Favorite Pruning Method?

[AKmark]

Originally Posted by gorbelly

Trying different things is great. I experiment all the time.

Telling people you're 100% going to get maximum yield if you do it [X] way is an oversimplification. Especially if you have an 8-month growing season in Wasilla, AK, which means it has to be a greenhouse environment and very different from growing in the ground outdoors in SW OH.

There are so many factors involved: climate, methods, personality/goals/priorities of the gardener, etc.

Try single stem pruning. Try no pruning. Try everything in between. See what works for which varieties in YOUR garden when YOU grow tomatoes.

We are in a support group that consists of thousands of commercial growers from not only the U.S., but in many other countries such as Australia, Israel, Canada, etc, etc. Some are growing outside too. Everyone makes tiny adjustments, usually in the feeding departments but general care remains about the same when you want the best outcome for the space given. I personally travel to learn better techniques, as well as management tid bits. I will be at cultivate 2019 in Ohio in July for more. We are not just throwing out OUR twist, but are sharing cutting edge methods that are tried, tested, and proven.

Of note, a GH has a piece of plastic between the plants and the sky as well as over head support. You can grow outside and still put up overhead support for stringing plants. Other than environmental aspects, it is no different. I do the same ideas outside as well as under the lid. Other than weighed results of methods, everything else is just words to me.

It is hard for me to explain in words physical aspects of a project, method, etc. I am always in a hurry. lol Lucky for me (right?) I have kept great photo records of different growing techniques I have tried. I will take the time to dig out photos of these set ups. Some real beauties are plants that had three or four stems, some unpruned. We got 39lbs from Brandywine, 50 from Delicious and German Queen, 30lbs per plant pretty easy. Howevvvver... they take up A LOT of space
Enjoy your season, I hope this thread helps.

Last...if your plants even stay alive you will get tomatoes.

[Worth1]

I would need air conditioning in Texas heat.
This year was a complete trash prune or no prune.
Temperature swings and rain way out of bounds from what it used to be.
I would be better off growing in a greenhouse in the winter with night heat.

[AKmark]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I would need air conditioning in Texas heat.
This year was a complete trash prune or no prune.
Temperature swings and rain way out of bounds from what it used to be.
I would be better off growing in a greenhouse in the winter with night heat.

Not much a guy can do when it is desert hot. I am helping my Dad do some winter growing in Burnet, they just can't stand the winters here anymore. I think that may work well with some heat and maybe a couple hours of lights. What are you thinking for winter growing there?

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by b54red

Most of my tomatoes are grown in a single stem pruning method and the lean and lower support system. It works good down here with the high humidity and extreme heat. The plants are much easier to spray and once you get everything set up and running they are much easier to maintain. As the fruit gets picked I remove all the leaves and stems below the next batch of ripening fruit. This keeps old leaves to a minimum and reduces disease problems while at the same time keeping air flow better.

I do have a half dozen plants on a trellis and can never keep them to few enough stems and right now they are getting pretty messy and I'm already having far more leaf diseases on those six plants than all my others. I should have kept them to no more than three stems but most of them have at least five and one has as many as eight.

I try to remove everything below the first blooms very early after setting them out to reduce early leaf diseases. I also spray with Daconil and alternate with a copper spray. I also remove any diseased leaves as soon as I spot them even if it leaves some fruit unprotected because the more diseased leaves on the plant the faster the diseases seem to spread.

Bill

How far apart do you plant?

[taboule]

>>> They might think they know what they are doing. They don't. So I put a stop to their lofty plans with my pruners

You go Paul, show them who's boss.

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by Hunt-Grow-Cook

Fantastic Mark. Cant argue that one bit. The size and quality of fruit is usually better when pruned as well, at least in my experience. Id take 10 nice full tomatoes from a single leader plant, over 30 small ones from multiple leaders any day. I do grow multiple ways, but always enjoy the look and fruit quality on single stem plants. Although once I reach a certain point in the season I stop suckering, more so due to laziness. (Old picture for reference.)

How do you attach your plants to the bamboo stakes? Also,is there a trick to getting the bamboo stakes into the ground? I seem to not be able to pound them more then a few inches despite fairly soft soil.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by AKmark

Not much a guy can do when it is desert hot. I am helping my Dad do some winter growing in Burnet, they just can't stand the winters here anymore. I think that may work well with some heat and maybe a couple hours of lights. What are you thinking for winter growing there?

I have thought about dwarf tomatoes but I doubt it will ever happen.
But if I did I would be pulling up plants when everyone else is planting.

Our angle of the sun in Texas in the winter is about like yours in the summer but we have less hours of daylight in the winter than you guys in the summer at that same angle.
10 hours in the dead of winter here which would be enough but the soil is to cold.
Which would bring me to containers and watering with warm water.

Then I have the impending doom of my neighbors lawn people blowing yard dust all of the my plants.
When that happens it is game over just like this year.

But to pruning sometimes it isn't a matter of choice it is a matter of economics.
1000's of commercial greenhouse growers in containers cant be wrong.
You simply cant have a jungle in a greenhouse.

[AKmark]

These we don't prune. LOL

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Tracydr

How far apart do you plant?

I have tried all kinds of spaces between plants and found that if I put them too close together I can't use Missouri pruning and don't need it as much but it can be quite messy with having to overlap plants that don't grow at the same pace. I have planted as close as a foot apart and as far apart as a little over three feet. Now I generally plant about 2 feet apart on both sides of the beds. A lot depends on how much space I have and how many plants I want to set out. I can say that having a bit more than two feet between plants works out the best for me and is easier to manage than really close together.

I like to use Missouri pruning which gives me more shade on the fruit but it also makes the plants bushier but with our intense sunlight it works better for me. When I planted a foot apart I had to be much more meticulous with my pruning but if you want a lot of different plants in a small space it can be done but spraying and leaning and lowering is more difficult at times but for a small garden it can be very productive.

I put my 3/4 inch horizontal support bars at a height that I can reach without having to strain which for me is around 6 1/2 to 7 feet above the top of the bed. The hardest part of this type of system is the first time you lower the plants about this time of year as they are loaded with fruit and very heavy so some care must be taken when doing it or you can drop the whole plant and have a mess.

Bill

[tryno12]

AK, what is that not pruned variety? Is it a determinate variety? They are looking great! Someone said they do not prune their Cherokee Purple.
Thanks
Pete

[tryno12]

Worth, what is the "lawn people blowing yard dust" dust consist of? Like weed killer etc witch when drifted in the wind, curls up the leaves of tomato plants.
Thanks
Pete

[SueCT]

I am not a commercial grower, and many here are not. My goal is not pure production, it is a long growing season to keep in tomatoes from as early to as late in my growing season as possible, of the best tasting tomatoes I can grow. For me that means healthy plants that stay healthy, getting the fruit to ripen so I get to eat it not the wildlife, growing heirlooms that may not produce as much as some other varieites but taste much better to me, and not investing in hydroponics or greenhouses but growing in an unprotected backyard garden. My garden is also near the road and i keep the yard as nice as i can, hence the stone raised bed I built for it, and my desire for something that also looks presentable. The only differences I see are in what different people want, and different goals often require different paths to get there. Again, it seems this isn't getting through, but not everyone shares your goals, your conditions or your resources, so your method would not work for everyone. I know, crazy, right, lol?

[AKmark]

Originally Posted by tryno12

AK, what is that not pruned variety? Is it a determinate variety? They are looking great! Someone said they do not prune their Cherokee Purple.
Thanks
Pete

That is a Russian variety called 0-33, they are true determinates, just decent taste, but they are early and yield well. I grow them to collect seed for spring plant sales, many people up here struggle with later season stuff, or are forced to grow outside. The latter really narrows down available varieties that the average person can grow in AK.

I am sure some don't prune CP, some don't prune at all and they still get tomatoes. My input was how to get the most yield in a given space, that's all.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by tryno12

Worth, what is the "lawn people blowing yard dust" dust consist of? Like weed killer etc witch when drifted in the wind, curls up the leaves of tomato plants.
Thanks
Pete

Dry dust from the ground causes foliar disease when it lands on the leaves.
When they are trough the plants are covered with it.

[jhouse]

So sorry to hear that Worth1, how frustrating. I've actually thought about a very high hoophouse. Our neighbor mows his yard and burns the clippings, the smoke drifts over our garden, no idea if that does anything or not.

I do love all the information in this thread, I've learned a lot. And realize how much I don't know as well. I've got a lot of videos about pruning lined up for sure.

One crazy thing going on in the middle of all this -- we've had record rain in Ohio, a tornado near miss last Saturday -- flooding, some farmers are filing for crop insurance instead of planting -- and this week, one day only that should not rain. Probably the worst year ever for blight conditions. So one thing for sure, I'll find out what works, and what doesn't, I guess