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Pruning Tomatoes: Are you growing tomatoes or foliage?

July 27th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Farm Folks, Farm Work

We spend quite a lot of time pruning tomato plants. We grow indeterminate tomato varieties. These vining types respond well to training. Our goals are to increase the yield of beautiful tomatoes and to reduce plant disease by increasing air flow through the foliage.

Starting when the plants are small, we prune the tomato plants and train them to a trellis. There are many variations, but basically we select two or three main stems and remove all the small side shoots. As the plant grows, we come back repeatedly and repeat the pruning.
 
I say we, but really the work is done by Stewart, Keith, and Rosalio, as taught by Claire.
 
Stewart pruning tomatoes blog1 Pruning Tomatoes: Are you growing tomatoes or foliage?

Stewart pruning tomatoes

Keith pruning tomatoes blog1 Pruning Tomatoes: Are you growing tomatoes or foliage?

Keith pruning tomatoes

Rosalio pruning tomatoes Pruning Tomatoes: Are you growing tomatoes or foliage?

Rosalio pruning tomatoes

The trellis for the outdoor tomatoes is horizontally strung twine. Inside our hoophouses, we can run the twine vertically, and the plants will respond and grow much higher.

pruned tomatoes in hoophouse blog Pruning Tomatoes: Are you growing tomatoes or foliage?

Newly pruned tomatoes in hoophouse

We grow the hoophouse tomatoes in the ground, which we cover with a woven weed-block fabric.  The hoophouse tomatoes ripen a bit earlier, but the main benefit is protection from the fall rains, which splash soil on the plants, leading to a tomato disease called late blight and the rapid death of the tomato plant. In this photo you can see that the crew has removed quite a lot of the tomato foliage.

Tomatoes on pruned tomato vine blog1 Pruning Tomatoes: Are you growing tomatoes or foliage?

Tomatoes on pruned tomato vine

Here you can see the thick main trunk loaded down with tomatoes. Note the stubs where side shoots were pruned away.

Pruned cherry tomato plant blog1 Pruning Tomatoes: Are you growing tomatoes or foliage?

Pruned cherry tomato plant loaded with blossoms and tomatoes

Cherry tomatoes respond exceptionally well to pruning. Here we see tomatoes forming near the base of the plant, with just a few starting to ripen. The higher branches are awash with blossoms.

Tomato pruning takes a sizable investment in time and labor. The benefits are several. The plants are healthier and less susceptible to pests and to fungal and other diseases. It is easier to monitor the health of the plants and the fruits. Picking is easier and faster, since the tomatoes aren’t buried behind foliage. One missed tomato left go to rot can bring disease to the plant, and is no fun to discover later.

You don’t need to be as obsessive as we are about tomato pruning to benefit from some pruning. Open that plant up and let air flow through.

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2 Comments so far ↓

  • Sam Nyaoke // Aug 1, 2009 at 12:30 pm

    I liked your explanation of prunning. I have a 1/4 an acre and would wan to plant tomatoes. I Have just done my Nursery and looking forward to seeing this project through.

  • Liquid Seaweed Fertilizer // Dec 15, 2009 at 4:04 am

    Hey there.

    I live in Guernsey, Great Britain. 50 years ago, growing tomatoes WAS our economy. Times have changed and the tomato industry has all but disappeared and finance drives us now. Still, my mates father owns quite a bit of glass and provides cherry and plum tomatoes to one of the largest supermarket chains in the south of England.

    I thought you were in Australia but having rooted through your site I see you are Washington. Although you are across the Atlantic, it’s interesting to see that you employ basically the same methods as we do in Guernsey. Although I haven’t heard of a hoophouse before! You use them to prevent blight rather than to keep the tomatoes in a warmer environment like we do, because it’s so damn cold and windy all of the time.

    Thanks for the insight.

    Martin