Pruning isn’t required in order to grow a healthy crop of yummy tomatoes.

Should I cut dead leaves off my tomato plant?.

When should you top your tomato plants?.

Written by Tom Kalb, Extension Horticulturist, North Dakota State University. Drawing courtesy of Andrew Carbury, How to Prune Tomatoes, Wikihow, How much should I prune my tomato plants? This will channel the vine’s energy into ripening fruits rather than producing more leaves. Trim back vines if they are growing over your trellis.Īlso, you can snip off the leaders of vines 30 days before frost is expected. Trim back overgrown plants later this summer. Prune suckers when vines are dry to prevent spreading diseases. Snap suckers off using your fingers or cut them with a scissors or pruners. Larger suckers will create larger wounds. Prune suckers when they are about 3 inches long. Prune suckers when they are young and dry. You can be less aggressive at removing the higher suckers if you feel your vines are thin. This will leave us with two stems: the main stem and Sucker One. Undesired suckers are removed every week or so. If you have an indeterminate variety, you need to remove the suckers above Sucker One as well. If you have a determinate variety, you are done pruning for the summer. Below it is a sturdy sucker that can produce lots of fruits. Suckers form at the base of leaves ( see drawing).įind the first flower cluster. Understand that each tomato leaf is a compound leaf, usually consisting of five to nine leaflets.

These leaves become shaded, attract diseases from soil debris, and reduce air circulation in the planting.įind one good sucker. After you trellis your vines, remove any leaves that touch the soil. Popular indeterminate varieties include ‘Beefmaster’, ‘Beefsteak’, ‘Better Boy’, ‘Big Beef’, ‘Big Boy’, ‘Early Girl’, ‘Jet Star’, ‘Juliet’, ‘Large Red Cherry’, ‘Red Grape’, ‘San Marzano’, ‘SunSugar’, ‘Supersonic’, ‘Supersweet 100’, ‘Yellow Pear’ and most heirlooms.

Varieties with indeterminate vines will grow robustly until frost. Popular determinate varieties include ‘Celebrity’, ‘Mountain Fresh Plus’, ‘Roma’, ‘Sheyenne’, and bush types such as ‘Better Bush’ and ‘Patio’. They grow no more than 4 feet tall and set a concentrated harvest of fruits. Varieties with determinate vines are compact and require minimal pruning. Do you want your tomato vines to be healthy and productive all summer? It helps to prune them.

Download pruning tomatoes for free