Pruning Tomatoes

            I never knew it was done until last year. There are determinate tomatoes, indeterminate tomatoes and mixtures. Determinate tomato plants grow to a certain size then stop. Indeterminate plants keep growing into large bushes that fall over and need cages to prop them up. Mixtures do both.

            My “Early Girl” plant is living up to its name. It is already a large plant needing a cage to keep it upright. There are a half dozen or so tomatoes growing on it already. Last year this same variety grew and grew until it lopped over the neighbor’s fence. Not this year.

            The problem with just letting them grow is that the plant uses a lot of energy to do it. That energy could be going into bigger, better tomatoes. The suckers, shoots that grow from the branches and often fruit, can become so numerous that it is hard to find the ripening tomatoes.

Indeterminate plants need to be planned out a bit. There are many gardeners with lots of space that allow their tomato plants to grow all they want. They do require a lot of water and space as they get bigger, but if that is not a problem, go for it. You will have to search for those tomatoes, though, in the giant plant ball that ensues.

If you have a small space, there are two options. You can keep the indeterminate plant trimmed up (a job that requires daily inspection in the warmer months). Or you can buy a determinate plant usually noted as a “bush variety” on the packaging.

Below are a couple of websites I have found dealing with tomatoes. Check them out. By the way, it is not remotely too late to get some plants in the ground. Go to your local nursery this weekend and get started.

WeekendGardener

Tomatofest