How big is your garden and how many tomato plants?

[hunterridgefarm]

I was able to sucker and stake the tomatoes this weekend. The cooler weather made it easier but I would rather have the warmth to speed up growth.

 

[sixdogs]

Larro--Here's a pic of snake gourd pieces I left out over the winter. I didn't think they matured enough so I just tossed them in the field and they broke into pieces. In reality they were plenty ripe and dried just fine--but in those broken pieces. I've got a bunch of the pieces shown and blowing about the yard.

 

[lakngulf]

I was able to sucker and stake the tomatoes this weekend. The cooler weather made it easier but I would rather have the warmth to speed up growth.

Explain what you mean by "sucker" prune?

 

[Larro Darro]

Explain what you mean by "sucker" prune?

I would assume he means to clip off the lower leaves and bury the plant deeper. It will grow roots along the entire stem that is buried. Some of my tomato plants got about 18" in the cups. I gave 45 or so of them away today to thrift stores. I told the ladies there to tell the people who bought them to do it that way.

Larro

 

[pacerron]

I would assume he means to clip off the lower leaves and bury the plant deeper. It will grow roots along the entire stem that is buried. Some of my tomato plants got about 18" in the cups. I gave 45 or so of them away today to thrift stores. I told the ladies there to tell the people who bought them to do it that way.

Larro

Suckering tomato plants, in Ohio terminology, means to pinch off the stems that try to develop between the stem and main branches.
These secondary stems steal nutrition from the plant. They will have blooms and tomatoes if left in place but the result will be smaller tomatoes
overall and in particular on the main stems.
It has nothing to do with lower leaves and planting depth.

 

[sixdogs]

Here's how we do tomatoes and this is the only way we could get them to mature when we lived in Northern New England. You start with the seedling that may be six inches tall but maybe taller. Snip off all the leaves except a few at the top. Then bury the entire plant except for the top couple inches or so. This really hustles the plant along.




It will like like this and I agree it doesn't look very good because the plant is small. This is a little smaller than we normally start with but it will be OK.






This plant was a little bigger when put in a few weeks ago. We have had miserable weather generally but look at the difference. Remember, this was a little bigger than the first plant when we put it in but not that much.

Our ground is pretty fertile with lots of organic matter so we add no fertilizer until the fruit starts to set. Too much fertilizer too early gives a magnificent looking plant but few and small tomatoes and it is the fruit we're after. Also, we snip the bottom branches off as the plants grows on the belief this helps keep disease from the plant. We don't let any branch touch the ground. We also snip the suckers off the lower portion of the plant. Suckers are smaller branches that grow between the trunk and main vines of the plant and bear small fruit. Snip off.

In a couple of days or a week I will drive metal stakes in to hold the plants plus I have welded wire cages and will stake them properly.

FYI

 

[lakngulf]

I don't go thru any suckering or pruning, but I do bury the plants deep. Learned that from my parents years ago. And this year I was gone for two weeks when my plants needed to be outside in the sun, instead of the greenhouse. So they got taller than needed. To handle that I used hole diggers to plant them, digging the hole as deep as needed to get a result similar to sixdogs.

For some plants, I simply made a deep long trench with a hoe, and then laid the plants lengthwise with only the tops above ground.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Suckering tomato plants, in Ohio terminology, means to pinch off the stems that try to develop between the stem and main branches.
These secondary stems steal nutrition from the plant. They will have blooms and tomatoes if left in place but the result will be smaller tomatoes
overall and in particular on the main stems.
It has nothing to do with lower leaves and planting depth.

What he said

That is what I do and what we consider suckering. As the plant get bigger I will continue to sucker them to a point...once the temps start to rise I will leave the suckers in the top third of the plant to provide shade on the tomatoes below. This helps with sunburn.

I do prune the lower limbs off the tomatoes once they get established and start growing. This helps in that it allows the plant to concentrate the growth and nutrients to the top and to the actual fruit. It also keeps the plant from touching the ground and soil born diseases.

 

[DFB]

Well got my home garden plants in the ground yesterday. Both Celebrity and La Roma for a main crop of tomatoes, plus have a couple of sweet 100's. And then a mix of peppers. Hungarian wax, Hot cherry, Hot Portugal and Jalapeno and for sweets I always grow the Cubanelle and will try out Northstar green bell. It's a new one for our greenhouse sales. Plus eggplant and brussel sprouts. Running out of room still want to plant squash a few cukes and some bush beans. I had let my large garden patch rest and only been using a small 800 sq ft patch

I also have some Super Fantastics tomato. I heard they were good too so debating to put them in. How many tomato plants do you need?

10 day forecast looks good overall and the last killing frost was on the May 17th

Tilled 3 of the 5 patches for business already this one prob about a 1/4 acre is mainly for late squash, cukes, and some rutabagas

 

[hunterridgefarm]

That's some good looking dirt! We have not had but one rain in three weeks. I am so happy that I decided to use drip this year.