Jenna, you did a great job on this video. This is what I liked about it: 1) Very short intro/greeting 2) informative 3) to the point 4) has some examples 5) good flow 6) chapter time stamps. Keep up the good work!
I am a first year gardener and I planted my celebrity bush plants to close together, I will thin out between the plants for better air flow. Your video was a great help. Thanks.
This is unrelated to the video, but I had to share. I planted a single tomatillo plant this year. I just thought I would try one out. I probably didn't prune it correctly, and it's spread out 5 feet in all directions. It has hundreds of new flowers every day, and my vines (pumpkin, squash, cucumbers) have benefited greatly from this. The bees absolutely adore this plant. So they come in for the tomatillo and migrate over to the big yellow flowers. I've never had such a good crop! Definitely a must for next year!
My primary goal in pruning the tomato plants is to keep them alive in 100 degree + temps in Texas. When I lived in New York, pruning was a minor task. Now it's a major endeavor.
@@GrowfullywithJenna Well I do prune them, (Probably not as intense as some people, but about 10" up from the base and thin out a little here and there). Water on a daily basis in the early am at the base of the plants and I have a 40% shade cloth covering 6 of my 4 x 8 beds, (Which houses tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, squash, etc. Other two beds are okra and one dedicated to future brassicas, (Was corn). Tomato plants in this heat, (as I stated), mostly just keeping them alive to bear fruit in early fall. Although I have gotten a few tomatoes off of the more stubborn plants - LOL.
The way I pruned all my tomatoes this year looks like what you have done here. I pruned off more foliage than I did last year, and I can see the benefit. I've had little to no disease. This video was very helpful...validating my pruning method this time around. Thanks!
Very informative and interesting video about pruning tomatoes to avoid from diseases ok thank you ,take care of you and your family ,I keeping waiting your videos
Like your hat !!!!!! 🍻 In this hot weather make sure to water the gardener occasionally..... Started pruning my tomatoes this year and what a difference. If you haven't done so already I would love a video on what you feed your soil and any fertilizers you use. My garden does well but not like yours. Stay cool
Thanks! And yes- that's a very important part of gardening 😆. I have not done a video about that- but that is a great idea! Thank you for the suggestion!
Thanks for the confirmation that some pruning sacrifices can help prevent disease. Luckily my part of Ohio has been really dry this summer. I'll gladly spend extra time watering if it means less blight.
You’re welcome! And you’re right- that’s the trade off- dry weather typically equates to less disease here in Ohio- That’s a great way to look on the bright side of not getting rain!
Thank you Jenna. I am a new subscriber and am finding your videos very informative - I learn things from you every time (I've been gardening for close to 40 years). One thing I would add is to remove foliage gradually if the weather is really hot. I need to prune my determinates and right now we have 38C temps. I made the mistake once of removing too much foliage all at once during hot weather - not a good plan. Many of my plants died. Anyways - thanks again!
Nice presentation. I was happy to see somewhat spindly base stalks on your determinates. All of mine are like that but one has 1.5" stalk at the base and is almost five feet high and four feet in diameter - and full of fruit. I have no idea why.. Again - great vid!
Have you ever used Texas Tomato Cages for your indeterminate tomatoes? I got mine direct from the source many years ago and and love them. I see they are very expensive now but when I bought them I had to call the woman direct (before all this fancy ordering online) and I am still using them today. Folding galvanized steel heavy duty tomato cages. Sure beat the concrete reinforcing wire cages I was using. I agree with your pruning recommendations. It makes a big difference here in humid Southern Maryland to get those bottom leaves pruned off ASAP!
We are also hot and humid where I live, so follow a similar maintenance plan, with the added layer of having to net the fruit to stop the fruit fly destroying all the tomatoes. They are certainly not a low maintenance crop!
Oh no! I’m lucky that I’m not dealing with those flies here- that doesn’t sound like fun! My worst offenders are the groundhogs- who like to take one big bite out of an almost ripe tomato and then move down the line 😡. Sometimes hornworms will chew on the fruit, but they mainly stick to eating the foliage.
Very informative and interesting video about pruning tomatoes to avoid from diseases ok thank you ,take care of you and your family ,I await your videos
I stopped using cages on my tomato plants a few years ago.. I felt like I couldn't get enough airflow to the center of my plants because the cages kept them too bunched up.. So I used cast iron pipe to make a 40' long 8' tall rail that spans clear across my tomato plants.. Then I drop twine down and tie off each branch individually.. As the plants grow I just wrap them around the twine and let them climb up it.. It's a little bit more work at first but it let's me spread my plants out better.. I fell like it has definitely helped slow down the spread of disease some..
@@GrowfullywithJenna Both, I only grow one row of tomato plants.. I space them 2' apart and I'm able to get 22 plants in my 40' row.. Most of the varieties I grow are indeterminate but I do have a couple determinate plants on the west end of the row, a Rutgers and a red snapper.. One of the unintended benefits that I discovered growing this way.. When you tie up the branches the twine holds all the weight and the plants don't have to use energy to support themselves.. Last year I had a Rutgers plant that was pushing 6' tall..
I pretty much prune our tomatoes the way you do. Both our determinate and indeterminate tomatoes. I even sometimes shorten the branches so I don't have to remove the whole thing. It seems tomatoes can take a lot of abuse at times. I try to keep air flow and everything off the soil. Half of our indeterminate tomatoes are tied to a trellis. The other half is staked. I don't usually have to stake our tomatoes, peppers or eggplant. But, this season we have had a lot of heavy winds off and on. Even when there isn't any rain. Our growing season here in NNY zone 4a doesn't give enough time for plants to really bush out. So pruning is at a minimum. Thanks for your tips! Take care!
I think my goal is the same as yours. I live in the Pacific Northwest. We have humidity and the number of months of good sun are limited. It seems like my plants start really producing in September and then the rain comes in October and does not let up. Dealing with disease = healthy plants = reasonable good yield... I hope.
@@GrowfullywithJenna It seems like I get some of most everything except critters. (I have seen yellowing leaves, leaf curl, black spot and most common is some sort of a virus (I assume) where the leaves and the stem get diseased.... the stem gets some dark streaks and it moves up the plant slowly. If I keep the slugs away, I rarely see critters such as aphids. It seems like good weather and vigorous fast growth are my friends.
I wish I'd seen this video literally three days earlier. I only just found your channel and I could not find any clear videos on pruning determinates. I have been pruning mostly like I do indeterminates, because that's all I've known. I just got back from vacation for 3 weeks and the plants had doubled in size. So, i pruned everything but the top 3 stem growths and any that had flowers/fruit. The good thing is they're healthy and I have no disease, and i have 8 suckers that I'm going to attempt to re-root and continue growing. But now I feel bad bc I worry I did too much. I didn't even know I'd planted determinate tomatoes until a week or two ago when I learned there was more than one kind of growth.
Thanks Jenna. This video is very helpful. I've never grown determinate tomatoes before but would like to try this year so every bit of info in your clip is like gold to me :) . We have very hot dry summers and I can see the logic in your technique. Even though I'm gardening on the other side of the world in regional NSW Australia, I find the videos on your channel so helpful and relevant - can't thank you enough!
I need to do a bit more pruning on my Super Sauce tomato plant; it’s starting to look like Swamp Thing and Cousin It got together for a romantic dinner while watching The Notebook.
Thanks Jenna. Most of my tomatoes looking good but my sun gold is struggling unfortunately. So far my disease resistant basil plants from Johnny's Seeds look good but the big test will be August.
I do the same as you with determinate tomatoes...Iowa has a similar climate and if you don't manage those plants, diseases spread very fast...you may not end up with much of a harvest.
Make sure you spray your tomatoes with a good fungicide, so you keep diseases away . Also make sure you plant disease resistant tomatoes especially fusarium wilt , race 1-2-3 .
Well you had to remind me. LOL. I am pruning, gosh every 4 days? Indeterminates. Our determinates were a fail this year. Long story. Big experiment fail. Big mistake. Oh well. Try and learn from failure, right? Have a super weekend Jenna. Looking forward to the next post. 👍☀️
Learn from failure is right- I do it every... single... year 😆. Do you talk about that in the latest video? I've not had a chance to watch that one yet.
I only have 4 determinate tomato plants this season. I'm trying the Siberian tomato as I live in a 5A zone, so far so good though I do need to do a bit more pruning on those at this point.
My standard Genovese basil has jolted already too- this is ‘Emerald Towers’ which is much slower to bolt than any other variety I’ve ever grown and always does exceptionally well in my garden.
I've been grinding up uncoated aspirin and mixing it with water in a pump sprayer and spraying it on my tomatoes this year. I don't know if it's working, but so far this year I have not had much of any disease on my tomatoes. Maybe just a coincidence. I use the non-coated aspirin to prevent the spray nozzle from clogging.
Thanks for sharing this, Matthew! There is some evidence that the Salicylic acid in aspirin may induce the SAR (systemic acquired resistance) response in tomato plants, which will encourage the tomato plants to use their defense systems. It may prevent the incidence of diseases but may not treat the diseases. So if you’re using it as a preventative (which it sounds like you are), I can see where this might help!
Hi Jenna, I have eight romas in my garden, and a couple weeks ago I trimmed off just the bottom branches so they wouldn't touch the ground. They're doing beautifully. I was concerned about disease leaves. I had noticed leaf spots on my beefsteak tomatoes and that got me started trimming the bottom leaves. Next year I'll have to try the tomato cages; seems that will make support a lot easier. What variety of determinants did you plant? Thanks again for another really informative video.
Hi Roberta, I’m glad to hear your romas are doing beautifully! I have a mix of determinates- but most of them are prerelease trial material (not available on the market just yet). I’m really excited about some blight resistant selections I’m trialing from the Penn State breeding program!
Hi Jenna! I planted 10 roma plants and I have so many coming on. They are just going crazy! I initially did the Florida weave to contain them, but now it’s just sprawling all over the ground, can’t even see the weave anymore 😬. Anyways, a lot have ripened, but most are on the bottom and it’s difficult to pick without possibly snapping some branches off. l want to harvest as many as I can, but i’m afraid if I move the branches, I might do some damages. Do you have any suggestions? Should I just carefully lift the branches to get to the ripen ones? Thanks for your help.
I am probably the laziest, most inattentive gardener on the planet. Most years I haven't even tied up my tomatoes at all. They just go crazy all over the ground. We never really have any disease problems and, while we may not always get the biggest crop, we get enough for six of us. Half the time I don't even actually _plant_ tomatoes. They just volunteer from the year before. The only trouble with that is that I foolishly planted romas and cherry tomatoes and they seem to have cross-bred into some weird mutant half-way between the two and then just mostly turned into cherries. And then they just... Didn't come back much at all the next year. Definitely NOT what I wanted. Oops. We're in NEOH and we've got terribly clay, too. I'm finding that the best thing for that is LOTS of grass clippings. I'll even cut the neighbor's yards just to get the grass clippings. I'm cheap. I'm growing indeterminates and I really like the cow panel trellis. I'll probably just cut down some of the underbrush in the local woods and build one out of that, though. Did I mention that I'm cheap? LOL
Believe I'm guilty of over pruning and causing leaves to cull or my no tilt system great for England and Charles Dowling but I agree with you Lady about not for my clay base soil as I have 4 types of gardening going on here my helicopter is growing 3 different types tomatoes and might be the best almost no work but light weeding waiting for crop to finish out before judging as I planted tomatoes into last season giant sunflower roots as my compose just added blood and bone meals at planting. I expect your plants would pass mine. My Midnight Snack are over 6 feet and a bushy monster and gave us tomatoes since late June so might have a win over you as yet. Yes your plants look so healthy compared to my no tilt but my salad tomato patch are much like you try to teach but I've need the cover crop probably red clover or buckwheat as I'm pulling out potatoes. QUESTION. After I put potatoes out and planning tomatoes next season What cover crops to plant. Something I can kill out by cutting or turning soil for spring planting of tomatoes Thanks you Lady Gardener my favorite teacher.
So I’m clear, John- your question about cover crop- you want something you can plant after the potatoes are harvested and to provide cover until tomatoes go in next year? If I’ve got that right, I’d recommend buckwheat- which will give you quick cover right now and then in September you could go in with an oat, pea, vetch blend. You could also do winter rye, but some folks don’t prefer that one since it’s more work to terminate.
So far with the determinate tomatoes first 2 to 3 suckers and then the lower leaves potentially touching the soil. Composting the prunings don't mind. The pathogens are in the air and soil and my garden is 20x20 and never rotated my plants they do great. Would add pic but can't.
Good to know! I know quite a few folks who say the same in regards to composting the foliage and growing tomatoes in the same spot every year without and increase in problems.
I like to make kimchi. Do you know if the tillage cover crop radish tastes like the daikon radish? It would be great to grow that for a cover crop and make kimchi to boot.
Cabbage... Got to tell you. My cabbage looked like lace. I cut some of my basil in desperation and sprinkled the leaves all over the cabbage. Whatever was eating it is gone. Cabbage looks great!!!
Oh I'm going to have to try this because my brussel sprouts are being destroyed by the asiatic garden beetle right now, even with DE. I'm at a loss for what else to do, so I might as well try.
@@mantis7419 it's a shame, really, i had an excess of basil plants I'd grown from seed this spring and I gave away my extras. I'm going to do the same as you, plant basil and a bunch of other herbs around the brassicas next year. I had put all the basil in the raised garden at the other side of the yard, and that garden hasn't been touched by any pests. Not even the lettuce (which I'm drowning in lol).
Oops I thought determinate tomatoes didn’t need pruning. Lol oh well next year I’ll try it. My celebrity tomatoes look like they are lying down taking a nap. I’ll get some cages next year or perhaps try the dwarf tomatoe project seeds
How big are your plants? Sometimes when my peppers are putting on flowers and tiny fruit shortly after I’ve transplanted and before the plants are really established, I will remove them.
I was wondering what you may know about an allergy type skin reaction to tomatoes? The Lady of the house was helping cut out some of the ugly yellow and black leafed tomatoes and apparently has had a reaction to it.
I've not heard that of tomatoes- okra, squash, cucumbers... yes, but not tomatoes. BUT- I just looked it up and apparently some folks can have contact dermatitis from tomato foliage!
Not having any particularized knowledge about trimming and not being informed by any educated sources, I have ignored suckers and try to train my plants to spread out using a huge cage and adopted the possibly erroneous idea that More greenery is good because the greens produce chlorophyll and feed the plant. So I am loathe to prune. Except at the end of the season when I want them to hurry up and ripen. In your quest to avoid soil-born infection, have you tried weed-proof ground cover cloth?
More greenery is good to certain extent- I have definitely seen folks over prune to the detriment of their crop. I have tried different types of barriers- fabric, plastic and natural mulch and still often end up with disease. It’s likely less than if I left the soil uncovered but I’ve not done a comparison planting.
I got my cages here: www.burpee.com/xl-pro-series-cage-green-prod001781.html and here www.gurneys.com/product/tomato-cage?p=0549074&msclkid=28b7281e3f49187ab0f14aca15a0120a&Shopping%20(Product%20Listing%20Ads%20Original)%20-%20SHOP&All%20Product%20Groups
I got them here www.burpee.com/xl-pro-series-cage-green-prod001781.html and here www.gurneys.com/product/tomato-cage?p=0549074&msclkid=28b7281e3f49187ab0f14aca15a0120a&Shopping%20(Product%20Listing%20Ads%20Original)%20-%20SHOP&All%20Product%20Groups
It all depends what your goals are, I explain why I prune mine in the video. If you don’t have trouble with the diseases I do here in my climate, you may not want to prune them.
I'm not throwing them away, they go into the compost. And yes- you're right, they're great for canning. Unfortunately, during the time of year this video was shot, I typically don't have a lot of time to can them. I usually try to get some in October before the last frost.
Jenna, you did a great job on this video. This is what I liked about it: 1) Very short intro/greeting 2) informative 3) to the point 4) has some examples 5) good flow 6) chapter time stamps.
Keep up the good work!
Thank you!
I am a first year gardener and I planted my celebrity bush plants to close together, I will thin out between the plants for better air flow. Your video was a great help. Thanks.
This is unrelated to the video, but I had to share. I planted a single tomatillo plant this year. I just thought I would try one out. I probably didn't prune it correctly, and it's spread out 5 feet in all directions. It has hundreds of new flowers every day, and my vines (pumpkin, squash, cucumbers) have benefited greatly from this. The bees absolutely adore this plant. So they come in for the tomatillo and migrate over to the big yellow flowers. I've never had such a good crop! Definitely a must for next year!
Very cool! Do you happen to know what variety is was, or just a standard open pollinated tomatillo?
@@GrowfullywithJenna Tomatillo Verde
Wonderful video. Great tips for us down here in Florida too! Oh....and I love the Pabst Blue Ribbon hat!
Thanks😄
My primary goal in pruning the tomato plants is to keep them alive in 100 degree + temps in Texas. When I lived in New York, pruning was a minor task. Now it's a major endeavor.
What are some of the ways you help your tomato plants bear that heat?
@@GrowfullywithJenna Well I do prune them, (Probably not as intense as some people, but about 10" up from the base and thin out a little here and there). Water on a daily basis in the early am at the base of the plants and I have a 40% shade cloth covering 6 of my 4 x 8 beds, (Which houses tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, squash, etc. Other two beds are okra and one dedicated to future brassicas, (Was corn). Tomato plants in this heat, (as I stated), mostly just keeping them alive to bear fruit in early fall. Although I have gotten a few tomatoes off of the more stubborn plants - LOL.
The way I pruned all my tomatoes this year looks like what you have done here. I pruned off more foliage than I did last year, and I can see the benefit. I've had little to no disease. This video was very helpful...validating my pruning method this time around. Thanks!
I’m so glad to hear you’re seeing little to no disease!
Amazing information as always Mrs. Jenna. Stay cool and safe up there my friend!
Thank you! You too!
Learn something new every time i tune in!! Thank you Jenna
I’m very glad to hear that!
Boy this perfect timing. Well have to wait now til Monday we have been bless with a weekend of much needed rain. Great video Jenna.
So glad to hear you got rain!
Another excellent video, so far this has been a great gardening year, lots of tomatoes, squash, peppers, eggplant....
I’m glad to hear it’s been a great gardening year for you so far!!
Thank You for sharing Jenna
Happy to share!
Thank you very much for this video. I've been so confused on what to do and this seems like something I can tackle now. :)
I'm so glad it helped!
Very informative and interesting video about pruning tomatoes to avoid from diseases ok thank you ,take care of you and your family ,I keeping waiting your videos
Thank you, Akhtar- hope you are well!
Like your hat !!!!!! 🍻 In this hot weather make sure to water the gardener occasionally..... Started pruning my tomatoes this year and what a difference. If you haven't done so already I would love a video on what you feed your soil and any fertilizers you use. My garden does well but not like yours. Stay cool
Thanks! And yes- that's a very important part of gardening 😆.
I have not done a video about that- but that is a great idea! Thank you for the suggestion!
Another great video, Jenna ! Thanks - Joseph
Thanks!
Thanks for the confirmation that some pruning sacrifices can help prevent disease. Luckily my part of Ohio has been really dry this summer. I'll gladly spend extra time watering if it means less blight.
You’re welcome! And you’re right- that’s the trade off- dry weather typically equates to less disease here in Ohio- That’s a great way to look on the bright side of not getting rain!
Thank you Jenna. I am a new subscriber and am finding your videos very informative - I learn things from you every time (I've been gardening for close to 40 years). One thing I would add is to remove foliage gradually if the weather is really hot. I need to prune my determinates and right now we have 38C temps. I made the mistake once of removing too much foliage all at once during hot weather - not a good plan. Many of my plants died. Anyways - thanks again!
Thanks so much for that advice, Jo! I love hearing tips from very experienced gardeners like yourself!
Nice presentation. I was happy to see somewhat spindly base stalks on your determinates. All of mine are like that but one has 1.5" stalk at the base and is almost five feet high and four feet in diameter - and full of fruit. I have no idea why.. Again - great vid!
Thank you!
Very helpful video. thanks!
I’m glad you found it helpful!
Have you ever used Texas Tomato Cages for your indeterminate tomatoes? I got mine direct from the source many years ago and and love them. I see they are very expensive now but when I bought them I had to call the woman direct (before all this fancy ordering online) and I am still using them today. Folding galvanized steel heavy duty tomato cages. Sure beat the concrete reinforcing wire cages I was using.
I agree with your pruning recommendations. It makes a big difference here in humid Southern Maryland to get those bottom leaves pruned off ASAP!
We are also hot and humid where I live, so follow a similar maintenance plan, with the added layer of having to net the fruit to stop the fruit fly destroying all the tomatoes. They are certainly not a low maintenance crop!
Oh no! I’m lucky that I’m not dealing with those flies here- that doesn’t sound like fun! My worst offenders are the groundhogs- who like to take one big bite out of an almost ripe tomato and then move down the line 😡. Sometimes hornworms will chew on the fruit, but they mainly stick to eating the foliage.
Very informative and interesting video about pruning tomatoes to avoid from diseases ok thank you ,take care of you and your family ,I await your videos
Thank you, Akhtar- hope you are well!
This is beautiful 😍
Thank you
Hi! THX! Again...From NW.IL.. my tomatoes are just startn. to flower..good film.. ill get on the trim part..good to know..
Happy pruning!!
Nice tomatoes.
I deal with all those diseases you mentioned so I prune my tomatoes as well.
Ugh- sorry you're dealing with them too!
I stopped using cages on my tomato plants a few years ago.. I felt like I couldn't get enough airflow to the center of my plants because the cages kept them too bunched up.. So I used cast iron pipe to make a 40' long 8' tall rail that spans clear across my tomato plants.. Then I drop twine down and tie off each branch individually.. As the plants grow I just wrap them around the twine and let them climb up it.. It's a little bit more work at first but it let's me spread my plants out better.. I fell like it has definitely helped slow down the spread of disease some..
Sounds like a great method- I’m curious though, if it’s 8’ tall are you using this for indeterminates, determinates or both? Thanks for sharing!
@@GrowfullywithJenna Both, I only grow one row of tomato plants.. I space them 2' apart and I'm able to get 22 plants in my 40' row.. Most of the varieties I grow are indeterminate but I do have a couple determinate plants on the west end of the row, a Rutgers and a red snapper.. One of the unintended benefits that I discovered growing this way.. When you tie up the branches the twine holds all the weight and the plants don't have to use energy to support themselves.. Last year I had a Rutgers plant that was pushing 6' tall..
I pretty much prune our tomatoes the way you do. Both our determinate and indeterminate tomatoes. I even sometimes shorten the branches so I don't have to remove the whole thing. It seems tomatoes can take a lot of abuse at times. I try to keep air flow and everything off the soil. Half of our indeterminate tomatoes are tied to a trellis. The other half is staked. I don't usually have to stake our tomatoes, peppers or eggplant. But, this season we have had a lot of heavy winds off and on. Even when there isn't any rain. Our growing season here in NNY zone 4a doesn't give enough time for plants to really bush out. So pruning is at a minimum. Thanks for your tips! Take care!
Thanks for sharing your methods, Michael! Very interesting point on the shorter growing season in regards to pruning- I never thought about that.
I think my goal is the same as yours. I live in the Pacific Northwest. We have humidity and the number of months of good sun are limited. It seems like my plants start really producing in September and then the rain comes in October and does not let up. Dealing with disease = healthy plants = reasonable good yield... I hope.
You’ve got a challenging environment for tomatoes! I’m curious what your most problematic tomato disease is?
@@GrowfullywithJenna It seems like I get some of most everything except critters. (I have seen yellowing leaves, leaf curl, black spot and most common is some sort of a virus (I assume) where the leaves and the stem get diseased.... the stem gets some dark streaks and it moves up the plant slowly. If I keep the slugs away, I rarely see critters such as aphids. It seems like good weather and vigorous fast growth are my friends.
I wish I'd seen this video literally three days earlier. I only just found your channel and I could not find any clear videos on pruning determinates. I have been pruning mostly like I do indeterminates, because that's all I've known. I just got back from vacation for 3 weeks and the plants had doubled in size. So, i pruned everything but the top 3 stem growths and any that had flowers/fruit. The good thing is they're healthy and I have no disease, and i have 8 suckers that I'm going to attempt to re-root and continue growing. But now I feel bad bc I worry I did too much. I didn't even know I'd planted determinate tomatoes until a week or two ago when I learned there was more than one kind of growth.
If they are healthy, disease free and bearing fruit, that’s all that matters! I hope you enjoy a bountiful harvest of tomatoes!
Great review.
Thanks
I prune the same way, I start early to get those bottom leaves off the ground.
Love it!
Thanks!
Hi, I noticed that white fly go pass the camera a few times. I’m sure it’s looking to lay eggs. Good luck and good growing. Good vid too.
Thanks Jenna. This video is very helpful. I've never grown determinate tomatoes before but would like to try this year so every bit of info in your clip is like gold to me :) . We have very hot dry summers and I can see the logic in your technique. Even though I'm gardening on the other side of the world in regional NSW Australia, I find the videos on your channel so helpful and relevant - can't thank you enough!
Glad it was helpful!
I need to do a bit more pruning on my Super Sauce tomato plant; it’s starting to look like Swamp Thing and Cousin It got together for a romantic dinner while watching The Notebook.
😂😂
Thanks Jenna. Most of my tomatoes looking good but my sun gold is struggling unfortunately. So far my disease resistant basil plants from Johnny's Seeds look good but the big test will be August.
Sorry to hear about your Sungold, but I’m glad the other tomatoes and basil are doing well. You’re right though, august IS the big test!
I do the same as you with determinate tomatoes...Iowa has a similar climate and if you don't manage those plants, diseases spread very fast...you may not end up with much of a harvest.
Very, very true!
Make sure you spray your tomatoes with a good fungicide, so you keep diseases away . Also make sure you plant disease resistant tomatoes especially fusarium wilt , race 1-2-3 .
Well you had to remind me. LOL. I am pruning, gosh every 4 days? Indeterminates. Our determinates were a fail this year. Long story. Big experiment fail. Big mistake. Oh well. Try and learn from failure, right?
Have a super weekend Jenna. Looking forward to the next post. 👍☀️
And thanks for the square cage tips. Got to remember that next year.
Learn from failure is right- I do it every... single... year 😆. Do you talk about that in the latest video? I've not had a chance to watch that one yet.
@@GrowfullywithJenna The fail video loads tomorrow. It is about growing tomatoes and sunflowers together.
I only have 4 determinate tomato plants this season. I'm trying the Siberian tomato as I live in a 5A zone, so far so good though I do need to do a bit more pruning on those at this point.
Have you grown ‘Glacier’? I’m growing it this year and am curious how it compares to Siberian?
@@GrowfullywithJenna I haven't. I just learned about these Siberians this spring, I'll have to try both next season.
Jenna is the bomb!🥰
Thanks 😊
Your basil looks really nice. A lot of mine is bolting, or getting hit by slugs and disease.
My standard Genovese basil has jolted already too- this is ‘Emerald Towers’ which is much slower to bolt than any other variety I’ve ever grown and always does exceptionally well in my garden.
I've been grinding up uncoated aspirin and mixing it with water in a pump sprayer and spraying it on my tomatoes this year. I don't know if it's working, but so far this year I have not had much of any disease on my tomatoes. Maybe just a coincidence. I use the non-coated aspirin to prevent the spray nozzle from clogging.
Thanks for sharing this, Matthew! There is some evidence that the Salicylic acid in aspirin may induce the SAR (systemic acquired resistance) response in tomato plants, which will encourage the tomato plants to use their defense systems. It may prevent the incidence of diseases but may not treat the diseases.
So if you’re using it as a preventative (which it sounds like you are), I can see where this might help!
Hi Jenna, I have eight romas in my garden, and a couple weeks ago I trimmed off just the bottom branches so they wouldn't touch the ground. They're doing beautifully. I was concerned about disease leaves. I had noticed leaf spots on my beefsteak tomatoes and that got me started trimming the bottom leaves. Next year I'll have to try the tomato cages; seems that will make support a lot easier. What variety of determinants did you plant? Thanks again for another really informative video.
Hi Roberta, I’m glad to hear your romas are doing beautifully! I have a mix of determinates- but most of them are prerelease trial material (not available on the market just yet). I’m really excited about some blight resistant selections I’m trialing from the Penn State breeding program!
@@GrowfullywithJenna that's great!
Hi Jenna! I planted 10 roma plants and I have so many coming on. They are just going crazy! I initially did the Florida weave to contain them, but now it’s just sprawling all over the ground, can’t even see the weave anymore 😬. Anyways, a lot have ripened, but most are on the bottom and it’s difficult to pick without possibly snapping some branches off. l want to harvest as many as I can, but i’m afraid if I move the branches, I might do some damages. Do you have any suggestions? Should I just carefully lift the branches to get to the ripen ones? Thanks for your help.
I don't prune my determinates so the extra leaves shield the fruit from the scorching sun here in East Texas.
So amazing ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Thanks
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Don.t forget the subscribe Thank you
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You're so Ohio, love the PBR hat!😆
Kinda makes me homesick.
😁
My father drank it pretty religiously.😁🍻🍺
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I am probably the laziest, most inattentive gardener on the planet. Most years I haven't even tied up my tomatoes at all. They just go crazy all over the ground. We never really have any disease problems and, while we may not always get the biggest crop, we get enough for six of us.
Half the time I don't even actually _plant_ tomatoes. They just volunteer from the year before. The only trouble with that is that I foolishly planted romas and cherry tomatoes and they seem to have cross-bred into some weird mutant half-way between the two and then just mostly turned into cherries. And then they just... Didn't come back much at all the next year. Definitely NOT what I wanted. Oops.
We're in NEOH and we've got terribly clay, too. I'm finding that the best thing for that is LOTS of grass clippings. I'll even cut the neighbor's yards just to get the grass clippings. I'm cheap.
I'm growing indeterminates and I really like the cow panel trellis. I'll probably just cut down some of the underbrush in the local woods and build one out of that, though. Did I mention that I'm cheap? LOL
Good morning.
Good morning
Believe I'm guilty of over pruning and causing leaves to cull or my no tilt system great for England and Charles Dowling but I agree with you Lady about not for my clay base soil as I have 4 types of gardening going on here my helicopter is growing 3 different types tomatoes and might be the best almost no work but light weeding waiting for crop to finish out before judging as I planted tomatoes into last season giant sunflower roots as my compose just added blood and bone meals at planting.
I expect your plants would pass mine.
My Midnight Snack are over 6 feet and a bushy monster and gave us tomatoes since late June so might have a win over you as yet.
Yes your plants look so healthy compared to my no tilt but my salad tomato patch are much like you try to teach but I've need the cover crop probably red clover or buckwheat as I'm pulling out potatoes.
QUESTION.
After I put potatoes out and planning tomatoes next season What cover crops to plant. Something I can kill out by cutting or turning soil for spring planting of tomatoes
Thanks you Lady Gardener my favorite teacher.
So I’m clear, John- your question about cover crop- you want something you can plant after the potatoes are harvested and to provide cover until tomatoes go in next year? If I’ve got that right, I’d recommend buckwheat- which will give you quick cover right now and then in September you could go in with an oat, pea, vetch blend. You could also do winter rye, but some folks don’t prefer that one since it’s more work to terminate.
Pruning the bottom stems definitely reduced disease/wilting for me. Of course, everything is struggling anyway due to our lack of rain.....
Glad to hear it helps you as well. I certainly hope rain heads your way soon!
So far with the determinate tomatoes first 2 to 3 suckers and then the lower leaves potentially touching the soil. Composting the prunings don't mind. The pathogens are in the air and soil and my garden is 20x20 and never rotated my plants they do great. Would add pic but can't.
Good to know! I know quite a few folks who say the same in regards to composting the foliage and growing tomatoes in the same spot every year without and increase in problems.
I like to make kimchi. Do you know if the tillage cover crop radish tastes like the daikon radish? It would be great to grow that for a cover crop and make kimchi to boot.
Yes- that tillage radish is a type of daikon. When picked young they are quite tasty.
Cabbage... Got to tell you. My cabbage looked like lace. I cut some of my basil in desperation and sprinkled the leaves all over the cabbage. Whatever was eating it is gone. Cabbage looks great!!!
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing!
Oh I'm going to have to try this because my brussel sprouts are being destroyed by the asiatic garden beetle right now, even with DE. I'm at a loss for what else to do, so I might as well try.
yeah well, i since found out i've got to do this everyday. I am but next year planting basil just for this purpose.
@@mantis7419 it's a shame, really, i had an excess of basil plants I'd grown from seed this spring and I gave away my extras. I'm going to do the same as you, plant basil and a bunch of other herbs around the brassicas next year. I had put all the basil in the raised garden at the other side of the yard, and that garden hasn't been touched by any pests. Not even the lettuce (which I'm drowning in lol).
Oops I thought determinate tomatoes didn’t need pruning. Lol oh well next year I’ll try it. My celebrity tomatoes look like they are lying down taking a nap. I’ll get some cages next year or perhaps try the dwarf tomatoe project seeds
You don't have to prune them-- I just have better results when I do!
Good lookin Basil in front of you!!!
That’s ‘Emerald Towers’ basil- it’s always a great performer in the garden!
Im having a hard time with my green pepers, there growing faster than the plant? Do i remove them so others can grow nirmaly?
How big are your plants? Sometimes when my peppers are putting on flowers and tiny fruit shortly after I’ve transplanted and before the plants are really established, I will remove them.
I was wondering what you may know about an allergy type skin reaction to tomatoes? The Lady of the house was helping cut out some of the ugly yellow and black leafed tomatoes and apparently has had a reaction to it.
I've not heard that of tomatoes- okra, squash, cucumbers... yes, but not tomatoes. BUT- I just looked it up and apparently some folks can have contact dermatitis from tomato foliage!
Hi Jenna, what is the size of your tomato cages?
They are 48" tall and approx. 14 1/2" wide (Square)
Are the white moths flying around related to the hornworm white moth?
Those are cabbage whites- the adult version of cabbageworms.
Not having any particularized knowledge about trimming and not being informed by any educated sources, I have ignored suckers and try to train my plants to spread out using a huge cage and adopted the possibly erroneous idea that More greenery is good because the greens produce chlorophyll and feed the plant.
So I am loathe to prune. Except at the end of the season when I want them to hurry up and ripen.
In your quest to avoid soil-born infection, have you tried weed-proof ground cover cloth?
More greenery is good to certain extent- I have definitely seen folks over prune to the detriment of their crop. I have tried different types of barriers- fabric, plastic and natural mulch and still often end up with disease. It’s likely less than if I left the soil uncovered but I’ve not done a comparison planting.
Where do you buy your tomato cages & trellis'?
I got my cages here: www.burpee.com/xl-pro-series-cage-green-prod001781.html and here www.gurneys.com/product/tomato-cage?p=0549074&msclkid=28b7281e3f49187ab0f14aca15a0120a&Shopping%20(Product%20Listing%20Ads%20Original)%20-%20SHOP&All%20Product%20Groups
I'd also like to know where she got those foldable cages.
How do I know if my tomatoe is indeterminate or determinate.
Where did you get you tomato baskets? Square vs round…
I got them here www.burpee.com/xl-pro-series-cage-green-prod001781.html and here www.gurneys.com/product/tomato-cage?p=0549074&msclkid=28b7281e3f49187ab0f14aca15a0120a&Shopping%20(Product%20Listing%20Ads%20Original)%20-%20SHOP&All%20Product%20Groups
My hornworms are pruning my tomatoes for me. 😁
I hope not too much!! Those little buggers can sure eat a lot!
what cages are you using? im looking for some next year
I use these www.gurneys.com/product/tomato-cage and these www.burpee.com/xl-pro-series-cage-green-prod001781.html
Thank you!!
Jenna , you have Good taste…!
Thanks!
Is the “i” in foliage silent? I’ve always pronounced it…
Some accents pronounce it, some don't.
I believe it can be pronounced either way, it varies by region
I know everyone says this is the way to go, ,but I just can't cut away a tomatoe fruit. I just can't 😮💨😮💨😔😔
I know! I still struggle with this!
I was wondering, I was taught to not prune determinate tomatoes, you thoughts?
It all depends what your goals are, I explain why I prune mine in the video. If you don’t have trouble with the diseases I do here in my climate, you may not want to prune them.
nice video even though you sound like a canadian
Nope- just a midwesterner 😆
About to watch this video on a day when I found 3 hornworms on 1 tomato plant. *sigh*
Oh no! Have they done much damage yet, or did you catch them early enough?
Why are you throwing away the green unripe tomatoes? 😢😬
Those are the best for canning.
I'm not throwing them away, they go into the compost. And yes- you're right, they're great for canning. Unfortunately, during the time of year this video was shot, I typically don't have a lot of time to can them. I usually try to get some in October before the last frost.
Can anyone out there just show it to me than talking 👄 to much.