighteen for the big ones. But you can
do it at anytime, don't let I'll never forget Mary, the massive cherry
tomato plant that overtook our garden a few years ago, and it was in
this row and I came down one day and I literally thought she had taken
the entire tomato out. There was just thousands of clippings out now, giant
pile, and I go, did you just kill it? She goes,
no, I pruned it back into shape. And I thought at the time,
you know, I always say that you can prune it doesn't hurt.
That proved the point because that plant went on to just flourish after that,
and you literally took eighty percent of that plant. And it was scary because
we end up with a big pile of all branches of leaves that it looks
like it was a whole nother tomato plant. But it really helped it out.
Yep. So okay, so that's bottom pruning. Now let's go to
the second part, which is middle pruning. This is to me second most
important because it allows for lighting circulation. Now, we talk about disease,
and one of the thing ways the plants can get disease or mildew or all
the other things is when it's stagnant and air can't pass through it, and
air not passing through also hurts with pollination. It also hurts to not allow
a light to help coming into the plant photosynthesis and also ripening. So what
we do is we like to clean out some crazy branches in the middle.
Mary, I guess I'll lean to you on this one, because you are
you tend to be the more of the pruner in the middle of the season.
But you're not opening up the plant huge in the middle. You're just
removing all these criss cross branches to allow some right. You know, if
you look at your plant and where your steak is, if you have trouble
seeing the planet itself, you need to cut those branches off. So the
ones that are criss crossing, take those off. You've got to give airflow.
If you can't see light through your plant, you need to do some
pruning in the middle. Yeah, just a little bit, and you don't
have to open it up all the way. We're just saying you don't want
to just have this big conglobration of leaves that are all sticking right there and
it can't get through. I mean, that's the real thing you're looking for,
right And I think this gets harder during the season because what happens to
all of us gardeners. We start pruning our tomato plant. Then we see
blossoms and blooms and we're like, well, I don't want to cut those
off because those are some day gonna be tomatoes. But sometimes you have to
sacrifice those branches. That's one of the most difficult things to do with pruning.
It is, it is, But it's just like thinning. You know,
you do a little bit of it now and it pays off with the
rest of your crop, you know, getting on a little bit better later
on. So okay, so we've covered bottom pruning, we've covered middle doesn't
take a rocket scientist, and now think that we're going to talk about the
top of the plant. This question comes in every summer, is Jim or
Mary? I know that you guys only have five or six foot high steak
of cages or whatever. What do you do because my airloms grow, my
airloams grow twenty feet tall. Well that's great. If you want to create
that kind of a structure and let them grow and you want to get on
a ladder, go for it. But for us, we top our plants.
They get to a certain point of height. We will bend some down
and retie them to our steak of cages. But it's okay to top your
plant. In fact, sometimes it really helps the growth grow a little bit
better. You don't have to, but yes, you're not going to kill
that plant by topping it right, And Jim, what you're talking about,
steak stake a cage. Not everybody might not know what we have in our
garden. And yeah, we've developed a tomato support system and we've turned it
steake a cage. And if you want to learn more about that, you
can go to Old World garden Farms dot com. Yeah, we'll put the
link on here. Yeah, absolutely, And really it's just I know we've
talked about it before, but it's a steak in a cage. On one,
it's a real simple way to harness your tomatoes. But when it reaches
the top for us, you know, we have no problem at all topping
that off a little bit. Again, we just don't want our tomatoes to
grow together. You want that, you want that airflow, you want the
sunlight to be able to hit them, So don't be afraid to do that
at the top. Now, last, but not least, before we leave
you today, let's talk about what do you do with all those clippings.
And this is the other one that really gets to people because they're like,
whoa, I know, tomatoes, I shouldn't put them in my compost at
the end of the year. But these are young, they're healthy shoots.
Can I throw them in again? I just always say this, Tomatoes to
me have no place in a compost pile. They just they are trouble.
They are carriers of disease. They could have all types of things on them.
We discard ours. You can if you have a fire pit, you
know you can burn them off and have the ashes there, but you know,
wrap them up, put them in you know, your city compost,
which is gonna get way hotter than your pile, right, I think,
I think if there are scientists out there that have a perfect pH compost pile,
and you know you can do it for the backyard gardner, typical backyard
gardner, Yes, it's just really better not to put them into the compost.
You make a great point, you really do, Because we talk about
this. If you had a super hot pile, you know those pathogens are
gonna get killed. You're not going to worry about seeds from your tomato.
But I don't care unless you, like you said, unless you're really working
an amazing pile. Most home piles can get hot, but they can't get
that hot. It's just not worth it. It's not worth it to carry
that through. So let's kind of recap what we talked about. You know,
suckers versus pruning two different things. You're removing those suckers, which are
you know, in the v's and the early ages, they're not going to
produce fruit, So you can pinch those off pretty early if you want to.
The well being of that is a little questionable to me as far as
how much does it help, but you know it does clean your plan up
a little bit. That's the first thing. Keep your plants manageable from the
start. We talk about it all the time. Start pruning early, Take
a few inches off the bottom when your plants are small, let them grow
a little bit bigger. And if you have a rogue branch that's just going
crazy, don't be afraid to trim that back and tie it back, you
know, prune underneath more as the plant goes. That's a huge thing to
do. And to keep that bottom clear and in clear middle space. Mary
talked about it, but in the middle of June and July, or excuse
me, July and getting into August, that middle space is really going to
be critical to get air flow through and help ripen your tomatoes and help help
them keep be productive. Right. And the last one I think is important
too is don't be afraid to top your plants. You know, if your
plants are getting too overgrown, too high, you can cut off those branches.
And one thing we didn't mention I think is also important is towards the
end of the season, when your tomatoes is about ready to wrap up and
you know you only have a few weeks left, if you see blossoms on
your plant, take them off. They're taking energy away from the rest of
your plants that are trying to ripen those tomatoes, and by the end of
the season they're not going to be ballooned into tomatoes. Anyway. Mary always
comes up with a great tip, and that is a great tip today.
So that time frame for us is usually once we get to August. You
know, we know that that tomato plant is limited on how much it can
production. You're right, take those new blossoms off because again the plants just
use an energy for that, and you can reripen or not reripeen. You
can ripen faster the fruit that is on the vine. So there you go.
You know, tomatoes are big for us. We love to talk about
them. Pruning is something that I don't know about you, Mary, but
my parents never did it. I didn't know anybody that really ever did that.
I think the old adage was I want this plant to grow as big
as it can, and this monsters that can. But again, it really
will help, and you'll be amazed at how well kept it keeps your garden
and your plants, and how well it helps your plants stay healthy and produce
more tomatoes. Right, and keep in mind too, this isn't just for
tomato plants. I know we talked about tomato plants today, but we're big
component believers in pruning your pepper plants as well. Absolutely absolutely, and you
know, I think maybe we can do another podcast on that. There you
go. There you go. So no, and if anybody has any questions,
as always, we get a lot of them, and we love it.
Drop us a line at the farm at owgarden dot com. Again,
it's the farm at owgarden dot com dress those to Mary so I don't have
to answer. We try. We try to answer every email that we get,
and you know, it may take us twenty four hours or forty eight
hours if it's busy garden season, but we really make that extra effort and
Jim does a great job answering most well. I'll tell you what we were
right now in the midst of garden season. And I laugh in the morning
when I open up and see one hundred new emails in this But if you
know what, we honestly everything aside. We enjoy it, and we love
talking and gardening, and we love when the ideas come our way. So
Mary, I think it's that time. It is, and remember whatever you
do, find the fun and gardening and grow something beautiful. Until next week,
everybody, excuse me, see I'm just ready to get out in that
garden. Until next week, everybody, happy gardening. We hope you've enjoyed
this episode. Subscribe to the Simple Garden podcast on iTunes, Apple, pod
Cast, Spotify, or most of your favorite podcast apps. You can also
head over to simplegardenlife dot com, where you can listen and read all of
the show notes to every episode and if you have any questions, any ideas
for show topics, or if you want to share your favorite garden tip,
email us at the Farm at owgarden dot com. Until next time, Thanks everyone,