Someone please help me with my tomatoes!!!

[mener6896]

Hi there, I've been spending a little too much time building my chicken coop that I have neglected my tomatoes. I'm using the fence post/nylon twine way of trellising. the plants were way above the last row of twine and I've tried to pinch off suckers and get some sort of order with these plants.

My question is, how do I know what to pinch off? I have lots of main shoots coming up from the ground for each plant (I know I should have done this earlier) My cherry tomatoes are at least 3 feet tall. The rest are a little more controlled because they haven't grown so fast. I have a total of about 30 tomato plants. It's so hard for me to pinch off vines that already have flowers on them! but I know in the long run, it will be better for the plant.

HELP!!!!
thanks,
Mendy

 

[lesa]

I have never pinched back tomatoes- I know it is recommended that you do. Since, you have waited so long, maybe it would be better to just let nature take its course? I have always had tons of tomatoes. I would be interested to hear from those who do pinch back - what are the benefits??

 

[wifezilla]

You are supposed to pinch off tomatoes???

 

[vfem]

You are supposed to pinch off the suckers on which show up inbetween the "V" in the stems. Pinching suckers doesn't do anything but force what is already on the stems to ripen quicker, and doesn't allow for much more production of new fruit.

So its up to you whether you want less but fast ripening fruit... or more fruit even if it takes more time!

 

[Reinbeau]

I have never pinched my tomatoes, and I get way more than I can deal with.

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi Ann

I tend not to pinch mine either unless there is an excess of foliage which is preventing the fruit from ripening.
Occasionally I take a cutting from one of the branches growing to use as a cutting. I find these can be very productive. I often beg them from friends if they are growing a variety I haven't grown. It's a great way of increasing the numbers of your plants if you have too few. They root very quickly & go straight into fruit production.

Not that quantity is a problem this year -- I have over 50 in pots around the garden.......................!!

I read something recently that some research has been done that has revealed that pinching out is bad practice -- I don't know where I stored this info but I'll try to find it. I remember thinking THIS would upset all those people who have spent hours of their summer months doing it over the years!

:rose Hattie :rose

 

[Ridgerunner]

I found these articles on the topic. The first gives pros and cons, the second is all for pruning and not balanced but does give some insites. Note that determinate varieties should never be pruned.

Why Prune tomatoes
http://www.growing-tomato.com/Pruning_Tomatoes_A_Guide_to_Pruning_Tomato_Plants.html

Benefits of pruning tomatoes
http://www.lifescript.com/Life/Time...79905:Mfxz7ENIYWQAADtyy9YAAAAQ:20090623112143

The reasons I am pruning are:

I am trellissing, not caging. It would be very difficult to trellis without some pruning. Too many suckers to deal with in two planes.

It opens the bottom up for more air flow, thus it dries out faster leading, I hope, to less disease.

Hope this helps.

 

[Hattie the Hen]

I like this article--It has really clear photos plus a sense of humour!

It has got much warmer here in the southern UK so I have high hopes of lots of nice fat tomatoes. I've already got a lot of flowers on some varieties.

HAPPY GARDENING! :tools


:rose Hattie :rose

 

[mener6896]

thanks Ridgerunner for the articles!!! They really help me with know what to prune.

A garden friend of mine is who told me to prune. His neighbor is a horticulturist at Purdue University, and together they grow the sweetest tomatoes!!

But since I'm new to gardening, I forgot the reason why!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hattie, I really wish you luck. The time I tried to grow tomatoes in Copenhagen, I had to move them inside a greenhouse to get them to ripen. The tomatoes would form but stay small and green. Certain latitudes can be a problem.