Pruning

[Bytor3068]

Setup...15g black nursery pots with drip emitters on timer
Soil hp pro mixed with local produced organic rose soil supplemented with humates, sulfur, and micro life 6-2-4. The 6-2-4 has a nice bio package. The sulfur is to help offset the alkaline water we have here. Thought it would be a good acidifier and increase yield. First year trying it.

Third year growing in containers and haven't had the yields I would expect. Texas gulf coast so it gets hot. I start early, black pots increase soil temp and tomatoes jump! Reverse of that is black pots increase soil temp!! June on...they start looking poorly. This year I've got them on drip irrigation and a controller to increase watering through the day. Relying on teenager to water during the day was a recipe for disaster. Duh.

So the question, and I expect many opinions and no right answer. Det and ind tomato, pruning. The landscaper in me doesn't want to remove green as they lead to root production. Are the lower tomato branches that are not supporting fruit or blooms necessary? What about upper tier branches? I have been removing the little shoot that appears between shoots.

Thoughts are welcome! Thanks

[clkeiper]

Ind and det require different pruning methods.
Ind take everything off suckers and leaves to the first blossom set
det's. I don't prune any of it unless it is spotty or splashed with garden soil.

[Bytor3068]

So from the soil up to the first bloom set?

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Bytor3068

So from the soil up to the first bloom set?

Carolyn is my friend and I respect her advice.
But from experience of living on the gulf coast in Angleton I would suggest to leave the pruning shears in your pocket and only mess with leaves that are looking bad or hitting the soil.

Worth

[Worth1]

""So the question, and I expect many opinions and no right answer. Det and ind tomato, pruning. The landscaper in me doesn't want to remove green as they lead to root production. Are the lower tomato branches that are not supporting fruit or blooms necessary? What about upper tier branches? I have been removing the little shoot that appears between shoots.""

This statement confuses me.
Many people call the compound tomato leaf a branch it isn't the whole thing is a leaf all the way to the main stem.
The shoots coming out between the leaf and main stem are going to be either a new branch or a tomato blossom truss.

Worth

[Bytor3068]

I knew when I posted that I would get differing opinions. Lol

I've got fruit set and blooms. But they are getting crazy big. Just didn't know what I did wrong last year. Big plants with little fruit, as in not many. pH of local water 8.5+- sometimes 9. Thought the additional sulfur would help. Then read about pruning..

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Bytor3068

I knew when I posted that I would get differing opinions. Lol

I've got fruit set and blooms. But they are getting crazy big. Just didn't know what I did wrong last year. Big plants with little fruit, as in not many. pH of local water 8.5+- sometimes 9. Thought the additional sulfur would help. Then read about pruning..

My opinion comes from the experience of growing tomatoes on the coast in Texas.
You mentioned June and down there you can just about forget blossom set that time of the year on anything but cherry tomatoes.
So with that in mind why would a person want to trim off a potential fruit.
It isn't that my opinion differs it is just a fact of where you live.
As for the det plants get them to grow as fast as you can and put out as many blooms as you can before the heat sets in.
Once the heat sets in and blossoms start to drop then you can start thinking about pruning the larder indets for better plant health.

Worth

[Merediana]

Big plants with lots of foilage but not many fruits sounds like too much nitrogen in the soil/fertilizer. I'd rather go for a potassium rich fertilizer, at least as soon as the plant starts to bloom.

I think pruning is different in your climate but as you are growing in containers I'd say prune back to what you can manage to stabilize

[clkeiper]

Listen to Worth since he actually lives in a climate similar to yours. I live in northern Ohio where it rains regularly from March to November. then snows from November or Dec until April... you know... like when ever it is too cold to rain. So I get a lot of splash on my plants and I don't want it to spread any soilborn diseases. In my Hightunnels I prune only because they need ventilation.

[PureHarvest]

This might be of interest regarding pH and water alkalinity:

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=40291

[Uncle Doss]

not pruning advice, but another idea, once it starts getting hot, try wrapping your pots in white plastic to keep the roots cooler