You can pull them as soon as you see that they’re flowers. 🙂
esquirlo_espianacho
I don’t prune my tomatoes. I am in Dallas. The growing season is short. I have found my yields are better if I just let them grow naturally and minimally prune. I think pruning sets the plants back too much. I am sure others do prune with success but I have been growing here for a while and I know my approach works too.
Nyanunix
I may be stupid but why are you pruning? Looks like a healthy little guy
ltsGay
Only prune the bottom leaves that are touching or getting close to touching the ground to prevent disease spread
tomatocrazzie
What are you going to prune?
Kenndytalk
Honestly, I have to agree with another person in this comment section. I always prune my tomatoes but last year I tore my ACL and was not able to do much in my yard. The tomatoes grew and without me pruning, I had the most tomatoes I’ve ever seen. I already get a lot. It’s almost like nature had it figured out and we just need to let it be.
oTDAWGo
Not gonna lie I never pruned my tomatoes before and every season I have more tomatoes than I know what to do with
feldoneq2wire
Your plants looks great so far.
Even as someone who has recently converted to single or dual-leader pruning after years of letting plants grow however they want, I don’t see anything here that is ready to prune. Suckers are entire plants that grow from the “crotch” between the stem and the leaves (tomato leaves are colloquially called branches by most of us but technically the entire thing coming out of the stem is a compound leaf).
In humid climates, I do encourage once the plants are 12-18 inches tall removing the bottom 6 inches of leaves especially any that are growing towards the ground. This is more cleanup than pruning and is done to reduce fungal disease spread.
icancount192
Only prune diseased and yellowing leaves, no reason to prune other things. Many people nowadays dontbeven prune the suckers.
DocKla
I would consider mulching before removing any leaves. It’s still a junior, needs those leaves still until it’s slightly bigger
12 Comments
You can pull them as soon as you see that they’re flowers. 🙂
I don’t prune my tomatoes. I am in Dallas. The growing season is short. I have found my yields are better if I just let them grow naturally and minimally prune. I think pruning sets the plants back too much. I am sure others do prune with success but I have been growing here for a while and I know my approach works too.
I may be stupid but why are you pruning? Looks like a healthy little guy
Only prune the bottom leaves that are touching or getting close to touching the ground to prevent disease spread
What are you going to prune?
Honestly, I have to agree with another person in this comment section. I always prune my tomatoes but last year I tore my ACL and was not able to do much in my yard. The tomatoes grew and without me pruning, I had the most tomatoes I’ve ever seen. I already get a lot. It’s almost like nature had it figured out and we just need to let it be.
Not gonna lie I never pruned my tomatoes before and every season I have more tomatoes than I know what to do with
Your plants looks great so far.
Even as someone who has recently converted to single or dual-leader pruning after years of letting plants grow however they want, I don’t see anything here that is ready to prune. Suckers are entire plants that grow from the “crotch” between the stem and the leaves (tomato leaves are colloquially called branches by most of us but technically the entire thing coming out of the stem is a compound leaf).
In humid climates, I do encourage once the plants are 12-18 inches tall removing the bottom 6 inches of leaves especially any that are growing towards the ground. This is more cleanup than pruning and is done to reduce fungal disease spread.
Only prune diseased and yellowing leaves, no reason to prune other things. Many people nowadays dontbeven prune the suckers.
I would consider mulching before removing any leaves. It’s still a junior, needs those leaves still until it’s slightly bigger
Wait. Or prune and root the clippings.
my understanding
1 determinate – don’t prune except leaves touching ground
2 indeterminate: depends on length of season, plant type, etc. Likely remove some suckers to prevent too much foliage