Stop growing tomatoes if you aren’t doing this 🍅 Pruning will give you 5x more!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ส.ค. 2024
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When I first started gardening, I had NO CLUE about pruning. I was always terrified to cut on my plants because I assumed it would KILL them.
After a few years, I realized pruning was the SECRET to garden success in so many ways.
This coming week, you'll learn so many more of my garden tips and tricks in the Summer Garden Challenge.
Don’t forget the plant needs enough leaves for photosynthesis!
I was thinking the same thing!
For sure!
That's why you leave the canopy...
Yes the leaves are literally the things that even produce the energy
This information is Great! But, Unfortunately not everyone is growing inside and this is only for Indeterminate tomatoes. I like how the spaced & trim out the vine.
I would think if anyone is going to try this just leave more Leaves near the tomatoes.
Definitely going to try it though!
Also like to Add:
I don't remember where I learned it. If you snap/twist the vine start at the bottom doing only about 12 to 15" at a time ... The vine gets thicker and brings more water & Nutrition to the plant! It's a game changer.
I have been growing 3 tomato plants a year in baskets about 2 feet apart from one another without pruning them and I get tons of tomatoes
Nature knows best
Same here. I pruned last year a did not get much. This year I did not prune yet and the blooming is booming. After the lower parts have produced I may trim them back.
I've been interested in this. This year I am doing half and half. 4 pruned fairly heavily. (Not THIS heavy 😂) and 4 only having minimal pruning (suckers removed) we shall see if there is a difference.
@@CB-ke5xxI'm interested! When you see the difference could you please answer this and let me know! ❤️
@@Mantras-and-Mystics so far unpruned is winning the production war, but it has been very dry and I have been watering at the base. We will see if they are more vulnerable to fungus or pests.
Step #1: Buy a nice greenhouse.
😂 very expensive tomates!
I've done this before but my garden is outside without the protection of a greenhouse, and I live in georgia. If you cut off all of the leaves there is no protection from the Sun for the fruit and they all get scalded so you end up getting way less tomatoes overall
I’m in South Georgia and I completely agree . All my tomatoes would get sun scald on one side without leaves for protection.
Exactly. Oklahoman here.
Absolutely, central Texas here.
Exactly.
You right I'm going thru it now .sucked the life right out my beefsteaks.
You are very wrong ... this is over pruning
Way to much pruning
It depends on the variety of tomato. Determinate vs indeterminate. This is fine for indeterminate tomatoes, but would stunt a determinate variety
I can’t imagine that tiny little bunch of leaves at the top providing enough nutrients for a very heavy harvest
She's in a greenhouse. It's right for her and any greenhouse grower....but wrong for outside.
Tried this last year and most of my tomatoes got sun scald. I’m sure it works great in a green house though
I hung a weedscreen as a sunshade around my plants and it worked. Prevented sunscalding.
@@fazolei have not heard of that.
Yep! That happened to mine also! I always remove some leaves, But I tried to do this last year and lost SOOO many tomatoes 😫
They also need continuous moisture this way which means drip irrigation.
according to botany leaves are essential. ill cut only the dead ones. i let mine get bushy. and i get tons of fruits.
ya her plants are pathetic, no way in hell is this a good idea.
Yes, they look anorexic/starved!
What do you use for fertilizer? How do you start your plant? From seeds or do you buy a plant?
She pees in a can and adds it to the soil on a ratio basis of 1 part pee and 5 parts water . Hope that helps you grow an abundant crop. Happy gardening
😊
Plants need leaves for photosynthesis. Just saying.😂
Yea this makes no sense.
That's what the canopy at the top is for. Keeping leaves on the plant takes the plant energy so keeping leaves that are being shaded might be a waste. I'm not saying that this is the best technique, try what you want and see what gives best results
@@mememan5466leaving the leaves on the plant gives it energy tho
Yeah, leaves are energy producers, not energy users.
@@roop-a-loop not if they're in the shade. And if they're touching the soil, they increase risk for disease. Not saying you have to heavily prune, it depends on your plant or what your goals are with it
Make sure that you are in a green house, because if you are growing outside, in say Florida, the birds, squirrels and sun are going to have a field day on your tomatoes.
ive never had a bird or squirrel interested in mine
Why are they so tall and no tomatoes?
They are indeterminate variety that continually grow like a vine.
I don’t see any lights in there so they might be super tall and leggy seeking sunlight. My plants’ stems are way thicker than hers, loaded with green tomatoes and flowers, and not 4 feet tall yet. I prune the bottom-most branches to keep leaves off the ground and a few branches throughout (planted in a block not a row) to keep good airflow in the middle of my raised bed.
because she has no idea wtf she is doing.
I’m in Arkansas zone 8b. I plant outside from seeds- cherry & beefsteak, and Roma. I don’t prune my tomato plants and have so much fruit. The severe pruning was not necessary. I have videos on my channel that shows my tomatoes.
I can't agree enough with this.....been growing maters for years and have always just let them do their thing. Every year I've had more fruit than I knew what to do with.
Granted, I have a large garden. If you're limited on space then pruning like that will let you get more plants in a smaller area.
Arkansas is a good zone. Only reason I'd ever even prune in a zone like that is to provide airflow in case things are getting way too swampy and damp. Or the case you get a bush variety that decides it wants to put out vines in the shape of a bush but not actually be a bush.
I've heard of this aggressive pruning but they only pruned below the fruit and as they picked each layer they'd prune up to the next stem of fruit. So the were always leaves above the fruit but never below.
You'll get a little less fruit but you will get it earlier and it will be better quality
I will take my way over this
Leaves provide photosynthesis for plants. Meaning - they make food for your tomatoes. You wouldn't remove branches off an apple tree to make it give better fruits. It doesn't make sense for tomatoes either.
That’s why you still leave the leaves above the fruit. I prune off anything below the fruit and a lot (but not all) of stems that won’t produce fruit. I had gallons and gallons of tomatoes last year.
You actually prune fruit trees fairly heavily if done properly...
@@kimberlyearly8918 yeah...that tiny amount of leaves on top is NOT ENOUGH is the point.
@@kimberlyearly8918 Thats all new growth. New growth leaves don't provide enough energy to an adult plant. Until those leaves reach full size they're operating at well under half efficiency. On top of that, your fruits set based on the energy they have when they flower. And in some cases for trees those buds are stuck with what they pick up over the winter. Cutting leaves and leaving new growth doesn't do anything but force your plant to redirect energy into getting more new leaf growth to counter the stress you just put on it.
@@andromedadelux All I’m saying is what I’ve done works really well.
Don’t forget the suckers can be rooted to make more tomato plants! After I see which plants are producing best, I clone them and get another round of fruit!
I plan on bringing suckers in the house at the end if the season and continue growing them in my basement.
Don’t listen. Grow your own way. 😊
It’s so fucking funny how you’ll see 70 million videos of people talking about how they are tomato expert. they get the best harvest they say. all of them have a different method. the best part is every single method and it was pretty much the same amount of tomatoes. Tomatoes are not hard. They’re probably the easiest starter plant if you want to start gardening. The entirety of their stems will produce roots. You don’t need to do fancy trimming and all this other bullshit. Just stick them in some decent soil and make sure they stay watered and give them something to climb so they don’t lay all over the ground. It’s that easy
Yea doesnt look like theyre gonna get much off of these plants. Come back in a month and lemme see whatcha got.....😂
It took me 3 years of growing tomatoes to realize 90% of these videos are other 3rd yr growers. None of these people are the farmers you see from the road. I grow mine outside from seed, prune like a foot up off the ground and all sucker's as the plant branches and I get no pests no rot and I'm jinxing myself no disease. The hardest part is soil prep and the work that goes in before you see any results. That's where people screw themselves
EXACTLY!! I want to see the "loads of fruit" she claimed they'll have. They need a time progression video or before & after!
Yeah. These “influencer gardeners” have given me some bad advice and I’m a new gardener. I was wondering why the plants I let just grow are bigger than the plants I aggressively pruned.
Profanity is the turd that comes from an in-articulate mind, and taints the conservation.
I have friends who do this. I get way way more tomatoes, not doing it. And they taste the same. Same size. The pruning method is way too aggressive imo. You should prune, yes. But you're not getting any food.
indeterminate grows out of control if not pruned at the very least remove bottom suckers and leaf nodes but leave the flowering ones. unchecked in a space that can accommodate them with bracing and trellis then sure they are fine but in a garden with other p;ants they will grow like a weed and kill everything eventually.
Make sure you have indeterminate tomatoes if you're going to prune this aggressively.
Important point
Wrong, determinate tomatoes are actually the ones that need more pruning
One year I did a lot of pruning. Got an okay amount of tomatoes. THIS year I decided I couldn’t prune because of a busy schedule. I have TONS AND TONS of tomatoes growing! I prune the bottoms only removing only what touches the soil. I will never prune heavy again. Those poor tomatoes plants.
Um…. Photosynthesis creates energy… so what you’ve done is taken away an energy source after energy was used to make this leaves.
If you do this nonsense, do it before the leaves get big. Who has time for this?!
I do this already but was gonna try what you said to do in another video which was to stop pruning sucker's and let them go wild???
Depends on the type,this type here is the one that needs pruning. The are other tomato varieties that are meant to be bushy
Really bad idea… the plant uses her whole energy for growing new leaves, there is no power left for fruit building. The tomato plant is programmed to spread out the runners wide so it can spread its seeds as wide as possible. But we dont want that since we are here for harvesting as much as we can.
I prune indeterminate tomatoes but not determinate like roma.
Been growing tomatoes in the home garden for over 60 years. I trellis all of my tomatoes and I bought into the heavy pruning process about twenty years ago. Over time Ive scaled it back about 80% and am much happier with the overall results. Market growers want perfect looking tomatoes that are uniform in size and ripeness when picked. One advantage of heavy pruning is the plant tends to produce less fruit but larger market size tomatoes. As I home grower who preserves 95% of my crop for future use I aim for the maximum yield from each plant. Heavy pruning reduces the overall yield by weight about 50% in my comparisons depending on the variety. A lot of other factors involved and I still heavy prune a few varieties because of the disease factor sometimes dictates it.
Be careful what u throw in your compost regarding tomato plants. Ive seen too many gardeners at the end of the season add diseased plants to their compost piles that spread it everywhere the following season.
Those tomatoe plants look so healthy ❤
Been doing this for 9 years and it definitely produces more. Helps to manual pollinate while pruning.
Works for cucumbers also. By pruning some leaves (must have at least 6 leaves before removing one). I am overwhelmed by the flowers!!! I have never in my life seen so many babies.
3 years ago I watched how to grow tomatoes not leaves and I had beds of giant heriloom tomatoes. Some plants had 10-12 giants. So tickled over this and now I am using same technique on cucumbers but leaving more leaves.
This year is looking good!!!
Awesome! I have a couple tomatoes videos on my Tube too! I always grow giant tomatoe plants.
Wow that is such a great idea, thank you mam
“Pruned by an expert.” 😂
I had a few plants I let go wild last year. It was annoying because the fruits developed but would not ripen, ever. Finally, when I did a good prune, they started ripening almost immediately. I'm definitely staying on it this year, and I'm see the results!
I did the same exact thing and I'm at the same spot right now I just proved everything I hope everything ripens up where are you at? I'm in Central Florida
@@jasonlabrecque9908 I'm on the Texas coast so we're in a very similar if not the same growing zone. My first attempt, I tried growing them throughout the summer (like everyone and everything says) and figured out the hard way, that's impossible in our climate. Managed to just keep them all barely alive, but didn't get a single fruit until around November...then they started exploding with tomatoes. Same with cucumbers
@@haleyelizabeth8378 excellent exclamation point we are going to need food this year more than ever
I only trim the leaves that come in contact with the ground or what will in a few days. I also trim the late starting suckers that are below the bottom 6 inches of the main branches. 20 to 25 lbs per plant is average.
I leave a little more but it's a good idea to prune if you don't have a bunch of space. I leave a handful of sucker's, trim all the leaves down low off gradually as it grows and thin out the rest for airflow. When a plant is little it only has a few baby leave and they get plenty of energy. Having 10 to 15 full grown leaves on a plant is probably more than enough to support it.
never pruned my tomatoes plants and i always had the best yield. One time I cut my plant and it produce on 4 fruits and my plants usually produce 15 to 20
I been doing this for a long time but at some point i decide to leave leaf on cause thats where energy is produced, giving me the most fruit.
i only prune at the start when its starting to grow taller and put out new branches i pull off suckers for a bit and take off the branches close to the dirt. then i let it go wild. always get huge harvests
Ok.after watching this vdo and reading comments i have decide to plant 2 trees ,one i will prune like usuall and one i will do her way ,i will come back and report here the results😂❤.
Only a good idea if theyre packed close together. If it has 3 main stems youll get 3x more fruit.
Also if they're in a greenhouse.
Direct sun would burn all fruits
I definitely do this with my determinates. They create loads of unnecessary foliage.
I thought I just saw a video by you specifically saying not to do this. I have been letting more suckers go as per your suggestion this year. These plants are being grown in a protective high tunnel. Big difference.
NEver seen it like that, but i'll try it !!
I have been doing this but less intense. It worked great on my apartment balcony!
Well mostly correct but I believe the plant can’t survive without photosynthesis (turning sunlight into food for the plant)
That seems so counterintuitive as the fruit needs leaves for photosynthesis and the more branches you have, the more space for fruit to grow on.
It’s insane how many people could see this and think it’s correct. Lady is out of her mind
All the leaves: amd where do you think I direct the emergy?! *TO THE WHOLE PLANT* 😢😂
Im not trying to grow a few bigger tomatoes. Small tomatoes usually taste better. Just DON'T OVER FERTILIZE THEM WITH NITROGEN. Unless you like just big vines and very little fruit.
That greenhouse is bigger than my house
Easy to do with a greenhouse. They can be inexpensive, especially compared to a house
I use a similair technique for cannibis plants.
We call it " lollipopping" i find very effective if done correctly and know how to not over prune. I also prune in stages for less stress at one time
I believe in pruning, but a little bit at first like lower leaves etc but only this heavy pruning when fruit is on the vine and ripening is tge main priority
Thx U im going to try
Aren’t the leaves the ones that absorb light for the tomatoes?
For all plants, yes. Some leaves are needed for photosynthesis, otherwise the plant has no way of getting energy.
Why don't these plants have any fruits on them? I tried this a few years ago and was very unhappy with the results. Outdoors, S Dakota.
I did that this season and, unfortunately, did NOT work for me😢😢😢
I didn't get as many decease on my plants, but that was it❤😢
Good idea. Convert them to the wide big trees
I do the same thing and it works tremendously the plant isn't trying to water the excess leaves you cut off only the fruit
I have been doing this since watching your video.
Thank you. I will be doing this tomorrow
I would just use those cuttings to root multiple tomato plants 😂
Most comments acting like this is the first time this womans done this. Shes had results doing it, so for her situation it is obviously 'right'. Overall there is no right or wrong, grow how you enjoy growing
Plants don’t use energy to support leaves, it’s the other way around. The mature leaves are a source to generate sugars, starches, carbohydrates, and proteins that the plants use to produce flowers which turn into fruit. That’s basic 8th grade biology. It is wise to remove the lowest leaves below the lowest flower cluster but not much more than that unless your plant is stuck in a vegetative state. In that case some leaf pruning can be helpful but nothing as extreme as what’s shown in this video.
I think you're taking leaves off unnecessarily, you need them for sugars.
Do a comparison, don't prune the same clone and don't touch sucker's either. Let it climb as usual, feed the heck out of it water 💦 like crazy. 4x more fruit and sweeter with no cracking. 💥 Boom 🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅
What fertilizer and how often. I prune diseased leaves only. I agree with you. This seems like what the commercial growers maybe doing. This tomato are not tasty.
@@sharonstokes5214 I use different fertilizer for different strains, I also do 50% perlite with whatever else specifically peat. Organic teas in a 50 gallon 🛢️ oxygen absorbtion stones... Fish, Sea Bird & Bat Guano. Molasses, Sea Kelp. Miracle Grow has a organic micro nutrient I like.
My water is neutral here but if you start out with hot water 💦 by the next day, chlorine will gass off. Wait till it's warm before adding living fertilizer. Or you'll kill your essential mycorrhiza.
@@sharonstokes5214Agreed. Commercial industries need to make profit. But this is too much for gardening.
they also do it for airflow, making them less prone to disease
Wrong
Let nature micromanage herself. Annual Plants obviously want to have maximum fruits with maximum seeds.
He sounds so much better when he's reading from a teleprompter 😂
This is fine for commercial production where you want the tomatoes packed together so you focus on vertical growth. Don’t do this with back yard tomatoes! You’ll get way less fruit.
Zone 9b if I pruned this year my Tom’s would have cooked. Left them long hair don’t care and they provided tons of shade. Mainly the volunteers in the bed.
I literally went and planted two tomato plants in the ground for the first time this year, no soil extras, no crazy pruning, and I’ve picked 6 so far with about 7 or 8 still growing on the plants. It ain’t rocket science.
I’m pruning mine for the first time this year. I always let them grow wild before. But I don’t to it this much. Seems a bit over the top 😅
And if you did not know if any younger people are starting a tomatoe garden you pinch off the bottom leves so mo bugs can get on or to tomatoes rooting on the ground. And do grow them out in the sun and let them geow wild then prun back not all the time and not too close to each other or they wont do well and buy fellgo to keep them up right and not tight to where they can not move and you should be good.oh they say to pull the stems out when no more are bluming it dose something to the soil.
I guess people really enjoy eating leaves/stems. I'll have to try them! Yes, you leave some leaves, as she stated. Otherwise proper pruning helps direct the energy from the sun and NUTRIENTS FROM THE SOIL into the fruit, which is what I personally prefer to eat.
If this method doesn't work for you, outside at the equator, do what does work for you, for the varieties you grow, at your location. That doesn't make this method, for these varieties, at this location, in a greenhouse invalid. Some people have shorter growing seasons and don't have time to allow tomato plants to become a six foot tall unwieldy hedge before it decides its time to produce fruit. Sheesh, these comments. uUMm tHey NeEd LeaVEs fOr PhoTosYntHeSIs 🙄
Once a leaf is full size, it ADDS energy to the plant (from the sun) not takes it away.
In nature would this happen? Unless tomatoes are not natural to nature I’m confused why you do this. My grandma just let her plants go with no issues
I don't grow in a greenhouse, so it may be different, but if you're growing outside where I am this is completely wrong.
I even believe in leaving on the suckers as this leads to more fruit
If you leave suckers the plant stops growing upwards
@@HaleftHaut and that depends on exactly how you're growing them.
My tomatoes get so tall they're very difficult to stake, so I want more fruit lower down.
I do think that the 'suckers are bad' idea is the biggest myth in tomato growing.
Those suckers produce fruit!
But of course if your conditions mean you would rather have fruit higher on the plant then you may be right
Replant suckers for new plants
what energy are they directing i you've taken most of their leaves away.. ? I leave my plants to do their own thing.. get plenty plenty fruit.. plants like making fruits..
knowledge!
If you soak the leaves (or better yet make a ferment from them) and use the water to feed the plants I wonder how that would be compared to standard fertiliser?
I’m so tired of one expert saying leave the leaves on and another expert says take the leaves off. These plants look naked, which might be ok in a greenhouse but what if they’re in sunshine and it’s 95 degrees? Well then they tell me to cover them with a shade cloth.
Doesn't the amount you prune depend on whether you have a determinate or indeterminate variety of tomato plant?
I'll remove the bottom 2 or 3 suckers to keep them out of the soil.
That might work in a greenhouse but it won't work in a southern environment in full sun because the tomatoes will get sun scald. I prune mine but not to that extent because you need leaves to protect the tomatoes from the sun.
Now I need you to please make a video for the following. Bell Pepers cucumbers, squash and contender beans
You can't do that with Determinate varieties, right? I have sub artic plenty determinate variety. They are bushy like crazy, but read if you prune side branches you will not get much of a harvest. Is this true?
so the tops are enough for photosynthesis for the fruit?
Surely leaves are like little solar panels making energy for the plant to make tomatoes? I must try this and compare with one not pruned
Funny how quick “STOP doing X Y or Z” taglines just turn you off to whatever they are saying true or not
How do you determine which ones are the fruiting ones?
The fruiting ones have flowering trusses.
I never prune any leaves unless if they are touching the ground. In ordered for the plant to provide energy to fruit (nutrient). The plant need leaves to produce energy from sun( photosynthesis). If you prune then you need to supplement the plant with fertilizer or plant feed to direct energy to the fruit. If you prune then you need to add supplemental feed. any ways I am new to gardening but all the video that are talking about pruning doesn't talk about adding supplemental feed. If you want to grow them organically leave them alone.
you only prune the leaf when it shows signs of stress because if not its' still contributing to fotosynthesis.
Notice that this is in a high tunnel so don't do this unless you are growing in a high tunnel. And if you notice in the background the ventilation noise
The old school way is the best...I would never do this and I get loads of tomatoes. 😊
Depends what type of tomatoes you are growing
Yea I did this and killed off half of my plants this year.No bueno!
You look like my cousin Trisha. Thanks for the tip bug!! 😊
Please only do this if you are growing in a greenhouse. If it is outside, your tomatoes will get sun scalding
Well, are they an indeterminate variety? That makes a difference. Looks to me like lots of branches that would have had flowers were cut off. I clicked the comments to see who else thought this lady
was wrong.
Great tips. Thankyou.
Never trust anyone this clean
I’ve heard both prune and not prune. What if you prune half and not prune the other half, keep everything else the same and count the number of tomatoes that come off the plants? Let us know.
You don’t need to trim branches off of your tomato plant. Weird. Just support them to grow upward with a good fertiliser
Nope, not in VA. I tried this for 3 years and got the worst harvests in my 10 years if growing. Back to no pruning this year and I am canning constantly and giving away bowls of fruit.