Very basic question...please define "sucker" - Page 2

Tania · July 13, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wi-sunflower

When someone at my market asks about taking out the suckers I answer them like Carolyn did - the more foliage the greater the photosynthesis . Besides for busy people that makes it easier, one less job you really don't need to do anyway.

The only exception I give to people is if you have them planted and staked and maybe have the plants too close together. Then I have them prune a bit so they aren't so bushy they grow together. This is mostly so there is some air movement to help prevent disease issues.

Carol

I give people pretty much the same answer.

Many folks in Russia prune their tomatoes like there is no tomorrow. I think it is a cultural thing. Having said that my grandma who had a farm in Krasnodar region (Caucasus mountains valley) never pruned tomatoes, they grew like what many Texan folks show - huge plants and large juicy fruits.

Got Worms? · July 13, 2012

Tried to do a little sketch, It didn't work out 'cause my spaces kept getting removed by the software.
Later

Mudman · July 13, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Got Worms?

Tried to do a little sketch, It didn't work out 'cause my spaces kept getting removed by the software.
Later

Funny Worms, I saw the sketch in my email notification and it looked great.

dice · July 23, 2012

The "90 degree vertical" branch is probably not a branch at all,
but rather a leaf. Tomatoes have complex leaves with a thick
stem down the center of them (called a "rachis") and leaflets
developing on either side of the rachis:
http://www-plb.ucdavis.edu/labs/rost.../leafanat.html

The "45 degree" vertical stems are what some tomato growers
call "suckers". (I think originally suckers were what are described
for "tree suckers", growing from the roots or the base of the plant,
like lilacs, and the use of this term with tomato plants constitutes
definition drift.)

If you look at the illustration at the URL above, the stems that
grow from the "axil" (where the leaf rachis meets the stem)
are the stems that one does or does not prune. (The reasons
why to prune or not prune are covered in other posts and other
threads.)

July 13, 2012	#17
Got Worms? Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: NY Zone 5b/6a Posts: 546	Tried to do a little sketch, It didn't work out 'cause my spaces kept getting removed by the software. Later Last edited by Got Worms?; July 13, 2012 at 01:51 PM.

July 23, 2012	#19
dice Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: PNW Posts: 4,743	The "90 degree vertical" branch is probably not a branch at all, but rather a leaf. Tomatoes have complex leaves with a thick stem down the center of them (called a "rachis") and leaflets developing on either side of the rachis: http://www-plb.ucdavis.edu/labs/rost.../leafanat.html The "45 degree" vertical stems are what some tomato growers call "suckers". (I think originally suckers were what are described for "tree suckers", growing from the roots or the base of the plant, like lilacs, and the use of this term with tomato plants constitutes definition drift.) If you look at the illustration at the URL above, the stems that grow from the "axil" (where the leaf rachis meets the stem) are the stems that one does or does not prune. (The reasons why to prune or not prune are covered in other posts and other threads.) __________________ -- alias