Let’s Relax about Pruning Tomatoes

It’s not necessary to prune tomatoes. However, in my garden all the tomato plants get a little pruning. Staked and trellised plants need the most because you want them to grow only one or two main stems which will make the plants easier to tie up.

Pruning means pinching off the shoots, or “suckers,” that grow out from stems right above leaf branches. By restricting the vine growth somewhat, you’ll get bigger tomatoes. If you let these suckers grow, each becomes another big stem with its own branches, blossoms, and fruits— even its own suckers. I prune my plants in cages and those growing freely early in the season, and then I let them grow. You should go on sucker patrol at least twice a week during the heavy growing season to keep your staked plants from getting hard to control.

In a very hot, sunny area, you can let some of the suckers put on a couple of leaves and then pinch out the top to stop its growth. The extra foliage will help the plant manufacture food and will help shade tomatoes.

Don’t mulch too early

A thick mulch around tomato plants, especially staked ones, will help them get a steady supply of water, but it could hurt if you mulch too early.

Wait at least 4 to 6 weeks after you set out your plants before mulching them. By that time the soil will be warm. If you mulch too early in the season, you insulate the ground and keep it from warming up. This can delay the harvest 2 or 3 weeks.

Slugs and mice visit the garden when you use hay or other natural mulches. That’s why I mulch tomatoes only if I stake them.

The problem with Black Plastic

Some folks use a black-plastic mulch early in the year to capture heat as well as block out weeds and hold water in. I’ve tried black plastic a few times and, frankly, I don’t like it. Once, when it was wet, I slipped on the plastic and fell right on my rear. But that’s not the only thing contributing to my poor opinion of it. It’s not cheap or easy to use. It’s a bother to lay down in the spring and take up in the fall. I also hate to use a mulch that earthworms and soil life can’t dine on someday. In my view, black plastic detracts from the natural beauty of a garden.

A piece of advice from a Tennessee old-timer

I visited an older market gardener in Tennessee some years ago. His early tomatoes were just hitting the stand. Business was brisk around the baskets of tomatoes. I complimented him on the fine-looking tomatoes, and told him I had a question.

“Go ahead and ask it,” he said, smiling.

“Well,” I said, “the other growers around here don’t have many tomatoes to sell yet, and here you are tucked behind a ridge where it must be cool sometimes … just how are you getting tomatoes so early?”

He laughed. “Come on out back and I’ll show you.”

Going past the barn he picked up a round-pointed shovel and carried it along. We stopped in front of a tomato plant loaded with clusters of large green tomatoes.

“Watch,” he said. He dug deep into the soil 6 inches from the plant. He spaded a few more times to make a half-circle cut around the plant. “They’ll be ripe inside of a week,” he said flatly.

He said he “root-pruned” some plants with his shovel three times. “The plants don’t know what’s happening,” he said. “They just figure it’s high time to ripen those green tomatoes. They do it quickly, too.”

Each year I try this trick in my own garden on a few plants— especially the early ones. My soil is sandy and I can use a long bread knife to cut a semicircle around the plant in a jiffy. If you try it, be sure the green tomatoes are about as large as they’re going to get. Root-pruning at that point will bring the quickest results. The plants recover from this root shock and continue to yield throughout the season.

Only one Tomato to a Windowsill!

I’ve given up thinking I can convince people that tomatoes ripen better in the dark, and not on a sunny windowsill. I’ve tried for years and I’m getting nowhere.

It’s true, though. The fruits ripen gradually from the inside out; keeping them in the sun can burn and redden them (not ripen them) before they ripen naturally from the inside. A warm, dark place is best for even, sweet ripening.

Would gardeners be interested in a compromise? How about keeping just one or two big tomatoes on the kitchen windowsill? The room will still have that nice garden aroma and gardeners can display these prize tomatoes— while stashing the rest of the harvest in a dark area for best ripening.

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