How to Prune Tomatoes: 3 Benefits of Pruning Tomato Plants

Pruning involves the trimming or cutting away the branches or excess foliage of your plant. There are different ways to prune plants: pinching, heading, and thinning.

• Pinching: Pinching is when you remove the main stem from your plant (literally by pinching with your fingers) to encourage new stems to grow, which helps promote a fuller plant while keeping it compact.
• Heading: Heading means to slice off portions of a plant’s branches, which help control plant size, stimulate the growth of side shoots, and control the direction your shrubs or trees grow.
• Thinning: Thinning prevents overcrowding by reducing the density of your foliage, allowing more sunlight to penetrate your garden, and limiting the areas where pests can hide.

Pruning tomato plants is not mandatory for successful tomato growing. However, there are some potential benefits.

1. 1. Enhanced fruit production: Some growers find pruning to be a useful way to boost fruit production during the tomato growing season.
2. 2. Larger fruit: Pruning can help plants direct more nutrients to the tomatoes and produce fruit that is larger than average.
3. 3. Improved airflow: Pruning your tomato plants can also improve airflow. Good air circulation is essential to reducing the risk of fungal diseases.

Many tomato plants benefit from regular pruning, but there are some exceptions.

1. 1. Sunscald: If you live in a particularly hot region, pruning your tomato plants can make them more susceptible to sunscald, or sun damage.
2. 2. Not ideal for all tomatoes: Determinate tomatoes—like Roma tomatoes—should not be pruned because their fruit develops all at the same time. Indeterminate tomato plants—like most types of cherry tomatoes—produce fruit regularly throughout the growing season and do benefit from pruning. Check which type of tomato plant you have before you commit to pruning.

With the right technique, pruned plants grow better and ultimately yield more abundant fruit. Use a few simple pruning tips to make the most of your plants.

1. 1. Gather your supplies. First, you’ll need a good pair of pruners—preferably sharp pruning shears. Disinfect your pruning shears between each use. A sturdy pair of gardening gloves will also be useful.
2. 2. Wait until the plant is at least a foot tall. Observe when the plant is up to eighteen inches tall and has developed its first flower cluster.
3. 3. Remove the suckers. Pinch off tomato suckers, or axils of less than two inches in length. Use your shears to prune suckers that are larger. Keep pruning any new suckers that grow between the main stem and the branches. You can also try the Missouri pruning technique, which involves pinching off just the tip of the suckers and letting a couple of leaves remain to encourage photosynthesis.
4. 4. Snip away lower leaves. Low-hanging leaves risk touching the ground and gathering mold and fungi like leaf spot. Remove those with your pruners.
5. 5. Remove green tomatoes before the first frost. Tomatoes are vulnerable to freezing temperatures and need to be taken inside to finish ripening during a cold snap.

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