Cutting Back?

[chalstonsc]

I understand plants can be cut back, to 2-3 feet, removing most if not all the foliage, and can then re-grow foliage, flower and produce more fruit. I know this can be done with indeterminates, but I believe I've read somewhere that cutting back determinates will surely kill them. Can anyone confirm if cutting back determinates will kill them, and can anyone tell me if cutting back a semi-determinate is more like cutting back an indeterminate or a determinate?

Thanks.

[dice]

I have had cuttings from determinates rooted at the end of
the season, after the main harvest, regrow a complete plant
that flowered and produced fruit.

The definition of semi-determinates, how exactly they differ
from determinates or indeterminates, is rather fuzzy, so I
would just try it and see if it works for you in your climate.

[AZRuss]

Dice, I don't think that's what chalstonsc means. He (or She) is talking about cutting the original plant back to a two-foot stub, leaving it, and throwing the trimmed debris away.

My understanding of a determinate is that, for most of them, when they're done, they're done. Cutting them back or even taking cuttings is pointless. Pull them and plant something else.

I can't see why this major cutting back of semi- and indeterminates would kill them. That's what I'm going to try next July, because it's so hot here that it's next to impossible to get new plants--including cuttings--hardened off and out in time to produce anything.

[dice]

Dice, I don't think that's what chalstonsc means. He (or She) is talking about cutting the original plant back to a two-foot stub, leaving it, and throwing the trimmed debris away.

I did get that, I just thought the behavior of the regrown cutting might
be relevant.

My understanding of a determinate is that, for most of them, when they're done, they're done. Cutting them back or even taking cuttings is pointless. Pull them and plant something else.

Having taken cuttings from determinates, rooted, and regrown
them, the plant that grew from the cutting clearly did not think
it was "done for the season". In fact, it seemed to have the
impression that it had grown from a seed and that it was now
a whole new season (starting about the first of December in
that case).

I just do not know what will happen if you cut a determinate
down to a small stub (I would go down to 6 inches for
determinates, but simply cutting them down below any
existing or earlier flower clusters may work), but it only takes
a couple of plants out in the garden to find out.

Someone down south, Louisiana maybe, reported in a thread
here a year or two ago that he does this every year, but he
cuts them back a lot earlier in the season than now. As far as
I know he was only growing indeterminates, but he cuts them
back to a short stub in mid-summer, when it gets too hot where
he grows for the plants to set fruit, and he lets the plants grow
back for a fall crop. This reduces how much water he needs to keep
them hydrated during the hottest part of the summer, too.

Some caveats might be systemic root disease or stem diseases.
Growing back diseased plants would likely be a waste of time.

[chalstonsc]

Dice and AZRuss, AZRuss is right about what I'm talking about trying to do with semi-determinates: cutting back to two-foot stub, etc.

I've had trouble getting decent production in a Fall season here and had better luck this year (with some still ripening on the kitchen counter) cutting back some indeterminates (Sungold, Black Cherry, Earl of Edgecombe, and Arkansas Traveler) and a semi-determinate(Lida Ukranian). Because I have to grow in containers, I'm trying to improve the Fall season next year by planting and cutting back more semi-determinates, i.e. semi-determinate being a smaller plant, especially late season, than an indeterminate, and more suited to a container....not to mention smaller plants being an advantage in withstanding tropical storms and hurricanes known to blow by here from time to time around then.

The plan is to plant a heavy concentration of semi-determinates in the Spring, cut back the most healthy ones and let them re-grow for Fall, and replace the weakest plants with healthy new, from seed, short season determinates and small fruited indeterminates(rugose and and potato leaved as much as possible to try to prolong disease resistance and survival in the heat and humidity, which is a very difficult to do here in late summer and Fall).

I was trying to see if anyone could tell me from experience if my luck with
the one semi-determinate was just luck, or more like what can be expected from semi-determinates as a rule, as with I understand can be expected pretty much as a rule from healthy indeterminates, i.e. regrowing foliage and fruiting.

I plan on giving it a try, even if I can't find anyone with experience for guidance, but thought I'd ask if there was anyone with more experience than I have....

Thanks to both of you for jumping in here!

Tom

[chalstonsc]

Dice(and AZRuss),.... I was posting as Dice was posting.

Dice, good to know your experience with rooting cuttings from the determinates...I may try planting one or two determinates in the Spring and cutting back, which I did this year in mid-July, when it becomes pretty impossible to set any fruit due to the heat and humidity. I do recall reading a post that said cutting back a determinate killed them, while it didn't kill an indeterminate.