My tomatoes this season will be tied to stakes and I'd like to prune
them to produce two main stems. I'm not sure if I allow the sucker to
grow above the first flower cluster OR is it the sucker below the
cluster? I tried to research this but get different answers. Some
sites say the sucker above the flower cluster while others say below.
Maybe it doesn't matter but I'm a bit confused. Last season it wasn't
an issue as I pinched off all suckers only allowing one main stem. I
want to try two stems this year to boost my harvest a bit.

Rich from PA

On Sun, 30 May 2010 13:29:04 -0400, (EVP MAN)
wrote:


My tomatoes this season will be tied to stakes and I'd like to prune
them to produce two main stems. I'm not sure if I allow the sucker to
grow above the first flower cluster OR is it the sucker below the
cluster? I tried to research this but get different answers. Some
sites say the sucker above the flower cluster while others say below.
Maybe it doesn't matter but I'm a bit confused. Last season it wasn't
an issue as I pinched off all suckers only allowing one main stem. I
want to try two stems this year to boost my harvest a bit.

But your plants have only one root each... think about it, do you want
to grow fruit or stem... you'll get more fruit, bigger and better
fruit with one main stem. I recommend plucking/sacrificing some fruit
so the remainder benefit... and tomatoes are heavy... don't leave so
many that their weight breaks the stem and then you get nothing. With
some kinds of tomato a lot of farmers don't stake, they let the plants
vine on the ground so that an abundant crop doesn't break the plants.
My suggestion is to someone who wants more tomatoes is to enlarge your
garden and put in more tomato plants. You really can't fool Mother
Nature.

EVP MAN said:

My tomatoes this season will be tied to stakes and I'd like to prune
them to produce two main stems. I'm not sure if I allow the sucker to
grow above the first flower cluster OR is it the sucker below the
cluster? I tried to research this but get different answers.

I always keep the sucker that is below the first flower cluster.

The idea of two stems is (in part) to double the leaf cover and lower
the chance of sunburning the fruit, so keeping the lower one makes
the most sense to me.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI

"Vegetables are like bombs packed tight with all kinds of important
nutrients..." --Largo Potter, Valkyria Chronicles

email valid but not regularly monitored

On Sun, 30 May 2010 13:29:04 -0400, (EVP MAN)
wrote:


My tomatoes this season will be tied to stakes and I'd like to prune
them to produce two main stems. I'm not sure if I allow the sucker to
grow above the first flower cluster OR is it the sucker below the
cluster? I tried to research this but get different answers. Some
sites say the sucker above the flower cluster while others say below.
Maybe it doesn't matter but I'm a bit confused. Last season it wasn't
an issue as I pinched off all suckers only allowing one main stem. I
want to try two stems this year to boost my harvest a bit.

Rich from PA


Tomatoes are vines, and that is their behavior. If you want to boost
production allow the tomato to vine on the ground protecting the fruit
with a straw mulch. Staking tomatoes is an ideal method for
restricted space areas. Remove the bottom or two clusters, that's all
you need. Most tomatoes will produce many branches--I do not prune
after removing the bottom two suckers. This is the second year I am
feeding my tomato plants (and 21 pepper plants) epsom salts (1 T per 2
gallon water) once a week. You can also increase yields using
companion planting, I suggest borage (bee plant).

In article ,
Phisherman wrote:

On Sun, 30 May 2010 13:29:04 -0400, (EVP MAN)
wrote:


My tomatoes this season will be tied to stakes and I'd like to prune
them to produce two main stems. I'm not sure if I allow the sucker to
grow above the first flower cluster OR is it the sucker below the
cluster? I tried to research this but get different answers. Some
sites say the sucker above the flower cluster while others say below.
Maybe it doesn't matter but I'm a bit confused. Last season it wasn't
an issue as I pinched off all suckers only allowing one main stem. I
want to try two stems this year to boost my harvest a bit.

Rich from PA


Tomatoes are vines, and that is their behavior. If you want to boost
production allow the tomato to vine on the ground protecting the fruit
with a straw mulch. Staking tomatoes is an ideal method for
restricted space areas. Remove the bottom or two clusters, that's all
you need. Most tomatoes will produce many branches--I do not prune
after removing the bottom two suckers. This is the second year I am
feeding my tomato plants (and 21 pepper plants) epsom salts (1 T per 2
gallon water) once a week. You can also increase yields using
companion planting, I suggest borage (bee plant).

In the past sugared borage was on our table but it fell in disuse.
Nice flowers blue if I remember this 30 years ago.

Still there are recipes for borage.

http://www.herb.co.za/herbal/borage-recipes.htm

--
Bill S. Jersey USA zone 5 shade garden
What use one more wake up call?