subject: Tomato Growing Tips On Why You Should Prune [print this page] The very reason why a gardener prunes his plant is that he wants to direct the plant's energy towards producing fruits rather than producing more foliage. This is also the very reason why one should prune his tomato plant. But that's not all that, pruning your tomato plant also protects your plants against pests and disease carrying organism aside from giving you bigger or larger fruits.
Pruning properly your tomato plants means directing energy or being able to give adequate sunlight to all the foliages. As a result, the plant efficiently photosynthesizes and produces fruits that are larger and better in quality compared to those that are not pruned. But pruning can actually be unnecessary especially if your tomato variety is determinate. Determinate varieties ripen its fruits all together and do not give way to new fruits.
Pruning is actually the art of taking out the tomato suckers. These tomato suckers grow in between the main stem and the branches. These suckers when fully developed grow into branches. Then the cycle on branch-foliage-fruit continues. This will then result to an overpopulated tomato plant that shall quickly outgrow its space. Allowing your foliages or suckers to mature means letting it develop fruits as many as possible until the main stem is no longer capable of carrying the weight of your tomato plant's fruits. The branches with abundant fruits may snap or break thus touching the ground. And everyone of us knows that letting the fruits (specifically) touch the ground is the major source of disease causing bacteria and insects.
Pruning is simply done by pinching off the suckers with the fingers. If the suckers are already large, it would be wise to use a clean pair of pruners. Make sure that you disinfect your pruners well before using to protect your plant from acquiring diseases. When you prune, it is very much similar to designing the ideal look of your tomato plant. You simply work it through towards your desired appearance. You just have to take away the unwanted parts or suckers as you visualize how your plant would emerge.
When you prune, it doesn't mean that you just take all the suckers. It is important that there are still enough leaves that would protect your fruits from over exposure to plants. Thus, the bigger your fruits are, the more the leaves should be. Also, it would be beneficial to you and your plant if you don't prune when the plant is wet. Wet plants are more susceptible to damage and infection.
Pruning is one of the things that one should do upon growing a plant - much more if your plant is a tomato plant. Growing a plant is not just about warmth and water working hand and hand. Planting requires careful observation of the parts of your plant. And if you don't want your plant to look just like an overpopulated bush, you definitely need to start the pruning.
