3 Easy Steps To Prune Tomatoes Like a Professional

3 Steps to Pruning Tomatoes Like A Pro For Increased Production

Find my video version of this guide on my YouTube channel HERE.

***Please note that this pruning technique is applicable to indeterminate tomato varieties that form fruit bigger than a cherry size.*** There is no need to prune determinate or cherry types of tomatoes.

Why Prune?

• Big bushy tomato plants is not always best. A lot of leaves means the plant spends a lot of energy maintaining those leaves instead of focusing on fruit production.
• Prune for better disease and pest management. Increased air flow from pruning helps the leaves dry off faster, which slows the spread of leaf diseases like powdery mildew and blight. Also if there are a lot of leaves, pests can easily hide within the canopy making them hard to spot.
• Pruning opens the plant up to receive more sun light = more energy to output big tomatoes.

What are suckers and are they bad or good?
The name makes them sound bad but they are not. "Suckers" are the branches that form in between the main stem and leaf. This in between spot is called the "armpit". They will grow and produce fruit just like any other part of the plant. Pruning out the suckers is just a method to help you decide on what parts of the plant to remove. Are they bad? It depends on what your tomato growing goals are. If you are going to let your plant go crazy then it doesn't matter. But if your focus is on larger and higher quality fruit instead of a lot of smaller fruits, then removing "suckers" is a good strategy.

3 Steps to Pruning Indeterminate Beefsteak Tomatoes

1. Identify your main leader stem(s) and support it.

• One or two main leader stems is ideal. But I must admit I tend to keep up to 5 sometimes. If you have a lot of space then a few more is ok just stay on top of pruning. There are so many ways to support tomato plants but my personal favorite is a hook and spool system. I don't recommend tomato cages if you want big/long vines.

2. Remove the bottom most 12-18 inches of leaves.

• The bottom most leaves will catch pathogens that live in the soil from water back splash. They become a host for the pathogens and spread them to the rest of the plant. Mulching really helps prevent back splash. If you all ready have a first cluster of fruit forming, then remove all of the leaves below that cluster. Continue to do this as you harvest.

***Try to avoid cutting the tips of the vines. This is the main growth point of the plant where subsequent flowers and fruit will form.*** There are a few scenarios where you might need to cut the tips of the vines off. 

• Scenario 1: Since I have such a long growing season in my Florida garden (about 9 months in a row), sometimes I cut all my plants in half about mid-season because they are simply just too big. I get vines that are over 20 feet sometimes. My growing season is so long I can do this. The plats energy is forced down which promotes new side shoot growth. Then I select new main leader vines and continue growing my tomatoes. 
• Scenario 2: If you are in a colder climate and expecting cold weather soon, cut the tips off to force the plants energy into ripening up the existing green tomatoes. 

3. Remove the suckers and any diseased/damaged leaves and stems.

• Remove any suckers off the main leader vines so the plant will focus energy on developing bigger and higher quality fruits.
• Remove any old, diseased, or damaged leaves to slow the progression of disease.