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Pruning tomato plants is a must when it comes to growing healthy and productive tomatoes. And while it certainly isn’t going to be an every day task, like watering, knowing how to prune tomato plants is important and can be the difference between bushy plants with small fruits and lean plants with large tomatoes!

Ask a farmer when in doubt

Warm toasted bread, Duke’s mayonnaise, and thick slices of garden fresh tomatoes are the perfect lunch combination in the summer. One of my main goals for growing tomatoes in the garden is to produce as many sandwich-worthy tomatoes as possible. And while some years we do have an abundance of tomatoes, other years the harvest is smaller. I needed more consistency, so I decided to ask someone who grows the best tomatoes in eastern NC. (True story, he was featured on A Chef’s Life episode all about tomatoes!)

I am clearly not a professional farmer of tomatoes, but several weeks ago the little gardeners and I took a trip out to a local farm to pick strawberries and also to pick the brain of the farmer there on how to grow tomatoes well. I found out that one of the most important jobs is knowing how to prune tomato plants well. I’ve clearly understood the benefits of pruning other types of plants (how to prune basil, azaleas, hydrangeas), but tomatoes eluded me.

Why Prune Tomato Plants?

Each year we grow various types of tomatoes in our kitchen garden, with some years yielding more than others. But I wanted a more consistent outcome this year. Instead of large bushy plants that grew some tomatoes over the summer, I was looking for an abundant harvest that would put us knee-deep in tomato sandwiches well into August.

While on a tour of the farm, we were able to see the greenhouses where the tomato plants were growing (since we were still getting some frost at night), and what I saw were tall and lean plants heavy with bright green tomatoes already. Clearly I needed to know what I was doing wrong, because my tomato plants never grew this tall, or produced so much fruit at one time.

So I did what any good gardener would do… I asked for help! There’s no shame in asking someone who clearly knows what they’re doing for a little bit of advice, and here’s what I learned about pruning tomato plants for a better yield:

Pruning Tomato Plants

1. Bushy is not Better– While having a full and large tomato plant may look (and smell) heavenly, the plant is expending so much energy on those leaves and stems that it isn’t able to use as much on the business of growing fruit. I’ll be putting my tomato plants on a bit of a diet this year, and trimming back a good part of the bushy limbs.
2. Cut down on disease– With the increased air-flow from pruning, your tomato plants will be less susceptible to certain diseases, and pests are easier to see on the leaves and limbs of your plant. Here are 7 reasons your tomato leaves may be turning yellow. 
3. Don’t be a Sucker- Those little shoots that pop up right where a limb comes off of the main trunk is called a sucker, and it can literally suck the resources that your plant could be using for tomato growing. So pinch those suckers off before they get too big and become an actual limb themselves. Here’s a great image from the University of Montana of what a sucker looks like:
   
   

   source: montana.edu

    

   4. Don’t be Afraid to Cut- This was something that was stressed to me on my farm tour. Pruning a plant for the first time can be a bit anxiety-inducing, but Ms. Kelly guaranteed me that the plant would survive and continue to grow, and she has been right so far! I purchased two of their younger tomato plants (an heirloom Cherokee Purple and a Better Boy) and brought them home. After a two-week wait to be sure there were no more frosts in the forecast and hardening-off the plants, I planted them in our garden. After a few days, I gently pruned them, since I didn’t want to shock them so soon after being moved.

How to Prune Tomato Plants:

Per her advice, this is my pruning technique:

1. Trim up the lower limbs if there are no tomatoes growing there. I actually trimmed until I got to a branch with blossoms or tomatoes growing.
2. Keep one main trunk line. In the past, my tomato plants would grow large and by the end of the summer, I’d have several main (large) trunks, so this year I’m keeping my plants pruned to one. This also makes staking simple, since I’m not confused about which main trunk to stake.
   
   

   main trunk line staked

3. When blossoms/fruit begin to grow, prune back any limbs/leaves growing off of the same branch that are not producing fruit. This helps the plant exert its energy on the fruit. (The branch below also had a few smaller branches growing off of it with leaves. I pruned those off once the flower cluster started developing.)

If you’re planning to grow tomatoes this year, I suggest plenty of consistent water and pruning! With more pruning, you may also notice that your plants are taller, so be sure to grab a tall stake (we got a coated one from Lowe’s that’s about 8-feet tall, or you can find some here) and gently tie your main trunk as it grows. And I stress consistent watering.

Fewer limbs mean less places for water to go. So tomato splitting could be more likely if you forget to water them, then pour on tons of water.

I’d love to know how pruning your tomato plants works out for you! Or let me know any tips for growing beautiful summer tomatoes. Happy Gardening!

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