How to Prune Tomato Plants in a Home Garden
Indoor gardening is becoming more popular every year and no other produce plant is more popular than the tomato. Even back into earliest history, people have grown tomatoes indoors and have needed to learn how to care for this plant type in a more controlled environment. Today, people grow tomatoes in traditional windowsill gardens, modern hydroponic systems and everything in between. Pruning your indoor tomato plants properly will help ensure healthy, productive plants for your indoor tomato garden. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Identify new vine shoots (also called suckers) growing off the main vine or vines of the tomato plant.
-
2
Ensure that the suckers have sprouted at least a full inch from the main vine but have not grown long enough to begin to change color or become "woody," indicating its development into a new main vine.
-
-
3
Clip the sucker at the base of the sprout, ensuring the cut is made flush with the main stalk or vine of the plant.
-
4
Inspect the cut to ensure that no soil or foreign particles are in the exposed area of the main stalk or vine of the plant.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
If you do find any foreign particles or soil in the fresh cut you can wipe them away with a finger, but you may find it easier to use disposable latex gardening gloves if you are making a series of cuts.
You will need to inspect for new suckers at least once each week as tomato plants are very fast-growing.
Do not attempt to prune a tomato plant before it has matured to a height of at least 1 to 2 feet in height. Pruning causes some shock to the plant and attempts to prune too early can cause severe damage to the plant.
Clean and dry the blades of your pruning shears thoroughly after each use and have them sharpened regularly. Dull or dirty shears can damage or disease the tomato plant at the point of the cut.
