Indeterminate tomatoes often produce abundant yields, but more often than not, lack of pruning creates a Little Shop of Horrors in your garden if your tomato plants are left pruned. When I planted my first garden my freshman year of high school, I was fortunate to have determinate plants in play. Determinate plants mean just that – their height of 4- to 5-feet is already pre-determined so you just plop them in the ground and grow. It wasn’t until decades later I decided to grow indeterminate plants so I could greatly increase my harvest. It is in the skillful and deliberate pruning of this style of tomato plants which produce an abundant yield.
Plant Care Today has given many pertinent information on how to increase your tomato yield and tips how to give the growing strength and nutrients to the tomato, not the ever-growing plant. For example, it is imperative to remove the “suckers”, who rob the fruit of nutrition and energy, which will give power back to the main producing limbs.
Another valuable tip from Plant Care Today is not to cut off the leaves surrounding the fruit cluster. These leaves not only provide valuable sugar to the fruit, they also help to shade it from the sun. Removing these important leaves will cause your tomatoes to have sun scald.
While your garden grows and your tomato plants begin to reach a height of two or three feet, and have begun to produce blossoms and set fruit, cut off the foliage that is a foot or less from the ground. Doing so increases air circulation and helps prevent fungus spores from being splashed onto the lower leaves during rain storms. This helpful tip will save you so much disappointment with tomato blight and disease, and will prevent the temptation to riddle your tomatoes with fungicides and pesticides.
So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and start harvesting bushels of delicious tomatoes for your family and friends.
And if you’re looking for some creative ways to prepare all those ruby-red gems, here are some of my most popular tomato recipes.
And remember to post photos of your yummy canning creations and Canning Diva recipes on my Facebook group Canning, Dehydrating and Long-Term Food Storage.