I stumbled upon you watching "Epic Garden"!! I have been pruning my tomatoes all wrong!! Thanks for the help & yes, I Subbed & turned on notifications 😊❤
I was pruning today. I can't bear to toss the larger suckers I always pot them and most of the time they take. I end up giving away tomato plants every year.
Scott, nice video, there are two things I want to say to add to what you said and that is first of all pruning the sucker does NOT produce more fruit, it produces less fruit but they are larger fruit and all those suckers that are pruned off can be stuck in a pot of potting mix and they will produce an entirely new tomato plant that can either go in garden or be given away or could even be extra income for those who may want to sell them. Happy Gardening!
I've watched a half dozen or more videos about pruning tomatoes and yours made more sense than all others combined. Thank you for such a great informative and instructional video.
I’m glad you posted this video. I’m also doing the single stem method but I have a few plants that have like a double stem. One to a thick two. You just chose one and cut the other. Guess that’s what I need to do. One good thing is I have a friend that will love these large suckers. Cherokee purple, green giant, yellow pear and a Dr . Wyches. Scott always great content. 🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I tend to let tomatoes bush out a little to two or three stems, but not until Im about a foot off the soil. I only start two or three plants. I let the first suckers get to about 5 or six inches. I then cut them off and put them in water for about a week to root to make clones. Then plant the clones. I do this for the first month until I have all the plants I want. This lets me stagger the harvest a little.
@@TheBrianCloud Your welcome. One thing I didnt mention is you may need to cut down the leaves on the clones before putting them in water if they are real big and have two or three levels. Its hard for the plant to support that many in water. Two small levels at most, just the top group of leaves is usually best.
It doesn't pain me to prune sucker because i stick them in pots and grow on more tomato plants for successtion plantings or to over winter or to give away or to sell.
Thank you so very much, I just started this method and wanted to make sure I was doing things right, your instructions were very easy to follow, I’m excited to see how things go.
I'm so glad you started this. I've heard of this method but have not really seen it step by step. I'm especially interested in how you said you can lower the tomatoes so the lower vine can be on the ground as the plant gets taller. Can't wait to see more! And your garden looks wonderful!
Lol I was literally out at my garden looking at my 20 tomato plants and thinking I’m going to be pruning a lot this season. Then I look at my phone and have an alert of your video lol. Perfect timing. Thank you!!!
Hi Scott u talked about the slimy bugs ruining the plants, when I was growing food I heard how to get rid of them! Put a cup or cups of Beer in your garden or by the plants or around the whole garden. They will die in the cup they will crawl in it and die. Happy Gardening
I'm trying this method with my indeterminates this year as well. It's been fun following along and comparing. I'm over in Austin, and you're a couple weeks ahead of me, but I'm catching up! Keep the updates coming with this project!
Yes, I am t ring this again as well, however, do no use this on your determinates. As you will cripple your crop ! This method is for climbers only... indeterminates.
Thanks for sharing. I'm trying to be patient as I wait for our tomatoes to go outside. Today I uppotted and separated the babies like you showed on another video .Valuable information. Thank you for sharing that too. Happy gardening
I love the single stem method it really makes it cleaner to get at them not so crazy jungle like but I don't have your trellis set up and sure wish I could set up like that ,I have rebar and then attache a large bamboo to that for more height so it's strong but 20 piece of rebar and bamboo is a good construction set up and yours is stream lined .
WOW...YOUR TOMATOES HAVE GROWN SO MUCH after the freeze and you put them out. Boy time flies, mine are babies compared to all of yours we do have a few flowers now and I can’t wait either. But my # squash is doing well, can’t wait to take a pic of it when it has a baby and male leaves too.
Wow I can’t believe how fast your tomato plants grew!👏 I trim/prune the tips of the leaf branch as well to condense the plant even more to a single stem. Keeping the wings shorter has worked great
I’m going to try that, Scott. I have tomatoes in large containers, and it’s always been a problem with them spreading out and over the container. This sounds like a good solution. Thank you!
@@workinprogress3609 - Wow!! You have a bunch of tomatoes!! I only have 9 tomato plants! But, my sunny space is limited in the back yard. I’ll be anxious to see how yours turn out, as well.
@@judyabernathy80 Me, too. I'm a nervous wreck. I didn't mean to have that many, but it was a Sophie's Choice kind of situation when all my seeds germinated. How could I let any of them die?!!!!!
This really helped w growing tomatoes for the first time as beginner gardener.. my tomatoes are already giving fruits but they look crazy because I wasn’t educated on the pruning.. hoping it isn’t too late
Thank for the info. I have always used nice sturdy cages, some are the expensive heavy duty folding kind and some are cattle fencing, homemade. Both do an excellent job. But I don't have enough. I have been wanting to see this method demonstrated. You did a great informative demo. I will be following along for the rest of the demo. Thanks again..Here in Indiana we will be planting g our tomatoes around May 1st to the 15th.
In your next one can you show real quick the top how you have it set up so I can see how you move the hooks at the top? I have another 2 or 3 weeks before I really need to worry about construction but I want to make sure I got the tippy top part right!
SCOTT, How one does the lower and lean / move the vine over process? Not how the trellis itself is set up? Is that what you mean Jujube? I know I have struggled with that process.
Large suckers can be placed in damp sand to root. I set those outside my garden to grow wild near the woods and get plenty extra from them. Why not have a free extra 5 or 10 tomatoes per plant. I also remove lower leaves up to a foot off the soil surface to stop blight.
It's hard to wrap my mind around this...my tomatoes are just getting their first true leaves under the grow lights indoors here in the northeast with the chilling coastal winds! 😂
Last summer. Just before it started to get hot. I took white row cover . And put my tomatoes in the shade for the rest of the summer, and early fall. They never wilted down during the hot days. And I had tomatoes into Sept. First time. That has happened for me.
I really want to try that method, so I'm watching you go first this year. Meanwhile we built a 'terrace' over our tomato bed using some fencing we had on hand. I'm training them up a single stem until they get to the top, then they'll go through the fencing material and then flop down, supported by the fencing. At least in theory.
That works. Just have to keep the leafing stems managed when the latter part of the season is bulking up the plants. Need to keep that air flow and light penetration. Should be awesome!
Hi Scott, nice tomatoes you have. One question tho, not all tomatoes get this treatment right? Like what you do with cherry, and yellow pear? Just wondering.
Great info thanks so much for the video definitely going to try that this Spring/summer. I noticed that you don’t anchor the stream he just tie it to the bottom of the plant when you’re starting that works good for you? I know a lot of people anchor the bottom Thanks again for video
Your tomatoes look amazing, curious if any of your seedlIng transplants survived through the process, and if so which, or what you chose to plant out instead?
Yes, these are the seedlings I started, I had three varieties to grow in this bed. All hybrids. I managed to grow 2 varieties in good health - Edox and Big Beef. The Granadero was the one that suffered from the lack of light during the freeze and power outage. Those were the ones I showed. Because you all encouraged me to give them a little TLC, I potted up six of them in larger pots, fertilized, and they look good now. I'll be using them to demo potting tomatoes in pots in the near future. :-)
Two questions, Scott. 1. Do you use this same method for all types of tomatoes, i.e. cherry tomato, grape tomato, "full- sized", etc.? 2. My bed is 4 x 4. How would I lean and lower in a square shape bed? Your long rectangular tomato bed seems logical for this method, not sure what pattern my trellis would follow in a square in which I will have probably three rows of tomatoes. Would I kind of go in an "s" pattern?
Same method, (called leaning and lowering) , I just use black clips (simular to the white ones). I am not sure about the number "12" for the amount of leaves to leave on a plant, but i have found that after the plants get to growing you can just wind the string around the plant (clockwise or counter-clockwise) the same direction each time. you can alternate between using the clips or just winding the string around the plant . regardless, the plant will be gettting taller. I just remove the bottom leaves maybe one or two at a time. you can use the clip from the bottom and move it to the top. Thus saving the amount of clips you use. The Black clips can be used year after year. The plant will be very flexable just let it wind around in a circle. I have been in Greenhouses where the vine has been rolled up for years and years. That takes a lot of Love and Attenstion, long with a controlled temperature. One more thing avoid placing the clip just below or around the limb that has the flowers and or tomatoes on it.
Do you have any plans to do a video on fertilizing tomatoes? Last year I only used Trifecta+ and can't find any. Looks like I am going to have to learn some new tricks!
I just use the compost I lay on top of the beds for long term nutrition. For regular feeding I’ll use fish emulsion or Neptune’s Harvest liquid tomato fertilizer. Maybe once every 3-4 weeks.
I’m up in Kingwood and have been enjoying your videos since discovering you last year. Can you please share what kind of fine pruning shears you are using here? Thanks so much! 🤔
I learned this technique only this past summer, and yes indeed. Raising single leader summer squash of all varieties maximized my yield beyond my wildest dreams. A "container pattypan" variety with six in-ground plants yielded 80 lbs of fruit!!!!
Very interesting. I always wondered if i could plant closer some how if we trim them. I dont was to use cages because i feel it takes up a lot of space. I want to make the most of my space even if I do get a lot of land one day. I want to do the string method but i dont know if i can. I have two small rows 5 different tomatoes. If i wasnt renting i would have done more. I may just 8ft polls for them to climb up if i cant lol. How much closer are you able to plant them if you plan on trimming them?
I planted about 18-20 inches apart here. If I was growing more than one vine per plant, I would give them 36 inches. When I did closer spacing in the past, I had too much density.
@@ScottHead that really saves some space. Im hoping after a years i can buy some land and have more to grow. Happy so far havent had problems with to man bugs, mostly squirrels looking for nuts and such. I ended up coving some with netting and that help. Just got some potatoes out of my garden and some newer ones still growing. I was wondering, if you know, when you Harvest potatoes from the plant, will the plant completely die or will more potatoes start to grow? It may sound like a stupid a question but i know all plants are different.
Off topic a little but would you be so kind as to address pruning fruit trees that may be a little older! I recently lost my husband and moved to a small house on an acre in South Georgia. I’m trying to turn it into a little hobby homestead. There are pear trees, fig trees and plum trees. I like your idea of keeping them controlled in size but I’m not sure it it would harm the trees at their age. The plum trees are smaller but the pear tree is about two stories high and the go tree is about one story high and very densely over grown. Everything here has been neglected for years and I would like to get the fruit trees back in shape and add to them.
It will work the best of all the methods in high winds... the kicker will be how well you out your t posts in... if you put them in deep...you should fair well! They sway with rhe wind!
Im limited on my garden this year since im having some major construction happening in my backyard, so I'm trying to do my tomatoes in 7 gallon grow bags. I'm torn between doing the string with the t posts or the cattle panels on t posts. they still aren't even half the size of yours yet and im hoping the construction will be done in my backyard in the next 3 weeks or so. any advice?
@@lovecatspiracy thats what im going between. because i already have some cattle panel fencing that i can use if need be, so both situations would just require me buying t posts. i know with the single vines, they can go closer together which means more plants are able to grow (which i have about 20) so I'm thinking the string may be better, but both are going to cost me the price of t posts.
@@thatjerseyb as i see it, the benefit of string growing is that you reserve some string at the top to let down the single vine leader. I haven't tried this technique yet, last summer was my first foray into single vine pruning. But i did observe how efficacious it would be if i had! So this year i will attempt the string method where you let the vine down to coil closer to the ground to allow the leader to continue upwards. I hope you will share your experiments, too, do you vlog here on yt? I do, lamely lol blessings
@@lovecatspiracy Im going to give it a shot. currently im using the cattle panel fencing for something else and not sure how im going to configure things just yet. just looking for some insight from others who have done all this already. no i don't vlog or anything. just use my social media for 'pinterest type' activites lol
The string trellis method can be cheap if you can source materials by scrounging a bit. If there is construction going on, maybe there is a scrap pile and you could build the string supports from wood or rebar.
I use two pruners. This one for smaller tasks: smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B002WGINNG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 And this one for larger tasks: smile.amazon.com/Felco-F-2-Classic-Manual-Pruner/dp/B00023RYS6/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=pruners&qid=1621955019&sr=8-6
Thanks for taking the time to post informative videos. There’s so many folks who claim to be trying to post videos to help viewers, but always seem to be trying to peddle something via bogus favorable reviews & a code from a distributor, or just posting nonsense videos to get views for monetary reasons. Your channel is the real deal and I’ve sent a plethora of folks here just for that very reason. Kudos to you, Scott! Speaking of selling something, 😆 where do you order your tomato clips?
I planted my tomatoes today and they look pretty bad right now. I will never use peat pellets again. Even with giving them fert they look terrible. You can turn some of those suckers you cut off into clones. Just put it in water until they root.
I think this is the method that "Hot Houses" produce mega amounts of tomatoes. The vines can get 20+ feet long and possibly longer with climate contol.
"Gotta prune yr plants / Gotta fight that apical dominance" -- David the Good, "Prune your fruit trees like a psychopath" yt video Btw, put your suckers in a jar of water, and you've got rooted clones. Free tomato bushes 4evahhhhhhh
Must be the one you were talking about. Beautiful plants! Take care.
Just the pruning information I was looking for, thanks for the video!
Very helpful information Scott. Thanks for sharing.
I stumbled upon you watching "Epic Garden"!! I have been pruning my tomatoes all wrong!! Thanks for the help & yes, I Subbed & turned on notifications 😊❤
I was pruning today. I can't bear to toss the larger suckers I always pot them and most of the time they take. I end up giving away tomato plants every year.
I’m watching this totally blown away by the green... my ground is still snow 😅😫 I’m up for adoption if anyone wants me in a warming climate
Yeah I hear that! Foothills Alberta here....still waiting for the brown dust to go away 😂
He’s just 3 hours south of me and his tomatoes are at least a month ahead of mine!
I'll be watching. Trying this next year.
Scott, nice video, there are two things I want to say to add to what you said and that is first of all pruning the sucker does NOT produce more fruit, it produces less fruit but they are larger fruit and all those suckers that are pruned off can be stuck in a pot of potting mix and they will produce an entirely new tomato plant that can either go in garden or be given away or could even be extra income for those who may want to sell them. Happy Gardening!
Thanks for this! It was extremely helpful and everything was described very well.
I've watched a half dozen or more videos about pruning tomatoes and yours made more sense than all others combined. Thank you for such a great informative and instructional video.
I’m glad you posted this video. I’m also doing the single stem method but I have a few plants that have like a double stem. One to a thick two. You just chose one and cut the other. Guess that’s what I need to do. One good thing is I have a friend that will love these large suckers. Cherokee purple, green giant, yellow pear and a Dr . Wyches. Scott always great content. 🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I tend to let tomatoes bush out a little to two or three stems, but not until Im about a foot off the soil. I only start two or three plants. I let the first suckers get to about 5 or six inches. I then cut them off and put them in water for about a week to root to make clones. Then plant the clones. I do this for the first month until I have all the plants I want. This lets me stagger the harvest a little.
I was actually just about to ask about this!! Thanks for the info!!
@@TheBrianCloud Your welcome. One thing I didnt mention is you may need to cut down the leaves on the clones before putting them in water if they are real big and have two or three levels. Its hard for the plant to support that many in water. Two small levels at most, just the top group of leaves is usually best.
Your tomato plants looking good, Scott, thank you for sharing!
cute baby 'maters!
Tomato nerdy! Heck yeah! Will be waiting for the next installment, fer sure!
oh so those baby tomatoes are so cute. I can't wait to get my garden started. I have several varieties of tomatoes started ....another 3 weeks 😊👩🏽🌾💖💖
Thanks for making this video as I’m a first year gardener and I need all the help I can get. 👍🏾
scott great pruning advise and i must say those plants look great..
JOHN
It is astounding how fast a sucker can grow and get away from you. Happens to me all the time. So painful to prune them. 🤠
You know it! People are amazed how far along my tomatoes are. I can only imagine how much amazement you get being ahead of me way down south!
It doesn't pain me to prune sucker because i stick them in pots and grow on more tomato plants for successtion plantings or to over winter or to give away or to sell.
Scott, your ruthless with the cuttings. Not nerdy at all, good stuff.
Pruning tomatoes already! Wow, *I'm the Tomato King* just you wait and see!! Looking good 👍 love your trellises!
Ikr! I just up potted mine lol
@@MickenzieL Really though!! Lol
Your tomatoes look very strong, I do grow them but in a pot.thanks for sharing about pruning
Looking forward to seeing how this method works for ya! Very cool 😎
Me too! And what varieties he is using for this!! As I am just a bit North and West of him.
Thank you so very much, I just started this method and wanted to make sure I was doing things right, your instructions were very easy to follow, I’m excited to see how things go.
I'm so glad you started this. I've heard of this method but have not really seen it step by step. I'm especially interested in how you said you can lower the tomatoes so the lower vine can be on the ground as the plant gets taller. Can't wait to see more! And your garden looks wonderful!
Lol I was literally out at my garden looking at my 20 tomato plants and thinking I’m going to be pruning a lot this season. Then I look at my phone and have an alert of your video lol. Perfect timing. Thank you!!!
Very helpful video & information. I would make sure that I put the clamps ,under a leafing vine & not under the fruit stem.
Nice job!! 🍅
I’ve never done this before but I think I’ll choose one of my tomato plants and do it this way.
Hi Scott u talked about the slimy bugs ruining the plants, when I was growing food I heard how to get rid of them!
Put a cup or cups of Beer in your garden or by the plants or around the whole garden.
They will die in the cup they will crawl in it and die.
Happy Gardening
I'm trying this method with my indeterminates this year as well. It's been fun following along and comparing. I'm over in Austin, and you're a couple weeks ahead of me, but I'm catching up!
Keep the updates coming with this project!
Yes, I am t ring this again as well, however, do no use this on your determinates. As you will cripple your crop ! This method is for climbers only... indeterminates.
Or if you want to contain your semi determinate to a limited range of height/ space.
@@Katydidit Yep, indeterminate only, all my determinates are in cages.
Great detail! I have been container gardening for quite some time. I intend to use your advice and be much more vigilant in my tomato pruning. Thanks!
You got me wanting to get to growing soo bad!! May 10th for me, maybe a little later....
Thanks for sharing. I'm trying to be patient as I wait for our tomatoes to go outside. Today I uppotted and separated the babies like you showed on another video .Valuable information. Thank you for sharing that too. Happy gardening
Thanks for sharing. I will be doing this.
I learned about tomatoes from your videos last year and I’ve had great success with them ever since 🤗 thanks for sharing
I love the single stem method it really makes it cleaner to get at them not so crazy jungle like but I don't have your trellis set up and sure wish I could set up like that ,I have rebar and then attache a large bamboo to that for more height so it's strong but 20 piece of rebar and bamboo is a good construction set up and yours is stream lined .
Looks like an awesome method
WOW...YOUR TOMATOES HAVE GROWN SO MUCH after the freeze and you put them out. Boy time flies, mine are babies compared to all of yours we do have a few flowers now and I can’t wait either. But my # squash is doing well, can’t wait to take a pic of it when it has a baby and male leaves too.
Your tomatoes look so rich green where I live it's almost I to start going to use your ideas Thank you so much
Thanks for sharing!!
I am doing mine this way this year also here in San Bernardino. Love your channel! Keep up the good videos!
I love the trellises. Yes pruning tomatoes is hard to do. I don’t like it but that’s my job every year. God bless y’all Scott.
Wow I can’t believe how fast your tomato plants grew!👏 I trim/prune the tips of the leaf branch as well to condense the plant even more to a single stem. Keeping the wings shorter has worked great
I'm trying this method of training my tomatoes up twine! Still waiting to plant them. It's a little to cold here in Cleveland, OH!
Great information laid out perfectly!
I’m going to try that, Scott. I have tomatoes in large containers, and it’s always been a problem with them spreading out and over the container. This sounds like a good solution. Thank you!
I have approx. 45 tomato plants in planters. I'm trying this trellis method. I have three rows of 14 to 15 plants.
@@workinprogress3609 - Wow!! You have a bunch of tomatoes!! I only have 9 tomato plants! But, my sunny space is limited in the back yard. I’ll be anxious to see how yours turn out, as well.
@@judyabernathy80 Me, too. I'm a nervous wreck. I didn't mean to have that many, but it was a Sophie's Choice kind of situation when all my seeds germinated. How could I let any of them die?!!!!!
@@workinprogress3609 - oh you couldn’t let them die!! Now you will have plenty to share!!
I'll try this next year. My tomato plants are huge right now
This really helped w growing tomatoes for the first time as beginner gardener.. my tomatoes are already giving fruits but they look crazy because I wasn’t educated on the pruning.. hoping it isn’t too late
Thank for the info. I have always used nice sturdy cages, some are the expensive heavy duty folding kind and some are cattle fencing, homemade. Both do an excellent job. But I don't have enough. I have been wanting to see this method demonstrated. You did a great informative demo. I will be following along for the rest of the demo. Thanks again..Here in Indiana we will be planting g our tomatoes around May 1st to the 15th.
In your next one can you show real quick the top how you have it set up so I can see how you move the hooks at the top? I have another 2 or 3 weeks before I really need to worry about construction but I want to make sure I got the tippy top part right!
Here's how it was made: th-cam.com/video/F0ZM4caRPog/w-d-xo.html
SCOTT, How one does the lower and lean / move the vine over process? Not how the trellis itself is set up? Is that what you mean Jujube? I know I have struggled with that process.
@@Katydidit you just unhook the string at top...lower it some string and move over to the hook...
Wow! Beautiful plants!
Large suckers can be placed in damp sand to root. I set those outside my garden to grow wild near the woods and get plenty extra from them. Why not have a free extra 5 or 10 tomatoes per plant. I also remove lower leaves up to a foot off the soil surface to stop blight.
No room for more, already have other plants.
It's hard to wrap my mind around this...my tomatoes are just getting their first true leaves under the grow lights indoors here in the northeast with the chilling coastal winds! 😂
If you weren't in Texas I'd like to see you grow that "fragrant flowering cane". Just to see how it goes.
Last summer. Just before it started to get hot. I took white row cover . And put my tomatoes in the shade for the rest of the summer, and early fall. They never wilted down during the hot days. And I had tomatoes into Sept. First time. That has happened for me.
I really want to try that method, so I'm watching you go first this year. Meanwhile we built a 'terrace' over our tomato bed using some fencing we had on hand. I'm training them up a single stem until they get to the top, then they'll go through the fencing material and then flop down, supported by the fencing. At least in theory.
That works. Just have to keep the leafing stems managed when the latter part of the season is bulking up the plants. Need to keep that air flow and light penetration. Should be awesome!
I have learned so much from your channel. Have you ever rooted the larger suckers to form another cloned tomato plant?
Yes, I've rooted suckers, but I'm already too overwhelmed with the tomatoes I have.
Thank you
You're welcome
I actually just pruned my watermelons this way. 👍
I was just out in the rain doing the same thing with my roma tomatoes
Awesome
Hi Scott, nice tomatoes you have. One question tho, not all tomatoes get this treatment right? Like what you do with cherry, and yellow pear? Just wondering.
I am trying it with cherries AND big tomatoes. We shall see.
So, may I ask, do you fertilize these beautiful plants? Or is it just good soil and beautiful Texas sunshine?
I fertilize once a month with Neptune's Harvest liquid feed or Fish Emulsion.
Great video Scott. What type of clippers do you have and where did you get it?
smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B002WGINNG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
@@ScottHead Thank you Sir. Keep up the good work.
Thank you for posting Amazon link for shears. I just ordered me a pair. 😊
Great info thanks so much for the video definitely going to try that this Spring/summer. I noticed that you don’t anchor the stream he just tie it to the bottom of the plant when you’re starting that works good for you? I know a lot of people anchor the bottom Thanks again for video
No the plant serves as the anchor.
What brand of clippers used and where purchased..enjoying your videos..thank you for sharing.
Amazon, no name brand. Just search trellis clips.
Thanks for sharing! Quick question, do you ever propagate and plant the suckers?
I have in the past but I have so many plants there's no need and no room.
Where you get the butternut squash seeds!!
Thx in advance
www.southernexposure.com/products/south-anna-butternut-winter-squash/
Your tomatoes look amazing, curious if any of your seedlIng transplants survived through the process, and if so which, or what you chose to plant out instead?
Just curious as I know some of us encouraged you to give them a shot at life...
Yes, these are the seedlings I started, I had three varieties to grow in this bed. All hybrids. I managed to grow 2 varieties in good health - Edox and Big Beef. The Granadero was the one that suffered from the lack of light during the freeze and power outage. Those were the ones I showed. Because you all encouraged me to give them a little TLC, I potted up six of them in larger pots, fertilized, and they look good now. I'll be using them to demo potting tomatoes in pots in the near future. :-)
Two questions, Scott. 1. Do you use this same method for all types of tomatoes, i.e. cherry tomato, grape tomato, "full- sized", etc.? 2. My bed is 4 x 4. How would I lean and lower in a square shape bed? Your long rectangular tomato bed seems logical for this method, not sure what pattern my trellis would follow in a square in which I will have probably three rows of tomatoes. Would I kind of go in an "s" pattern?
I'm trying with cherries and beefsteaks, so we will see how it works. I'd just lean in a square garden from corner to corner.
Same method, (called leaning and lowering) , I just use black clips (simular to the white ones). I am not sure about the number "12" for the amount of leaves to leave on a plant, but i have found that after the plants get to growing you can just wind the string around the plant (clockwise or counter-clockwise) the same direction each time. you can alternate between using the clips or just winding the string around the plant . regardless, the plant will be gettting taller. I just remove the bottom leaves maybe one or two at a time. you can use the clip from the bottom and move it to the top. Thus saving the amount of clips you use. The Black clips can be used year after year. The plant will be very flexable just let it wind around in a circle. I have been in Greenhouses where the vine has been rolled up for years and years. That takes a lot of Love and Attenstion, long with a controlled temperature. One more thing avoid placing the clip just below or around the limb that has the flowers and or tomatoes on it.
Do you have any plans to do a video on fertilizing tomatoes? Last year I only used Trifecta+ and can't find any. Looks like I am going to have to learn some new tricks!
I just use the compost I lay on top of the beds for long term nutrition. For regular feeding I’ll use fish emulsion or Neptune’s Harvest liquid tomato fertilizer. Maybe once every 3-4 weeks.
I’m up in Kingwood and have been enjoying your videos since discovering you last year. Can you please share what kind of fine pruning shears you are using here? Thanks so much! 🤔
smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B002WGINNG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Thanks ~ ordered up! I have a horrible habit of accidentally throwing my shears away, I think, as they are all disappearing...
Can you do the one line trellis for cucumbers, squash and zucchini?
I learned this technique only this past summer, and yes indeed. Raising single leader summer squash of all varieties maximized my yield beyond my wildest dreams. A "container pattypan" variety with six in-ground plants yielded 80 lbs of fruit!!!!
Like love cat said, yes, most vining plants respond well to single leader pruning.
@@ScottHead love watching your channel. Keep up the great work!
Can you do a update on your bee houses?
They have not yet emerged, when they do, I'll update.
Yes, please, as I am also quite curious ... as my leafcutter bees have not yet arrived!!
Very interesting. I always wondered if i could plant closer some how if we trim them. I dont was to use cages because i feel it takes up a lot of space. I want to make the most of my space even if I do get a lot of land one day. I want to do the string method but i dont know if i can. I have two small rows 5 different tomatoes. If i wasnt renting i would have done more. I may just 8ft polls for them to climb up if i cant lol. How much closer are you able to plant them if you plan on trimming them?
I planted about 18-20 inches apart here. If I was growing more than one vine per plant, I would give them 36 inches. When I did closer spacing in the past, I had too much density.
@@ScottHead that really saves some space. Im hoping after a years i can buy some land and have more to grow. Happy so far havent had problems with to man bugs, mostly squirrels looking for nuts and such. I ended up coving some with netting and that help. Just got some potatoes out of my garden and some newer ones still growing. I was wondering, if you know, when you Harvest potatoes from the plant, will the plant completely die or will more potatoes start to grow? It may sound like a stupid a question but i know all plants are different.
I'm trying this out with you this year. I go out and pinch suckers everyday, and everyday I find one I missed.
What do you use to feed your tomatoes?
Neptunes Harvest or fish emulsion once a month. plus compost that was sheet mulched over the bed.
Scott, do you prune both determinate and indeterminate? Thanks
On determinates I only open up the plant for air flow, but don't cut off the suckers.
Does this work on Cherry tomatoes and big slicers both?
Works best with trussing cherries, but I have some big beefs and brandywines in there to see how they do. Stay tuned.
Off topic a little but would you be so kind as to address pruning fruit trees that may be a little older! I recently lost my husband and moved to a small house on an acre in South Georgia. I’m trying to turn it into a little hobby homestead. There are pear trees, fig trees and plum trees. I like your idea of keeping them controlled in size but I’m not sure it it would harm the trees at their age. The plum trees are smaller but the pear tree is about two stories high and the go tree is about one story high and very densely over grown. Everything here has been neglected for years and I would like to get the fruit trees back in shape and add to them.
Hmm, check out this channel where there may be content already for your issues: th-cam.com/video/P2cxoy37i84/w-d-xo.html
Are you using dried leaves as a mulch?
Yes, oak leaves mixed with grass clippings.
I think a sucker got forgotten and now I have two large vines. Is it safe to trim it at any point?
You can chop it or leave it, One or two vines, up to you.
Bro. Scott. Wonder if anybody has planted Tomatoes, and Clover together?
I never have, what benefit are you thinking it would have? Nitrogen fixation?
@@ScottHead Right. Nitrogen.
How well does this method work in high winds like 30 and gusts of 60mph.
It will work the best of all the methods in high winds... the kicker will be how well you out your t posts in... if you put them in deep...you should fair well! They sway with rhe wind!
They can tolerate wind because they are kept skinny and less bushy. Not sure about 60mph and hope I don't have to find out this year.
Hi, sorry for the stupid question, but do the suckers give flowers?
Yes, they will eventually. They are basically a whole new plant.
@@ScottHead thank you 💚
Where can I find nice clips like you have there?
Search trellis clips on Amazon, they come in huge bags.
@@ScottHead Found them! Can never thank you enough!
Im limited on my garden this year since im having some major construction happening in my backyard, so I'm trying to do my tomatoes in 7 gallon grow bags. I'm torn between doing the string with the t posts or the cattle panels on t posts. they still aren't even half the size of yours yet and im hoping the construction will be done in my backyard in the next 3 weeks or so. any advice?
If you are doing single vines, do the cheaper. If growing bushes, do the sturdier
@@lovecatspiracy thats what im going between. because i already have some cattle panel fencing that i can use if need be, so both situations would just require me buying t posts. i know with the single vines, they can go closer together which means more plants are able to grow (which i have about 20) so I'm thinking the string may be better, but both are going to cost me the price of t posts.
@@thatjerseyb as i see it, the benefit of string growing is that you reserve some string at the top to let down the single vine leader. I haven't tried this technique yet, last summer was my first foray into single vine pruning. But i did observe how efficacious it would be if i had! So this year i will attempt the string method where you let the vine down to coil closer to the ground to allow the leader to continue upwards. I hope you will share your experiments, too, do you vlog here on yt? I do, lamely lol blessings
@@lovecatspiracy Im going to give it a shot. currently im using the cattle panel fencing for something else and not sure how im going to configure things just yet. just looking for some insight from others who have done all this already. no i don't vlog or anything. just use my social media for 'pinterest type' activites lol
The string trellis method can be cheap if you can source materials by scrounging a bit. If there is construction going on, maybe there is a scrap pile and you could build the string supports from wood or rebar.
What kind of pruners are those?
I use two pruners. This one for smaller tasks:
smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B002WGINNG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
And this one for larger tasks:
smile.amazon.com/Felco-F-2-Classic-Manual-Pruner/dp/B00023RYS6/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=pruners&qid=1621955019&sr=8-6
Thanks for taking the time to post informative videos. There’s so many folks who claim to be trying to post videos to help viewers, but always seem to be trying to peddle something via bogus favorable reviews & a code from a distributor, or just posting nonsense videos to get views for monetary reasons. Your channel is the real deal and I’ve sent a plethora of folks here just for that very reason. Kudos to you, Scott! Speaking of selling something, 😆 where do you order your tomato clips?
Just search trellis clips on Amazon, they are plentiful and cheap. No name brands, they are all pretty much the same.
i'm first
I call those sucker spaces arm pits 🤣
pruned mine today, I'm a novice gardener and having to prune my tomatoes hurt me more than anything..LOL
I planted my tomatoes today and they look pretty bad right now. I will never use peat pellets again. Even with giving them fert they look terrible. You can turn some of those suckers you cut off into clones. Just put it in water until they root.
My tomato plants are wee babes compared to yours. Looking great!! 😂
My tomatoes are only about 3” tall
Tell people that you can grow new plants from the prunings as the stem can grow roots at any point.
I think this is the method that "Hot Houses" produce mega amounts of tomatoes. The vines can get 20+ feet long and possibly longer with climate contol.
Yes, exactly the same method, just mt trellis is a lot shorter.
Do you prune your determinate tomatoes as well?
Only for air flow and to remove yellow leaves. I keep the leafy foliage up off the soil.
"Gotta prune yr plants / Gotta fight that apical dominance" -- David the Good, "Prune your fruit trees like a psychopath" yt video
Btw, put your suckers in a jar of water, and you've got rooted clones. Free tomato bushes 4evahhhhhhh
put the healthy cutting and make more plants