Does it really bring more yield if you remove side shoots of the tomato plant? Do you have to cut out tomatoes or can you do without? Here comes the answer!
I love my tomato plants and grow them all myself from a seed. For this I build a greenhouse from an egg carton. Watching the plants grow is the most beautiful thing of all for me.
When I showed my pride and joy to a friend recently, she wasn't so thrilled with my twelve plants. "You'll have to prune out the tomatoes if you want to harvest anything!" she gave me to understand.
But do I really have to? Do you have to remove the stingy shoots and if so: How does it work and what is the point at all?
I have done a lot of research on this topic and made myself smart for you. If you have always been interested in this topic, then you are in the right place!
Table of contents
The idea behind stubbing out tomato plants
In Germany and Austria, the warm summer days are limited. So in the shortest possible time the tomato plants have to grow and yield. Already in September it is often too cold and the fruits no longer ripen.
That's where you stand as a tomato grower every fall and are disappointed that there are still so many green tomatoes on the plants.
Supposedly, it helps if you pickle the tomatoes. The reasoning behind it sounds logical. Removing side shoots leaves the plant more power for the main shoot and the fruit on it.
You can better control the plants by removing stingy shoots. So that it does not grow far over your head.
Some amateur gardeners claim that this makes the tomatoes on the main shoot ripen faster and grow larger. What is behind this?
More and more people are asking themselves this question. No wonder tomato plants are after all most popular vegetable that grows easily on the balcony. Whether in a bucket, in a greenhouse or outdoors, tomatoes grow everywhere.
Tomatoes coring at a glance
- When pruning, you remove all the shoots that begin to grow in the leaf axis
- You break these branches as early as possible from the axis
- The right time to break out the shoots is from June to September
- Strong shoots are removed with a knife, small shoots with your fingers
- Larger stingy shoots can be put in water for 7 days - they will form new roots
How to plant vegetables on the balcony!
Why should you sprout tomatoes?
Breaking out young shoots growing from the leaf axil is worthwhile, report amateur gardeners and vegetable growers. Especially for stake tomatoes, this method is often used. This includes all varieties with large tomatoes, as well as cherry and truss tomatoes.
When you cut out the tomatoes, you reduce not only the shoots, but also the fruit set. Because the stingy shoots develop later than the main shoot, you help the plant to have more strength for the main shoot.
Side shoots also often develop a lot of leaves and only a few flower sprouts. With large fruits, it can happen that the side shoots become very long and later hang down under the weight of the tomatoes or even break.
It all sounds logical, doesn't it? But as an amateur gardener who is not looking for a huge yield, I still ask myself: Is it worthwhile to prune tomatoes?
Quality instead of quantity
On the website My beautiful garden I can read something exciting. Here it says that modern varieties, which are aimed at high yield, form so many shoots and fruit set that the plant can not supply them at all.
So if you just let the plant grow rampant and do not intervene then a lot of tomatoes would form, which do not mature. Pruning promotes the growth of large fruits. Quality over quantity is the motto.
Some gardeners swear that if you remove unnecessary shoots, the taste of the existing fruit improves.
Sun for the aroma
Tomatoes love the sun. In order for the fruit to ripen, they need a lot of direct sun. Often the tomatoes hide behind the leaves. If you want them to ripen earlier, you should thin out the plants.
If you have the plants outside without a canopy, then you should remove excess leaves anyway. Because after your rains, the plants need to dry quickly. If they remain damp, this favors the dreaded blight, which quickly kills both the fruit and the plant.
But please do not break off too many leaves at once: you should break off a maximum of three leaves per operation and plant.
Easier handling
Sprouting tomatoes saves you a lot of time. If you grow them in a pot, you have to tie them up regularly to prevent the stingy shoots from breaking off. If you do not do this, the shoots will simply break off with the fruit in a gust of wind. The more shoots the plant has, the more complicated it is to tie them up.
If you grow tomatoes in a greenhouse, you will not have as much space as in the open field. To prevent them from overgrowing the greenhouse, you should prune the tomatoes. If you remove the side shoots, you can get by with very little floor space.
Harvesting is also easier if you recognize the fruits immediately.
Prevent blight
Tomato plants are very susceptible to blight. This is a fungal disease that affects pretty much every outdoor tomato sooner or later. But if you remove a lot of leaves, then you provide good air circulation between the leaves.
The better the air circulation, the better the plant can dry faster after rains. If it is wet for a long time after rains, it promotes blight, because the fungus loves moisture.
Planted too much? This is how you preserve tomatoes!
Do you need to sprout tomatoes?
No. Sprouting tomatoes is not compulsory. In fact, from some varieties you should definitely keep your hands off. These include all bush, shrub and wild tomatoes. You should give them a free hand. They will take care of it all by themselves.
Pruning of side shoots is only necessary for single-shoot tomato plants - i.e. pole tomatoes. All other varieties can be sporadically cut back a little if they become too dense - this applies especially to wild tomatoes, which easily grow over 2 meters high and 1.50 meters wide. Tip: Wild tomatoes make a great edible hedge and provide very good privacy from June onwards.
With bush tomatoes, you should never break out side shoots. As the name suggests, they are meant to be bushy. It is best to think about where you want to plant them beforehand.
You can also leave rod tomatoes to nature. It is not obligatory to break out the stingy shoots. I usually leave them to their fate and do not stingy at all.
Bush, wild and bush tomatoes
- have a controlled growth. The shoots eventually stop on their own,
- grow bushy and rather wide than high,
- are much more compact than stick tomatoes,
- should not be sown out,
- need all the shoots for the growth of tomatoes
- and do not form tomato panicles, but multiplied individual fruits
Stick tomatoes
And then there are stake tomatoes. This includes 70 percent of all tomato varieties grown worldwide. Stick tomatoes
- form very long shoots similar to grapes,
- usually form the fruits in the form of panicles,
- must be supported with rods
- form new shoots continuously until autumn and should be pruned out
The best fertilizer: homemade nettle liquid manure!
When do you need to break out stinginess?
The tomatoes are planted, everything is developing beautifully. Now there is only one question: when to cut out the tomatoes?
The answer is simple: the sooner, the better. The best time is when the shoots are still very soft and small. Then you hurt the plant the least. From about 2 cm growth you can remove the stingy shoots. If they are already much larger, then use a sharp knife for this.
You can start to remove the stingy shoots in early summer - from mid-June, depending on the weather. Choose one to three main shoots of the plant and remove the rest regularly. Cut off all side shoots that grow from the leaf axis.
Stripping is on your to-do list once a week from now on. If you stick to it, you'll be done very quickly.
The main shoots you need to fix on a support rod so that they do not break off. In the right location, tomatoes grow very quickly.
These tips will help your plant recover faster:
- Water tomatoes the day before; dry plants have flabby tissue, making them more susceptible to injury.
- Choose a dry and slightly windy morning for tomatoes.
- Wind and sun make the cuts dry better.
- Don't go out in rainy weather.
From August, it may be worth removing the new flowers. These tomatoes are unlikely to ripen. It is better if the plant directs all its power into already existing fruits.
Fancy some watermelons? Plant them yourself!
What you need to pay attention to when stubbing out tomatoes
Have you decided to give your plants a makeover and remove the side shoots? Then here comes a tutorial that will make it happen.
You don't need any tools for it.
Examine the tomato plant for stingy shoots. They grow between the main stem and a leaf. Think about which ones you want to keep growing and which ones should go.
- Pinch off the small side shoots with the nails. To do this, take it between your thumb and forefinger and press a little harder.
- You must never pull out the shoots, but always break them. Tearing creates open wounds that can seriously injure your plant.
- For large stingy shoots, use a sharp knife. By the way, it is worth leaving a few stingy shoots. You can grow new plants from them.
When the side shoots are about 10 cm tall, put them in a glass of water. Leave them in a bright place for 5-7 days. They will quickly form new roots. Put them in the ground and you have new plants. The great advantage is that stingy shoots form flowers very quickly.
So that you do not miss any stingy shoots, you should start at the bottom and work your way up. Systematically check all the leaves from the roots up to the top.
My conclusion
Stripping tomatoes is worthwhile if you want to increase the yield and save yourself work. You should refrain from removing side shoots from wild, bush and balcony tomatoes. Only pole tomatoes should be pricked out, and this is best done as early as possible. New plants can easily be grown from larger stingy shoots.
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