Topping Tomato Plants and Cutting Suckers?

[johnhamilton1]

Last year my plants grew out of the cages and flopped over under the weight of the fruit. I didn't cut suckers and the plants were full and tall. This year I have topped the plants at about six to six and a half feet, removing the center top of each that are too tall. Is this a good practice? Also what are the merits of not cutting suckers? Help and advice is appreciated. Best regards from Virginia Beach.

[digsdirt]

Lots of discussions here about your question. And you'll get mixed replies. There are those that are absolutely devoted to pruning, some do it aggressively. And there are just as many who don't practice or believe in it.

Much of the decision rests on your local weather, the types of plants, the spacing you use when planting, and the method of supports you use.

Just as there are good and bad spacing practices and good and bad support structures (some are very bad) there are good and bad pruning practices.

So you need to do your own experiments with your plants in your garden and climate and decide for yourself which works best for you.

I only ask that growers keep in mind that despite what they may read pruning is never required. It is just an option that is available to you to use as needed or not and doing will reduce the plants overall fruit production.

When it comes to topping a plant vs. pruning a plant it is important to understand that they are not the same thing and have different results. For example, with an indeterminate variety plant topping triggers new growth. Usually 2 new shoots will sprout from the node just below your cut. So now you have 2 tall growing stems where you only had one to control before.

However with a little bit of help tomato plants can drape back down quite successfully and keep on growing. So while an indeterminate variety will often reach 10-12' or more it doesn't mean you have to support it to that height and use a ladder to harvest. But expecting an indeterminate variety to top out at only 6' in height is unrealistic. So if you don't want plants that are 10-12 feet tall it is best to stick with determinate varieties rather than indeterminate.

Hope this helps answer your questions.

Dave

[zipcode]

Topping is usually done at the end of the season, especially when you expect frost. You cut the plant 3-4 weeks before frost so the last fruits will get all the energy and grow well and ripen.
It can be used also to make the plant short and bushier however, which you seem to want. It does go against pruning however, if you top and prune, then you won't have any more coninuity, I am assuming you're not expecting a frost .

[johnhamilton1]

Thanks for the advice and insight. I am still learning and experimenting. I had stopped most pruning a number of years ago. I primarily am growing indeterminate heirloom tomatoes. Spacing is relatively close in raised beds growing in tomato cages. But I have a rock path between the beds providing room to walk between the plants. I think I'm getting sufficient air flow to the plants. Not sure if this is too close, but I am trying to maximize the plants I can grow in a small garden.

Not expecting frost this time of year in Virginia Beach. Most days it is in the low 90's with humidity above 80 percent.

Thanks again for the feedback. Hope you both have a good year.

[Gardeneer]

If you want your indet stay short and bushy, then you should work on it early in the season, by cutting the main and letting several side branches to stay and take over. So then you will have something like a determinant growth pattern.
Another reason for topping is THE END OF SEASON EXPECTATION.
If your season ends (eg) in 30 day, there is no benefit and use for the new growth. There would be NO WAY to get anything out of new growth from thereafter. JMO

Gardeneer

[bower]

I have a small space situation too, and I understand the desire to have lots of varieties in spite of the small space - that means there are limits to how much space I can give each plant, and how much fruit I expect from each, also.

I do top my indeterminate plants, because in my case there's a ceiling. Over some years of experimenting I found the best practice for me was to remove any thin leggy suckers from the bottom foot or so of the plant, because they don't tend to be productive, but I let strong suckers grow from the lower and middle of the plant, then remove those that start at chest or eye level, depending on how lanky and how bushy the individual plant is, to get the maximum fruit from the available space and topping all the extra branches as well when they reach a certain level.

It is true that you have to keep taking off the high suckers, that the plant wants to branch and carry on up high, but that's a chore I have to accept unless some year I can settle for fewer varieties. In the past I have also let them keep growing and just train the leader horizontally. If a high sucker escapes me and actually sets fruit I'll also hook it down to a level where I can support it. But this doesn't happen often if they get up to the glass, where the heat will kill the pollen on a sunny day. I haven't had good results with letting the plants vine back downwards - high relative humidity here so the place where the vine bends sharply is also where some fungal disease will tend to start, and then the stem dies and effort was for nought.

Another use for topping, I found, is with plants that are vigorous and bushy but fail to set fruit. Topping the plant does send a signal to get setting. To use this for fruit set, you make the cut just above the leaf above a flower cluster, ie leave one leaf above the last cluster to supply its needs. I've had some varieties that would only fruit in my greenhouse by this method.

[johnhamilton1]

I am learning so much! Thanks.