Trimming non-sucker limb on tomato plant question.

[Oliver Buckle]

Apparently they are effective down to parts per billion.

The way him who 'does' down the road every Wednesday has a fire and smokes the place out if the wind is in the wrong direction I must have plenty in my soil already. Mind you he is more careful since the day the missus had sheets out on the washing line, she is a force to reckoned with.

 

[mac1911]

You have to find what works for you. I have been “pruning” this year and my plants seem healthier and are much more manageable. Im only tying up to poles .
My plan was to build a terrace system over my plants this year but was not very cost prohibitive and dumpsters on job sites seldom have any good pickings these days for scrap.

What I have been doing and I dont know how well it will work.
The larger suckers are getting some root hormone and getting put into pots. Will see what takes.

 

[Tincasteve]

This gives you an idea of how I get 10ft of growth in a 5ft greenhouse.

 

[Tincasteve]

Also my smaller tubs.

Of which I have 8 , 2 toms in each one and 3 for cucumbers.

 

[smitty55]

Yes, they were engineered that way, but why? Is it because hybrid tomato plants fruit all ripen in a fairly short period of time? Because if only the blooms on the main trunk were available to fruit, one wouldn't have nearly as many tomatoes would one? So why would one even think about pruning suckers?

Chuck I grow heirlooms that get quite large and I always prune all suckers because I only want tomatoes on the main vine. I make up for quantity in size. Now you know why. Besides that, if i were to let the suckers produce tomatoes the weight would absolutely break those branches. This what they look like now, those are 8ft stakes. Just starting to get a few turning as they are a late potato leaf variety

 

[smitty55]

Remember tomato seeds need to ferment in the mush from the tomato to germinate. If you simply wash and dry them they go nowhere, scrape out the inside and leave it to stand for a bit until it starts fizzing, then wash and dry.

No they don't. I've been saving my heirloom seeds for 30 years now and I never do that. I just put them on a piece of printer paper and let them dry. Planted 40 this year and 39 germinated.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

No they don't. I've been saving my heirloom seeds for 30 years now and I never do that. I just put them on a piece of printer paper and let them dry. Planted 40 this year and 39 germinated.

Well well, it is a well established piece of 'wisdom', I don't know where it started, but I have heard it enough times to believe it was true, apologies.

 

[smitty55]

No need to apologize. I understand the theory behind it being to get rid of the gel surrounding the seeds which apparently stops the seed from germinating. It's just that I've never bothered to do it and always get excellent germination rates.

 

[Tincasteve]

Now the weather is more inclement the toms are doing much better.