Gary Pilarchik: How to Maximize Tomato Fruit Production/Yields & Plant Growth (It is NOT Pruning)

43 Comments

1. 

   @THERUSTEDGARDEN 1 month ago

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2. 

   @jerseygirl5486 1 month ago

   It really bothers me when I see people pruning to a single stem. It sets the plant back and makes it more prone to disease.

3. 

   @celtic426 1 month ago

   'sprayed' with what?

4. 

   @Michael-y9o5g 1 month ago

   The closest I'll come to pruning my tomato plants is cutting down the lowest leaves about 2-5 inches, up to the first flower cluster. Learned this from Millennial Gardener dude. As long as those lowest leaves aren't getting hit with a buncha pathogen-loaded dirt and I'm keeping up with my DE application each week/between showers, I should be fine.

5. 

   @elizabethf5819 1 month ago

   Shoot. I have been pruning off all my suckers… is it too late? If I stop pruning now, will they bounce back?

6. 

   @dkulikowski 1 month ago

   Makes sense, Gary. Have you changed your mind with cucumber pruning, thus getting more cucumbers? Last year I pruned my tomatoes and cucumbers, mostly for air flow. This year I am doing a lot less pruning. Foliage helps keep the soil cooler during these very hot Wisconsin summers which climate change is giving us. Live and learn, trial and error this is how I seem to learn. Old and still learning. I have been with you since your very first YouTube. I said then and I say now you are a gardeners teacher. Sensible, budget minded and creative is what attracted me to your channel. No wonder you have so many subscribers and views. Take care and be happy and healthy. Lark

7. 

   @noraalvarado8178 1 month ago

   I just prune a foot or so from the bottom for air flow. Then i just tie them up the best that i can on a stake off the ground and let them grow.

8. 

   @shanec8812 1 month ago

   Yes!!! I have been telling people this and have tested it myself. I only prune around the base and get loads more of tomato's. Good video and thank you for telling the truth.

9. 

   @garydunn4325 1 month ago

   Only thing single stem is good for, is you can get more plants in a small space!

10. 

    @shirleyk623 1 month ago

    Everyone pruning especially in Florida please be careful of spiders. I got bit by a brown recluse spider I think. I had to go to the emergency room for treatment.

11. 

    @Freedom2025-x2b 1 month ago

    ❤❤❤

12. 

    @richardlionheart9371 1 month ago

    Your plants look rough, heat heat is brutal. My maters love the PNW..short season, but no horn worms/bugs in general west of the cascade range and crisp, bright sunshine summers with maritime air. SShhhhh, its a secret

13. 

    @Carolynn-wt7py 1 month ago

    Absolutely agree … I don't want single stem . They tend to give less fruit and what's otherwise called suckers I leave they are the producers of fruit. Even doing that, I always get plants I don't know if they are going to eat me before I do them. LOL. No issues ever with my tomato, no disease or pest just massive production in size and fruit. 6b Massachusetts and grew indeterminate BUT this year try the determinate roma plum to reduce size mostly. Want to not live in a jungle of plant and huge staking issues as well. Happy gardening to all.

14. 

    @twhdvm 1 month ago

    I’ve been a single stem guy for many years. Last year I grew a Black Krim and just let it grow and bush out. Usually my heirlooms succumb to disease early but this Black Krim stayed healthy up to the fall with very little disease. This year I am letting all of my indeterminate tomatoes grow like determinates and I am getting banner harvests. Plus my tomato plants seem healthier and have withstood the heat better. Next year I will find a happy medium because my cherry tomatoes are a little too bushy!

15. 

    @BonaKim-hd8ec 1 month ago

    I think the very aggressive single stem pruning originated from the greenhouse tomato production industry. Very different growing environments, inputs, production, harvest and profit goals commercially. Some YouTube garden influencers took that method as gospel for all outdoor home tomato gardens. 😂

16. 

    @sharontahir9694 1 month ago

    The only pruning I'm doing is for air flow though the bottom or where the plants just overwhelm the bed and trellis. I am also doing some pruning on the one tomato plant growing in my green stalk. The greenstalk is doing amazingly well with its one tomato, four eggplants, kale, stevia, a fish pepper and some flowers. Everything on this planter is lush and starting to pruduce. Already ate a few eggplants.

17. 

    @garnieross9958 1 month ago

    Growing area is extremely important. I'm in SW Manitoba. I prune to one stem as we have such a short growing system. This gives me more tomatoes harvested. Single stem doesn't produce more tomatoes but most will not ripen. Different methods are determined growing area.I plant my tomatoes 8 inches apart and grow vertical. Production/square foot is probably similar.

18. 

    @Tehstool 1 month ago

    Thank you for making this video. I never liked single stemming. I get that you can technically plant more tomato plants closer together with single stemming, but letting a sucker grow is almost the same as having another plant anyway with the added benefit of sharing a more robust root and leaf system. I also personally don't like how tall the tomatoes can grow when single stemmed.

    I think as a general rule, letting the cherry tomatoes go wild with suckers and pruning branches for disease control makes the most sense. For the bigger tomatoes, it's more personal preference and situational imo.

19. 

    @sav4755 1 month ago

    When you say "it's being sprayed" with what exactly? Great vid btw👍🏾

20. 

    @dustyflats3832 1 month ago

    Definitely Agree! I tried that single prune Once—the tomato plant hated it and it sunburned. Those people that do this single prune stuff are in longer growing season areas and I would agree they will or should get prime looking tomatoes, but you won’t get more especially in short growing season areas. Our weather doesn’t allow it and yes, 😅 I don’t want a tall plant.

    The healthiest tomato plant I noticed was the one I never did anything with except caged and watered. It got the normal August blight later. I normally do trim up the bottoms and because of humid rainy weather I will trim for air flow. This is similar to pinching back peppers—more peppers but smaller. I never pinch peppers and they loved the rain last year and had a mega crop.

    We never use to cage our tomatoes at home and had huge plants. Farmers use a fieldcrop varieties and they don’t stake/cage tomatoes either 😅. What I do know is I’ve never seen a healthy poisonous nightshade plant in the hot dry sun.

    I would Never be able to keep up pruning all these plants 🥵🤣

21. 

    @kristinel6352 1 month ago

    You'll think I'm crazy but I prune to one single mega bloom tomato per plant. That's how I grow my competition giant tomatoes

22. 

    @LG-kq9du 1 month ago

    Thanks – that was enlightening. How far apart are those tomato plants? Regards.

23. 

    @xHawgRyderx 1 month ago

    I prune so no leaves can touch the ground about a foot then just make sure there is decent airflow. I also separate my tomato plants 5-6 feet apart. This generally gives me 3 feet between plants. I like to be able to walk around my plants with no plants touching.

24. 

    @joethedrummer11 1 month ago

    Am trying no pruning this year except at the bottom stem for air flow. Not sure what to expect, but i sowed more tomato plants this year just in case.

25. 

    @ceecee-thetransplantedgardener 1 month ago

    That unpruned 'mater is nuts! lol 😂

26. 

    @Angel-gb9gi 1 month ago

    I have never tried single or double stem because I worked too hard and only had so much room under my grow light to rob myself of the pay load at harvest time. I grow my tomatoes close together so leaves in the middle have to go for air flow. I am glad you brought up letting a sucker form until it makes flowers and then cutting the stem off from there. I sometimes let the unwated suckers get away from me and that will help since I will still be getting fruit from the sucker but not allowing it make a jungle for the stink bugs and horn worms to hide as they have lunch in privacy. I enjoy growing tomatoes, so I am so grateful for you garden pros making videos so I can one day be a pro myself. I have been growing tomatoes for 10 years and every year I learn from my mistakes, you would think by now I would not be making any more mistakes or be confused on how many stems or how much fertilizer to use but it seems like you try something different with every year looking for the best way.

27. 

    @raymondjbarron 1 month ago

    I pluck the first flower set after transplanting and prune suckers and a few limbs below the next flower set but I let everything above that do its thing.

28. 

    @micktepolt6276 1 month ago

    right on !

29. 

    @moochythecat3435 1 month ago

    Every sucker is like having another tomato plant…

30. 

    @juliepoolie5494 1 month ago

    I was out of town for over two weeks and in that time my tomatoes grew like crazy. I can’t bear to prune any suckers that have blossoms, so, no prune it is this year!

31. 

    @hard2fathom1 1 month ago

    I only really prune if the sucker seems to be growing in a weird direction where it would be hard to tie it up for support.

32. 

    @clarevartanian3147 1 month ago

    This video could easily be trimmed to 5 minutes. You kept showing the same two plants and counting the fruits and flowers repeatedly, which dragged things out. I ended up stopping halfway through. If you want more viewers to stick around until the end, consider tightening the content and avoiding too much repetition.

33. 

    @chrisholdread174 1 month ago

    there only 2 reasons I prune. 1, Airflow, keep the lower foot clear of leaves so they dont touch the ground and so air can flow around the bottom of the plant. and 2, if the plant gets so thick I cant see into let alone get my hands into it, good way to not be able to see ready to pick toms and they rot on the vine

34. 

    @skippygotrobbed 1 month ago

    Thank you! I'm 64 and have been trying to tell people this for more than 50 years. And I constantly see "experts" going on and on about all the best pruning methods and how not pruning is for dummies. The plants know what to do. They don't need that kind of help. Thanks again. This was very refreshing. Subscribed.

35. 

    @jamistokes5333 1 month ago

    I have an amish paste tomato that is so tall but finally producing fruit. I topped it but it's still growing. Is it OK to top it again? Will is still produce on the lower branches and maybe get a little busier? I didnt realize this type of amish paste got so tall.

36. 

    @jaybirdwolfe277 1 month ago

    Thanks for this video, Its really well explained and EXACTLY what i thought was the case! Good job again!!

37. 

    @paulinedooling742 1 month ago

    It’s so hard to listen to all of the YouTube’s , you all have different ideas, which one do we actually listen to?

38. 

    @JWT-xv5ve 1 month ago

    Really appreciate you making this video. I’ve told people for years that they don’t have to single stem . I think what you pointed out so awesome in this video is to have fun with it . Leave some not pruned and then prune some . Experiment with it ! Thanks again

39. 

    @JWT-xv5ve 1 month ago

    Thanks again for putting this single stem myth to bed !! You showed a plant not pruned loaded with tomatoes proving your point ! I grow in large cages made from concrete reinforcement wire with almost all my plants and then I’ll usually do a few double stems just for the fun of it to experiment. Thanks again Gary 🙂

40. 

    @lorettasullivan7724 1 month ago

    The only thing I prune off my tomatoes are some branches at their bottoms to keep soil from splashing up, dead/diseased leaves, and the tops of my cherry tomatoes because who needs 8-foot tall plants?!

41. 

    @jaytoney3007 1 month ago

    In central Alabama, it gets too hot to grow indeterminate varieties into the summer. We've already seen a heat index of 108F in my area. That much heat, plus humidity, plus still air, sucks. It is not from lack of trying to grow till fall. It's just not worth the effort. I am growing determinate varieties: last year, the Grand Marshall. This year, its replacement, the Jolene Tomato. My goal is to bring in my harvest before the heat of summer hits. My plants are at the end of their life cycle. I give them two more weeks tops. Let me tell you, I have tomatoes. I have one plant that had not less than thirty tomatoes on it. The weight of all of those tomatoes destroyed my tomato cage. A little bending, and welding, and it may live for another season. I have no less than seventy pounds of tomatoes in my freezers, another twenty pounds ripening on window sills, and another thirty pound ripening on the vines. Not bad for twelve plants. I am doing a one and done crop. I hate to say it, but I don't need any more tomatoes. Not a one! I'll be glad when that part of my garden is done. Oh, planting cilantro (stink weed as I call it) between the plants worked to prevent hornworms and cutworms. Not a single one all season. My hens are sad, no worms to eat.

42. 

    @dcooper58923 1 month ago

    Last year before I knew about “pruning” I had two self started sungolds it was all I could do to keep them tied upright but I had tomato’s July to late October. My nursery bought sungolds didn’t produce much . I saved seeds from those volunteers for this year, weird season this year, my volunteers aren’t far behind my started tomatoes… Gary I would love for you to do a series on volunteers seed saving and soil memory! It’s a real thing❤ In and after lousy success with nursery starts, my garden is all seed starts. Some started indoors that you Gary ❤

43. 

    @shortsmike 1 month ago

    I concur. On my 5th productive year of gardening overall. I’ve had massive tomato harvests when I didn’t know a thing about pest management and pruning. I started pruning and spraying according to your advice 3 years ago even when I was tempted to go the MIgardener sucker punch route because I wanted to go big or go home. I still got nice wopping Cherokee puples. It’s more about plant genetics I feel and how you fertilize than cutting your poor plant to death