Let's Grow Stuff

- Hi there.

Welcome back to Let's Grow Stuff.

My name is Qwantese, and I'm here at my garden plot at Troy Community Gardens.

Today, I wanna teach you all about the art of letting go, by pruning your tomatoes.

You ready?

Let's grow stuff.

[upbeat electronic music] Despite how harsh this technique might feel, pruning your tomatoes actually allows your plants to produce more tomatoes.

This is because once you snip off the parts that don't really need to be there, your plant starts directing its energy into the parts that are bearing fruit.

But hold on, put your shears down.

There are a few things you should know before you start cutting.

There are two types of tomato plants: determinate and indeterminate.

Each grow differently and thus require a different approach to pruning.

Determinate tomato plants have a fixed mature size, and its tomatoes all fruit at the same time.

And once the tomatoes fruit, you're not getting any more.

They're typically shorter than an indeterminate, and called bush tomatoes for this reason.

Determinate plants are very simple to prune.

There isn't much you have to do besides just clearing out the bottom of the plant so that there aren't any leaves touching the ground.

This will allow for proper air flow under the plant, which helps to keep disease at bay.

Indeterminate tomato plants continue to grow and grow throughout the season, extending vine after vine that keep producing tomatoes until the frost kills the plant off, hence the reason they're called vining tomatoes.

The indeterminate plants are gonna take a little bit more attention.

Have you ever heard of a sucker?

No, not the kind you get from the candy store.

These are small shoots that pop up in between the branch and main stem of the tomato plant.

You can pinch off the smaller, tender suckers with your fingers, but for the bigger ones, you'll wanna use a pair of clean shears to cut them off.

If I keep this up every week, my cherry tomatoes will thrive all season.

See, that wasn't so hard, was it?

Pruning your tomatoes is a great way to keep them healthy and at peak performance.

And although it might not feel like it, your tomatoes will thank you.

So pull those shears out, take a deep breath, and get to pruning.

Thank you so much for joining me in my garden.

And don't forget, while you're waiting for the next episode, there's more to learn at pbswisconsin.org/letsgrowstuff.

See you next time.

– Announcer: Funding for Le t's Grow Stuff is provided by Ganshert Nursery & Landscapes, the Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programs, and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.