How to Pinch Off the Suckers on Tomato Plants

Pinch suckers on your tomato plants to ensure big, juicy tomatoes.

Tomatoes are hardy plants that will produce fruit even if you just leave them alone. If you want lots of healthy, delicious tomatoes, though, you should prune the plants. Pruning tomatoes helps the plants use more energy making tomatoes and less energy making more branches. A well-pruned tomato plant will have a strong, vigorous main stem, will produce fruit earlier and will produce bigger fruit. The best way to prune a tomato plant is to pinch off "suckers," which are little shoots that grow between the leaves and the main stem of the plant.

Things You'll Need

• Gardening gloves

Instructions

1. Wait until the plants develop their first flowering cluster.

2. Stake the plants to give them support.

3. Watch for any suckers that grow below the level of the first flowering cluster -- these are the suckers you will remove.

4. Pinch each sucker between your thumb and forefinger. Bend the sucker back and forth until it breaks off.

5. Allow the first three suckers above the first flowering cluster to develop into branches if you have an indeterminate-type tomato plant, and pinch any suckers above those three. If you have a determinate-type tomato plant, pinch all suckers below the first flower cluster but do not pinch any suckers above the first flower cluster.

Tips & Warnings

• Determinate tomato plants have a specific fruiting time and will grow to a genetically determined size, while indeterminate plants will keep growing bigger and producing fruit until the first frost.

• Only pinch suckers when your tomato plants are dry, not just after rain or when the plants are covered with dew.

• Pinch suckers when they are new and tender. If you have waited too long and a sucker is too tough for you to pinch off, remove it with a very sharp blade like a retractable razor knife.

• If you live in a very sunny area and want to protect the tomatoes from sun-scald, you can try "Missouri" pruning: Pinch off the end of the suckers but leave one or two leaves behind to provide shade for the tomatoes.

• Do not cut suckers off with scissors or a knife; this can lead to an infection in the plant.

• Do not prune a determinate tomato plant above the first flower cluster, because the plant will grow fewer tomatoes.

References

• Fine Gardening: Pruning Tomatoes- How to manage your plants for better health and better fruit. By Frank Ferrandino.
• National Gardening Association: Pruning Tomatoes

Resources

• The Helpful Gardener: Growing Tomatoes