How to Prune Tomatoes After Hot Days

In order to produce luscious tomatoes, you will need to prune your tomato bushes. Pruning your tomatoes will help keep leaves and fruit off the soil, which will prevent insects and disease from infecting the tomato plants. Pruning will also prevent tomato vines from overgrowing and produce bigger and better tasting tomatoes.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Sterilized pruning shears
• Tomato vine

1. Examine the vine and determine the shape you wish the vine to take.

2. Prune the leaves and stems that are touching the ground by taking the sterilized pruning shears and cutting the bottom branches at the main stem.

3. Prune the rest of the tomato vine by first locating the suckers. A sucker is a shoot that is growing out between two stems. If you have two strong stems growing off the main vine and a sucker in between the two stems, that sucker will eventually become a strong stem. Too many stems will produce smaller, less succulent fruits.

4. Hold the base of the two stems with your thumb and index finger.

5. Grab the sucker with your other hand and simply pinch it off by working it in a back and forth motion.

6. Re-examine the plant. Are you happy with its shape or do you want to prune further? Evaluate after every step and assess the plant.

Tips & Warnings

• Pruning at the end of the season will expedite the ripening of the remaining fruits.
• Prune at the end of the season to ensure the current fruits will have a chance to ripen.
• Tomato plants like a high leaf to fruit ratio, so keep this in mind when pruning.
• Never prune when the plane is wet

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