To prune or not to prune…
From our IMBHO community, we received a couple very good questions regarding tomato plants and we wanted to give them our full attention.
Here are the questions:
1) Should I be cutting/pruning my tomato plants on the bottom to increase airflow and prevent disease, or leave them be?
2) Should I be laying mulch or straw over my soil to prevent disease? I haven’t had any issues, but have seen lots of gardening tips that I should be doing this.
Let’s start by looking at the advantages and disadvantages of pruning.
Advantages to pruning:
Keeps plants compact and prevents sprawl
Makes it easy to support plants
Minimizes disease by improving air circulation
Grows larger tomatoes, but fewer in number
Disadvantages to pruning:
Removes leaves that would otherwise feed the plant
Removes foliage which can expose fruit to sun scald
Removes foliage that hides the tomatoes from birds and squirrels
Because we live in Kansas where the sun is hot and the birds are aplenty, we don’t prune our tomatoes. The extra foliage on the plants prevents the tomatoes from getting too hot and the birds from spying them as they fly over.
Airflow around the base of the plants is important. If you’re growing your tomatoes in a raised garden bed, then this shouldn’t be a problem. If you have a traditional garden, then they may need pruned at the base to provide better air flow.
We have always grown our tomatoes with quality in mind rather than size. When we were traditional gardeners, we averaged 40-50 plants in the garden every year. We didn’t prune to get bigger tomatoes because it was easier to can whole tomatoes that would fit through the mouth of a canning jar.
If you have a traditional garden, my only suggestion is that you have a 4-6” depth of clean straw under your tomatoes to keep the fruit off the ground, which answers the second question. Keeping your tomatoes protected from debris will help prevent disease.
Here in Kansas, lots of clean straw is available right after wheat harvest. Also, wait to straw around the tomatoes until the ground is warm, about 60 degrees, then by mid-July you should have a fine crop of tomatoes.
If you are striving for those “super-sized” tomatoes to show your friends, pruning can possibly help you achieve your goal.
If you look at our 12 ft bed, you can see the tomatoes are fairly dense. Our bed is east to west, so one side of the planting gets major sun in the morning to early afternoon, then the sun moves far enough to the north that the other side is drenched in sun. We also use wire supports to encourage the plants to reach for the sky.
Again, we don’t prune because we are looking for massive amounts of smaller tomatoes and the fruit needs protection from the hot Kansas sun and ornery birds.
If your goal is to grow large tomatoes, prune the suckers sparingly. To prune, pinch out all the suckers below the first flower line. The suckers, or side shoots, pull energy away from the parent stem, which is why you end up with smaller fruit.
If you live in a humid environment, you will more than likely need to prune to increase air circulation to avoid fungal problems.
Be sure to watch the video below from Kevin Jacobs. I have been following him for years and he speaks to gardeners who live in high humidity, high heat index areas.
“Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.” — Miles Kingston, British journalist, musician and broadcaster
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Do you have gardening questions? Ask our experts in the comments section below. They’d love to share their knowledge with you!
