June 15, 2025 – If you’re growing determinate tomatoes, disregard this article, other than to say when determinate finish producing, have more plants ready to take their place! It’s also not about pruning sucker limbs which you should already be doing. It’s not about keeping the bottom 12-24” fee of limbs for air circulation. Rather, it’s about keeping growth in check to provide the best and most fruit as well as maintaining plant health.
During the summer, limbs become bunched together, cutting off free air flow to the foliage and fruit. Lack of air flow in summer heat does the plants no favor. By the way, prune in the early morning when it’s cooler for both you and the plant, which lowers plant stress and gives the plant some time to heal before the heat of the day. Also, removing excess growth, pushes the plant to focus more on fruit production than leaf production.
Pushing the plant away from leaf production pushes it to developing and taking care of fruit. You may get higher or lower production, but more important, you’ll get better quality!
Your goal in pruning is first, to improve air flow around and through the plant. Next, prevent plants from becoming top-heavy or bushy which can lead to structural problems and uneven distribution of fruit. Sunlight should be able to penetrate to plant lower levels for preventing disease problems while allowing healthy growth. With pruning, the quality of the fruit will definitely improve.
Inside a cage, some limbs will grow downward, encroaching on the free air flow zone you want clear of leaves. Cut the limbs off as close to the stem as possible. Always use sharp scissors.
Pruning isn’t a “one shot and you’re done.” Examine plants weekly as part of garden maintenance. We’ll talking topping in a future article.
