cut stem thingys after harvesting tomatoes?

13 years ago

Hola gardeners!

I'm relatively inexperienced, and have been wondering: after I harvest my tomatoes, should I remove the empty stems from the plant?

I have several container plants. I messed up with irrigation a little this summer, and some branches have yellowed. While I was removing those, I noticed how some of my plants seem to be mostly stems. Is that the right word? Not the "tree trunk" which can sprout more branches and leaves, just the empty "grape cluster" that USED to hold fruit. They don't seem to be sprouting more flowers or anything, yet they are pretty healthy and green, and it seems like my plants shouldn't waste resources on those parts anymore.

Many, many searches haven't turned up any answers. I'd sure appreciate someone's expert advice! ~gracias

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Comments (2)

nitti610
13 years ago
I am probably just as inexperienced as you, but I got some advice on this forum. I was told to pluck all the "suckers" and leaf stems from the bottom of my tomato plants. I was told that if they are indeterminate and in containers, then I would get much better yields by pruning in this manner.
Well, it worked great! I plucked all the suckers (shoots that grow between the branch & stems producing fruit) and leaf stems that were growing wild. I started at the bottom and worked my way up. It made the dozens of tomatoes that were immature start to ripen. Just be sure to leave enough foliage to protect the fruit from sun scald.
Anyway, it worked for me. Good luck!
sautesmom Sacramento
13 years ago
The stems from picked clusters won't do anything more, but they aren't hurting the plant. Some people feel they need to regularly "do" something to their tomato plants, so if you are one of those, feel free to clip them off and tidy up.

When you get completely tomato-obsessed and have over 100 plants like I have had, you will realize the benefit of being lazy sometimes and that you can let tomatoes grow their merry way, and they are just fine without constant attention. :)

Carla in Sac
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I haven't read much encouragement on this site about fall planting of tomatoes bigger than cherries. I find that very surprising as many of the regulars here plant fall crops every year and discuss it often. We may not be in AZ true, so planting times and varieties used may be quite different, but many different varieties should serve you well there. Cherry varieties sure wouldn't be the first choice of many of us at any time of the year. ;) One often discussed approach to fall tomato growing is using clones (rooted cuttings) from existing plants rather than starting new ones from seeds or cutting to ground. Easier and gets you much faster results. Dave
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If it were me I'd call it a season, harvest what you can and then dispose of the plant since you haven't indicated what disease you think it might be that's affecting the stems and I suppose leaves as well. My guess would be one of the two common fungal doseases, either Early Blight ( A' solani), which can occur early OR late in the season, or Septoria Leaf Spot, and not Late Blight ( P. infestans), which can also occur early or late in the season, b'c if it were the latter no new stems would probably be appearing. Carolyn
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Dark colored stems that you show can be found with many tomato diseases, but usually there are leaf symptoms and sometimes fruit lesions that can help make the diagnosis. As for the fruit you show, I see a fungal infection, the spores are gray, on top of possibly an anthracnose lesion, and no doubt just a harmless one from the air which was able to grow there b'c the skin was broken theee, giving it a point of entry. So IMO that fungus infection was initiated not near the stem, but within the initial lesion on the fruit. I can't say it's the pathogen Grey Mold b'c the earliest symptoms of that disease are found on the leaves, same as for Late Blight, with which it is often confused. Carolyn
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cut stem thingys after harvesting tomatoes?

Comments (2)

nitti610

sautesmom Sacramento

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