Pruning tomatoes

[Brandon558]

Okay...so I know you all are tired of hearing this im sure but I need help with pruning. I did a search but did not find much.

I have big beef and better boy plants that are getting huge and some are huge with only a few fruits.

I am using very little nitrogen....and some plants are doing great but i know some sucker and some dont but is there a way to get rid of the bushy mess and still have a productive and high yeilding plant?


Thanks alot

[heirloomtomaguy]

I like bushy healthy plants. I keep my in the veg state of life until they are nice and tall then i foliar spray them with a organic 0-50-30 water soluble fertilizer. The phosphate or the 50 in the fertilizer line up is absorbed through the leaves in turn sending the plants into super bloom mode. My plants are 6 feet tall with hundred of blooms. Im setting all kinds of fruit right now and am about to start picking maters on several plants. Of course the cherry tomatoes outperform the larger varieties but all are doing great. As far as pruning goes i only trim the leaves touching the ground or blocking my way down my rows.

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by heirloomtomaguy

I like bushy healthy plants. I keep my in the veg state of life until they are nice and tall then i foliar spray them with a organic 0-50-30 water soluble fertilizer. The phosphate or the 50 in the fertilizer line up is absorbed through the leaves in turn sending the plants into super bloom mode. My plants are 6 feet tall with hundred of blooms. Im setting all kinds of fruit right now and am about to start picking maters on several plants. Of course the cherry tomatoes outperform the larger varieties but all are doing great. As far as pruning goes i only trim the leaves touching the ground or blocking my way down my rows.

Would you mind sharing which 0-50-30 you use? How much and how often? Does this also help the fruit get larger? I have no problem getting the fruit to set on my larger fruited plants, but for some reason on some of them the fruit doesn't get as large as it should.

Thanks,
Ginny

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by Brandon558

Okay...so I know you all are tired of hearing this im sure but I need help with pruning. I did a search but did not find much.

I have big beef and better boy plants that are getting huge and some are huge with only a few fruits.

I am using very little nitrogen....and some plants are doing great but i know some sucker and some dont but is there a way to get rid of the bushy mess and still have a productive and high yeilding plant?


Thanks alot

Mine were like that until I started using an electric toothbrush on them 3 times a day. Then the fruit set like crazy. Now I'm just trying to figure out how to get one plant to grow the fruit better, the others are fine and growing large fruit but one isn't (same types of plants). I just went out this morning and pruned every sucker I could find on the plant that isn't growing the tomatoes large in hopes that would help it put the energy into the existing tomatoes especially since I'm in Florida and the rainy season is starting and so are the diseases. I'm a newbie (first season growing tomatoes) so this is just what I'm trying... not anything I have experience with.

Ginny

[Brandon558]

Thanks for the reply....I too would like to hear more about that 0-50-30....brand wise and where to purchase.

Now i know i have heard of folks pollinating the plants with the vibrations...can you please explain step by step how you do it? And is the suckering helping make bigger tomatoes?


Thanks

[heirloomtomaguy]

Originally Posted by Fiishergurl

Would you mind sharing which 0-50-30 you use? How much and how often? Does this also help the fruit get larger? I have no problem getting the fruit to set on my larger fruited plants, but for some reason on some of them the fruit doesn't get as large as it should.

Thanks,
Ginny

It is from hydro organics. The product is called earth juice bloom master 0-50-30. Be careful a little goes a long way on the mixture. I use an 1/8 teaspoon per gallon. It seems like nothing but believe me this stuff is strong. Try it on one plant or leaf just to make sure it will work with your setup before spraying it on all of your plants. Im using it whenever i notice the plants are lacking either phosphate or flowers. Right now its about once a week. Foliar spraying is like instant gratification. I see the difference the next day and flowers within a few days. This company is the only organic option i have found for high numbers on phosphate and potassium. Good luck to you.

[heirloomtomaguy]

Originally Posted by Brandon558

Thanks for the reply....I too would like to hear more about that 0-50-30....brand wise and where to purchase.

Now i know i have heard of folks pollinating the plants with the vibrations...can you please explain step by step how you do it? And is the suckering helping make bigger tomatoes?


Thanks

I get the 0-50-50 from a place called The Hydro Source in Covina Ca. But you can get it online. Fyi i emailed the company for the strength and ability to foliar feed with this product. I received an email back within minutes with the answers i needed. Great customer support! The rep said yiu can go as high as 1/4 teaspoon per gallon if needed but 1/8 per gallon has been plenty for me. Plus it allows me to hit them once a week without burning them.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Brandon558

Okay...so I know you all are tired of hearing this im sure but I need help with pruning. I did a search but did not find much.

I have big beef and better boy plants that are getting huge and some are huge with only a few fruits.

I am using very little nitrogen....and some plants are doing great but i know some sucker and some dont but is there a way to get rid of the bushy mess and still have a productive and high yeilding plant?


Thanks alot

Your Big Beef should have a lot of fruit on it by now. It is one of the easiest tomatoes to set fruit. The only thing I can figure is you have too many growth tips setting too many blooms and all your plant energy is going into the new growth. I have a friend who grows several Big Beefs every year and gets super production from them. He restricts the plants to three stems and keeps all suckers removed and if the plant stem forks he removes one of the forks. I never let Big Beef have more than 4 or 5 stems but usually keep them to three if I can and they usually are very productive.

One suggestion that could help you a great deal with fruit set is get some Texas Tomato Food and use it weekly to feed your plants. It really helps increase fruit set on tomatoes.

Bill

[Fiishergurl]

Brandon,

Here is a link to some Youtube videos that show the toothbrush trick.
http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...ric+toothbrush
I haven't watched these but it's all pretty straight forward. Someone just told me to hold the electric toothbrush to the stems of the blossoms. You can see them vibrate if you have it on there right. I do it 2 - 3 times a day on the weekends and just twice a day on weekdays. I think other people have said it's best to do it mid morning before it gets too hot but I leave for work at 7AM and get home at 7PM so I do it at 6AM and around 730 PM when I get home and my beefsteaks went from having 2 tomatoes each to about 40 each. Here's a picture of some of the tomatoes on one of the beefsteaks (this is the plant that is growing nice sized tomatoes.... the other plant (which is the same type in the same environment, planted at the same time, and gets the same fertilizer, etc) has smaller tomatoes and isn't growing the fruit as well. Strange since they both get the same treatment.

Anyways, you can get a cheap electric toothbrush at Dollar General, Dollar Store (Dollar Something) for anywhere between 2-5 dollars.



http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...ric+toothbrush

[Brandon558]

Originally Posted by b54red

Your Big Beef should have a lot of fruit on it by now. It is one of the easiest tomatoes to set fruit. The only thing I can figure is you have too many growth tips setting too many blooms and all your plant energy is going into the new growth. I have a friend who grows several Big Beefs every year and gets super production from them. He restricts the plants to three stems and keeps all suckers removed and if the plant stem forks he removes one of the forks. I never let Big Beef have more than 4 or 5 stems but usually keep them to three if I can and they usually are very productive.

One suggestion that could help you a great deal with fruit set is get some Texas Tomato Food and use it weekly to feed your plants. It really helps increase fruit set on tomatoes.

Bill

Okay....so this may be stupid but as far as stems are you saying no more than four main stems with fruit or just the stems coming off of the main stems?

I dont wana prune the wrong ones but i agree there is too much growth going on and not enough fruit production. This could solve the problem.


Thanks for the info on the tooth brush.....2 to 40 is a huge difference. Thanks for sharing.

[b54red]

Brandon it depends on your support system how many stems will work for you. I don't like more than three stems except on some of the very spindly hearts which don't have much foliage and even those I limit to no more than 4 or 5. I personally prefer to use one or two stems and on the more sparsely leaved plants like Pruden's Purple use Missouri pruning to add foliage without increasing the number of stems. This year using the string support system I am not allowing any plant more than 3 stems and only a few have that many. Most of my plants are being kept to one or two stems. I am even going to try that on some of my pepper plants but don't know how that will work out.

I live in an area with tremendous disease pressure and instead of trying to make a ton of tomatoes off a few plants I find it much more reliable and easier to control diseases by just planting more plants and having them well pruned so I don't have as many problems. Plants with dense foliage are disease magnets here so if a plant gets to looking too pretty then I know the next thing will be disease problems which make the plant look much worse than pruning does. If sun scald wasn't such an issue down here then I would grow nothing but single stem plants because they are so much easier to maintain. They are easier to prune, spray and support; but too many varieties just don't give the fruit the foliage cover it needs to protect it from the intense sunshine.

When I talk about a two stem plant I mean that once the plant forks or I allow one sucker to form a stem along with the main stem those are the only stems allowed that will bear fruit. Everything else gets pruned, all suckers and when it forks cut the extra one off. If you keep doing this the stems will continue to grow and produce fruit but they tend to get pretty long. A simple way to remind yourself when pruning to a certain number of stems is just allow one growth tip per stem. Of course don't prune all the leaves off.

I'll try to take some photos tomorrow and see if you can tell from them what I am trying to explain.

Bill

[AaronRiot]

Originally Posted by b54red

Brandon it depends on your support system how many stems will work for you. I don't like more than three stems except on some of the very spindly hearts which don't have much foliage and even those I limit to no more than 4 or 5. I personally prefer to use one or two stems and on the more sparsely leaved plants like Pruden's Purple use Missouri pruning to add foliage without increasing the number of stems. This year using the string support system I am not allowing any plant more than 3 stems and only a few have that many. Most of my plants are being kept to one or two stems. I am even going to try that on some of my pepper plants but don't know how that will work out.

I live in an area with tremendous disease pressure and instead of trying to make a ton of tomatoes off a few plants I find it much more reliable and easier to control diseases by just planting more plants and having them well pruned so I don't have as many problems. Plants with dense foliage are disease magnets here so if a plant gets to looking too pretty then I know the next thing will be disease problems which make the plant look much worse than pruning does. If sun scald wasn't such an issue down here then I would grow nothing but single stem plants because they are so much easier to maintain. They are easier to prune, spray and support; but too many varieties just don't give the fruit the foliage cover it needs to protect it from the intense sunshine.

When I talk about a two stem plant I mean that once the plant forks or I allow one sucker to form a stem along with the main stem those are the only stems allowed that will bear fruit. Everything else gets pruned, all suckers and when it forks cut the extra one off. If you keep doing this the stems will continue to grow and produce fruit but they tend to get pretty long. A simple way to remind yourself when pruning to a certain number of stems is just allow one growth tip per stem. Of course don't prune all the leaves off.

I'll try to take some photos tomorrow and see if you can tell from them what I am trying to explain.

Bill

Great advice, but not for peppers! The more nodes the better, let those babies grow! Unless you only want a few fruits?

[b54red]

Originally Posted by AaronRiot

Great advice, but not for peppers! The more nodes the better, let those babies grow! Unless you only want a few fruits?

I have way more peppers than I usually plant so I'm experimenting. I figure if it cuts down production a good bit I will still have more than we can use. Of course it could be a total disaster but I'm committed to it now or maybe I should be committed.

Bill

[Brandon558]

Thanks so much for the great info.. Bill... Pics would be great whenever you find the time.

Thanks again!

[b54red]

Okay Brandon, I'm giving you some pics to look at.

The first one is a Brandywine Cowlick's pruned to two stems.

The second is a pic of the top of one stem with the growth tip on the right. The stem on the left has had the growth tip removed but left on for additional leaf cover.

Third is a single stem plant with Missouri Pruning. I left some of the suckers and forks but after the first couple of leaves developed I pinched out the growth tip. I do this so that on a plant with light foliage like this I am able to get some extra leaves for sun protection of the fruit.

The last picture shows the only growth tip on the single stem plant. If you look close you will see that the sucker on the right only has two leaves and the growth tip has been removed.

I hope this helps you some. Bill