Extreme Tomato Plant Pruning

[jhp]

Hi Chuck!

glad you made it here finally. Can you give us your take on the question of flavor of pruned tomatoes? That seems to be the big question here since most of us grow for great home grown flavor. So do you think pruning affects flavor at all?

Jen

[ChuckBartok]

Spending all night reading all these wonderful posts,
I feel like a babe in the woods.

Remember I am just getting into the esoteric
Tomato field and don't have the experience with the "heirlooms",
that so many of you do.

I do know that for years people flocked to
our Stand to savor the fresh picked Vine-ripened "commercial"
varieties grown on pruned vines,
and they bragged on the Flavor.

As you will see in later Videos, the pruning is
not as severe as the season progresses, but
I always have my scissors handy to "help" the Plant Produce.

When we were caring for 2,000 plus plants, the
family was always in the field and keeping an out for "nightshade" Friends.

After all they were taking care of us in direct
proportion of our caring for them

[elkwc36]

Welcome aboard Chuck. And have already found your ideas very interesting. I also have trained horses for many years so relate to that also. I'm always open to new ideas. In the end we need to try many things and find the method that works for us. To some of us non pruners you methods are the other extreme of what we do. I will be in touch as I plan on trying it on a plant or two for comparison purposes. Here with our hot dry winds and flat open areas sprawlers has always been the best producers. We are semi-arid. I do cage around 40 plants and have to give them protection on the south side. Enjoy the wonderful people here. JD

[jhp]

fresh picked Vine-ripened

I think that's one part of the flavor equation we need not forget! However you grow your tomatoes, vine ripening is important, IMO.

[organichris]

Chuck,

I really appreciate you coming on board. I'm so looking forward to your videos. They have definitely piqued my interest. I also appreciate your philosophy about there being no one method of growing tomatoes. That said, I want to learn all about why you do it they way you do. Don't be afraid to give your opinions even if others have a different take on things. I, for one, really want to know what you think.

Chris

[ChuckBartok]

The reason any of us do anything is a combination
of past experience
( Achievement is the result of experience,
and experience is the result of Failure).

I learned to be close to the Crop from
my Japanese neighbors in
Coachella valley, when I Farmed several
hundred acres veggies and forage.

Then I modified that which I learned
with Instinct.

Results varied of course, as they have
over the past 65 years.

So what I do today is part Experience and
part Innovative Instinct.

We use these same principles in Horse Training,
with Instinct being the dominant energy.

Most of my direction in all things comes from exposure to
Four Solid Book in my life for almost 50 years, Proverbs,
Think & Grow Rich, The Master Key and The Science of Getting Rich.

We give away free copies daily and have been conducting
Live Talk Show weekly since October 2006.

I have ben using the Gardening/Farming as a practical
Metaphor in my Business consulting for years.
Gardening is Actually a mirror of Human life.

I understand why some (including my wife) have a reluctance
to "prune" or "thin".

You won't know the results till later, but we are
constantly pruning our lives if we expect to Move Forward

[outsiders71]

Chuck,

Thanks for taking the time to register and join this forum. I've watched all your videos on youtube and am willing to give your method a try on a few of my plants.

If I'm not mistaken you keep pruning so only the terminal leaves are left, and you also prune the first flower set. After that you just remove suckers or do you continue to prune to just terminals?

Thanks!

[ChuckBartok]

Outsider71,

If I'm not mistaken you keep pruning so only the terminal leaves are left, and you also prune the first flower set. After that you just remove suckers or do you continue to prune to just terminals?

The hardest thing is to Talk about it. I visited a neighboring Ranch last weekend and we were at the Barn and sghe asked How so we went to the garden and showed. There doesn't seem to a "rule" it becomes a "feel".
But yes you want be careful. Also consideration must be made for Shade.

I hope Shirley will be home for the next Video Shoot so I can demonstrate again.

Here are some Pic that might be helpful




I always have operated on the principle of Don't worry about getting it Right, just get it Going....

Shirley just cringes when she sees my Pruning saws, clippers and equipment.

I can send larger pictures via e-mail

[outsiders71]

Hmm...

So there is no systematic methodology after you prune the 1st cluster of flowers? If you could email me some larger pics I'd appreciate it, hard to make it out. My email is outsiders71 at gmail dot com.

Lastly there is a method that is similar to yours, called Organic Tomato Magic. Don't know if you've heard of it before. Anyways I was following a long thread at GardenWeb, and one of the members there tried out the Organic Tomato Magic, using two of the same type of tomatoes. He updated throughout the growing season. What he noticed was that for whatever reason, the extreme pruning that he did causes the tomatoes to set fruit faster, and more earlier than non-pruned plants. Over the total course of the season however, the non-pruned caught up with the pruned and if memory serves me right put out a little more.

That's the argument I see from non-pruners is that leaving the suckers gives you more fruit, while removing the suckers gives you less fruit but bigger fruit. I'm in no way doubting your experience as a tomato grower and respect your input, but I was wondering how much of a difference # of tomatoes per plant wise have you noticed? I assume you used to grow them without pruning and then your pruning method and after using your method noticed a difference in yield.

Thanks again for all your input it is really appreciated.

[ChuckBartok]

Thank you again for the response.

but I was wondering how much of a difference # of tomatoes per plant wise have you noticed? I assume you used to grow them without pruning and then your pruning method and after using your method noticed a difference in yield.

When we tended several thousand plants in our Truck Farm, the pruning was more extensive in the first 4 to 7 weeks.

Then the tieing was Time consuming but we always carried shears. So our plants we not in a Continuous severe prune mode.

The 24 plants being used for the business model this year and my availablilyt of time, will allow more careful monitoring.

I will leave a few to go "natural" to monitor.

As I stated earlier. there is no "correct way" to enjoy the Harvest and the Opprotunity to be outside and commune with Nature.

The only thing for sure is to start with quality seed, have a passion for your hobby and apply Action

[organichris]

Chuck, I just checked out your latest video. I must say that it is quite impressive. Everything seems to be coming along nicely. I especially like the idea of the business model in con★★★★★★★★ demonstrating your gardening expertise.

A thousand pounds from 24 plants, huh? I don't know if that is typical or not, but that sounds like a lot to me. Keep in mind I, I don't usually think in terms of pounds though. Anyway, I wish you the best of luck. Keep the vids coming. And thanks again for your contribution.

[ChuckBartok]

and watching the videos.

They wil be showing up weekly,
so you might find it easy to subscribe.

Regarding yield.
We have had 50# plants in the past.

I enjoy setting down
#goals" and then working towards them.
But as my clients know, it is not he outcome
as much as the effort,
because we are successful through from effort,
not necessarily results.

I can't control the weather but I can control my efforts

[organichris]

I'm definitely going to subscribe. I've been meaning to watch your other videos too. I'm cdoc77 on YouTube.

[ChuckBartok]

I am really amazed how quickly contacts of like mind are made

[jhp]

Well, I was out today planting a few more plants. Long story short, some of my seedlings are not fairing so well because I watered them with softened water (potassium chloride) when they were just little baby seedlings. I don't know why I did that. I never used softened water in the past. I just somehow got distracted with life and made a mistake. Anyway, some of those seedlings aren't doing so well, some are growing on fine.

I want to try pruning, but I couldn't quite get myself to do the deed! I struggled so much with these seedlings, now to finally see them grow, is proof that they are going to be okay. Then to prune them, it's just hard for me to do.

I know, there's no "wrong way". I just don't want to do anything that will cause me to not have tomatoes! Silly I know. It's just hard for this first time pruner.

I showed the video to my husband, who is pretty much along for the ride. He helps with the garden as much as he can, but leaves all the researching and decision making to me. Anyway, he about had a heart attack when he saw how much Chuck pruned his seedlings.

Jen