What is the best size for better tomato yield

15 years ago

Hi,

The 4 tomato plants that i have planted in my garden grew so big and bushy and they are all standing like 5ft tall now. No stakes are able to hold them tight. I am not sure if this growth is due to fertilizer or something else.

But i am vexed up with them this year though i am getting good yield now. I pruned and snipped lot of branches to make more space for the plant to breathe and get light.

I want to know how to start pruning the leaves of the tomato as the plant starts growing in initial stages itself so that i don't end up in this kind of situation again?

Also, they say that too many leaves will reduce the fruit.

So, how do i know how many, where and when to take off the plant?

Thanks

Pavani

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Comments (6)

city_tomato
15 years ago
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/tomato/2000083616002031.html
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dave1mn2
15 years ago
You don't have to prune but if you want to prune this and some practice is the best I've found.

Some would consider this extreme, others minimal.

Experiment to find what works best for you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pruning Guide
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digdirt2
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You might also want to do some research into the various types of tomato plants - determinate, indeterminate, semi-determinate, bush, and dwarf - to see which type best fits your gardening space, support plans, and desired plant size.

It is not at all unusual for an indeterminate variety plant to reach 8 feet tall and 4 feet wide while most determinate varieties will usually stop at 4 to 4 1/2 feet. So perhaps you are just growing the wrong types for your situation.

Also, they say that too many leaves will reduce the fruit. "They" - who ever "they" are - are not correct as many discussions here will show. Please understand that there are many different schools of thought on how to grow tomatoes so don't buy into some of the far-out claims without first investigating them thoroughly. ;)

city_tomato gave you the link to the FAQ here on "Pruning" and as Dave rightly pointed out - you don't HAVE to prune at all - many of us don't. How much one prunes depends on the support structure you use and IMO stakes are one of the least successful methods of supporting plants.

So the best approach for you is to experiment - try some different types (not varieties but types), try some limited pruning, research other methods of supporting your plants (there are many), and determine for your self what works best for you in your garden.

Good luck.

Dave
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jpinva
15 years ago
I grew 25 heirlooms, each different, last year, spacing them about 12" - 18" apart in a bed that gets about 7 hours of sun in midsummer. They grew on a long trellis pretty uniformly up to about 7 feet tall. They produced OK, though certainly not as well as I've read in many of the posts here. I gave my extra plants to a friend with a bigger and sunnier garden, and his plants were shorter, bushier, and produced more heavily.

This year I'm growing 39 plants of mostly the same varieties in a new bed that's 4 feet wide and 40 feet long, with two rows of plants spaced two feet apart in alternate rows, with the rows being two feet apart. They are probably still too crowded but they have much more room than last year's plants. They are getting about 8 - 9 hours of sun per day. Also, I started my seeds too soon this year, so the plants were a little leggy when I put them in the ground. I planted the root ball and about 6 to 8 inches of stem sideways in the planting hole. I made no other changes in my organic gardening techniques from last year to this year. I didn't do any pruning last year or this year.

So, between all those changes, I have much shorter and much bushier plants this year. They were already 6 feet high this time last year, and this year they are generally around 4 feet high. It's too early to predict the production, but I seem to have a lot more blooms and a lot more fruit on the plants than this time last year.
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solanaceae
15 years ago
12-18 inches is probably the best yield per square foot on vines. That is by the square foot not by plant, there is a difference and it will certainly be labor intense compared to a cage and a big bush. I would also say that your 7 hours of sun was a bigger problem. I put a Roma in a spot that perhaps got 5 hours of sun and had lots of room. Space restricted plants in sun ran circles around it. It was about 2 feet tall but did give me a few Toms anyway other wise I would have had to toss it. In full sun it would have been 5 feet and very bushy. Not doing any pruning probably hurt you in that space however. You probably shaded all your lower suckers that probably ate more sugar than they produced.
The other consideration of course is intensive methods do allow for more varieties and there are plenty of those.
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doof
15 years ago
Cherry tomatoes.
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What is the best size for better tomato yield

Comments (6)

city_tomato

dave1mn2

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jpinva

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