How to Prune Tomatoes for the Best Harvest
Вставка
- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Complete description of how to prune tomatoes to get the best harvest you can. Many gardeners let their tomatoes run rampant and then go a little crazy when they take over the garden. With selective pruning you can control how your tomatoes grow and get the best possible harvest. This video shows the difference between determinate and indeterminate tomatoes and how to prune them in an easy and controlled way.
Get Gardener Scott's book, "Gardener Scott's Guide to Raised Beds": amzn.to/4hHTkm1
Tomato clips; amzn.to/2QtIjx3
I love this book:
"Epic Tomatoes: How to Select and Grow the Best Varieties of All Time" amzn.to/37cgH37
"The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden to Table: Recipes, Portraits, and the History of the World's Most Beautiful Fruit" amzn.to/2r2EXnu
As an Amazon affiliate I benefit from qualified purchases.
Best tomato pruning video on Yt, bar none. Clear with good visuals. Well done.
Thank you very much!
Mr Gardener is genuine. Soft spoken and very knowledgeable. He has pondered and put many good thoughts together to educate us in a simple and practical way. I'm looking forward to many of his gardening videos to come. Thank you. Mr Gardener.
This is such a great video. I’m a new gardener and pruning is scary! I was afraid of “killing” my plants. This was so clear and easy to understand. Thank you!
Proud 53-year old stroke survivor and relatively new gardener growing tomatoes from seed. I learned about pruning a few weeks ago but your video has given me so much clarity and insight to be more nurturing to my plants. I feel like these are my babies! I am truly grateful for the wisdom and experience you’ve shared. Bless you! 🙏🏽
When I prune the tomatoes, I sometimes do not throw the cuttings away, but put the stronger offshoots in some bottles with water. Within a few days they develop roots and can then be planted in the ground or in a container.
Of course, this is only useful in early summer when they still have enough time to develop into full plants. Because of the shortened growing season, their yield is also lower, but to me the effort is worth it. Plus, these plants make a great gift for all ages.
Last but not least, it also helps me overcome my aversion to pruning. I strongly dislike pruning tomatoes, even though I know how important it is, especially in the relatively humid northern German climate. When I remember that the cuttings will find a new and better place to grow, I find it much easier to do what is necessary.
Excellent as usual
Excellent as always Scott👍
You are my favourite gardening channel to watch. Your voice is so soothing lol
This is the best gardening channel.on youtube, I think. The quality of information is superb.
Scott knows what he is doing and he is excellent at explaining how to prune. Good detail and easy to understand. Pruning tomatoes is hard to figure out at first. But if you watch Scott over and over and actually do it yourself and then go back and watch this video, it will become pretty clear what you can and can't do. Thank you Scott.
Here's a tip if you sucker your tomato plants. I started using a very small twig and pushing off the tiny sucker with it instead of trying to grab the sucker with your fingers and damaging the plant. A sucker can have suckers themselves if they are big enough. LOL The trick is to learn what is a sucker. If you break off a growing end just let a sucker replace it and let it continue the plant like Gardener Scott Says.
MY WIFE AND I, WE THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ENLIGHTENING US IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF TOMATO GROWING!! VERY GOOD VIDEO.
Videos like this never grow old, and will help new and old school gardeners alike for years. Thank you 🌱🌿🍅
Will do this on my tomatoes
Watched several other videos and I was left even more confused about how to identify a sucker vs. a sun leaf. Your video was crystal clear and I think I can now prune my tomatoes this year with confidence. Thank you!
Well explain you deserve thumbs up 👍
Just watched all your tomato videos, Scott, plus about a dozen others. I had lost my excitement for gardening -- thanks to your videos I know exactly why and what steps I want to take for this year's garden. One of the reasons I like your videos is because they are so detailed and show exactly what you do as you explain why you do it -- which is why I'd love to see how you tie your tomatoes up. It's probably obvious to most people but knowing where to tie, how much of the plant to tie, when to move your tie would be so helpful. (I've never grown indeterminate tomatoes.) Thanks!
Thanks, Anne Marie. I am planning a video to show that this summer. Thanks for the suggestion.
Sometimes I prune suckers really fast and then later realize I’ve accidentally pruned off the growth point😖. Then I have to wait for a new sucker to develop to get a new growth point. A trick I’ve learned is to leave a sucker about midway up the vine, and when all the old leaves and empty trusses are trimmed off that sucker provides a new productive vine.
That's a good idea and I do it too.
Thank you for the clarity and "giving permission" and validating the fear of pruning the suckers that may have developed larger with flowers on them. I now know what I did incorrectly last year's garden. All my tomatoes went wild and did exactly what you described- disease, overrun beds, and not quality.
Its amazing we can prune tomatoes. We enjoyed it and will certainly apply it. thanks a lot.
You are a wonderful teacher, and i can understand your english because of your clear talking. Thanks from Turkey!
I enjoyed your video. When I plant tomatoes I dig a trench and lay them flat in the trench with a small amount sticking up and out. This guarantees all the little roots to help feed the plant. I add a chicken egg to that cavity with epson salt and a quarter cup of sugar. During growing time I add a small amount of 10-10-10 fertilizer. During growing time I snip off all the sucker leaves. The plant is to produce tomatoes not to be looking good. Water using common sense. I usually have to end the plants life because the season is getting too late. Remember this in growing tomatoes they love air and water and some nutrients. Sugar makes them taste sweet.
Gardener Scott, you are an effective, efficient, and interesting teacher: Filling the entire period with information that meets the teaching objective, with no time wasted. Thank you. I'm looking forward to a healthier, stronger, and more productive tomato patch this year!
agreed.
You are like Mr. Rogers of gardening!
#1 tomato youtuber
Excellent, clear demonstration and information! Wonderful as usual. Thank you
good stuff on tomato plants and pruning Thank you
I must say you made more sense and gave more clarity than any other person, on any other channel! Kudos to you for not only knowing what to do, but have the ability to show others clearly. It's 1:30 in the morning here, and I want to take a flashlight out to my garden and start helping my plants.
Thanks. I love your enthusiasm.
Pruning best done when no moisture on leaves. Helps prevent spread of fungus, etc.
= @@GardenerScott = (1) how or where do you get seeds for indeterminate tomatoes ??
(2) can you successfully make plants from cuttings from indeterminates ??
If you have this in a video, give a link here. . Thankyou.
🤣my husband woke up one night at around 2am and couldn’t find me. He followed the open door and the lights I had on....found me in the garden surrounded by my camping lanterns. Weeding. Those weeds are my nemesis. It gets too hot to do it for long In the day and in the afternoon I run out of time....so I was literally out there in the night trying to catch up. It’s soothing to me 🤷🏼♀️. Bugs are awful though. Sigh
@@Mtkrvi06 that's priceless and too funny at the same time! Kudos to you for posting your craziness. Your poor husband though, he's going to put a bell around your neck before bedtime if you're not careful.
Seriously though much respect and keep on pruning!😁🍆
You the Man! Thanks!
Thank you so much for these pruning instructions. The best tomato pruning explanation on UA-cam! I followed your instructions last year, and had my first bumper crop in years!
What a lovely man. A proper gardener!
Thank you dear, for sharing your garden tips, you've been very helpful, just what I needed and very well explained. God bless you and your gardening 🙏🌿🌱🍓
Thanks for sharing your wisdom.
My pleasure!
Most clear presentation I've watched. Hoping my tomatoes would yield more fruits this time.
Great job explaining pruning. My dad always taught me about suckers and this was an amazing visual explanation.
Thanks!
Can’t wait to view more of your videos. I can’t wait for planting season either. Have some heirloom seeds from my dad and will get started
Soon. Yellow stripeys and I forget the ones I liked so well. They are a nice size and kind of a pink color. I always called pinkies but that’s not it.
I never even knew that tomato plants should be pruned. This was very helpful and it all makes sense. Thank you!
Excellent narrative and video work
What a great video. I have a bunch of cherry and paste varieties in my garden, and pruning them has helped so much. Love your channel, please keep producing this kind of top-shelf content.
Very helpful, clear instructions. Thank-you.
Thank you for getting back to me!!
Finally someone who explained and videoed perfectly!!! Thank you so much I now know how to prune or not prune Tomato plant's
Very helpful for first-time gardener.
Your presentation gave the most understandable explanation of pruning tomatoes. It was clear and paced so that you could catch everything that was said. I really like the comments about the diseases. I do wonder what your water system is like. I really recommend using irrigation tape which only puts water on the soil. Your presentation indicates that you were an educator of some type.
Thank you for the most easiest to understand tomato pruning video!
Best explanation I have heard about pruning your tomatoes. Keep it simple, just the facts. You are really helpful to other gardeners.
I hope a grandchild or son is as passionate as you are with there garden's 🤞🙏 well put sir!
Thank you very much.
Thanks! I am growing tomatoes for first time. Had no idea there was so much to learn. I really enjoyed your video. I am saving it to watch again. I can’t wait till tomorrow morning to go on my first “sucker safari!”
best guide and simple explanation on growing tomatoes ive viewed on youtube for a novice grower such as myself ! thank you
Thank you. Very helpfully explained. I like it how you explain the general rule and then when you may wish to break it (removing suckers but when you might leave them and why, and how what you do depends on how tall your trellis is).
Your videos are some much help - For a first time gardener(me) - One thing I don't understand is to keep my tomato plants at a 3-4 ft - Do I ever trim the top so they don't grow so tall?
excellent video - slow clear talking, very clear graphic modeling -- I learned to understand why one would or would not prune in a certain way.
Last time I I let mine grow too much before trying to prune, now that I know to remove the middle suckers, I will start earlier and do a better job ,thanks
I let mine go crazy before pruning because I’m new to gardening and was scared I’d cut the wrong thing. I find it very hard to cut something off because I have this inherent mindset that it just feels wrong lol. Now I know how to do it and see mine are in desperate need of pruning. Better find my gloves. Thanks, this video was great and simple and concise.
You're not alone. Pruning is hard and I always hesitate to cut off something that I worked so hard to grow. Start small and just prune a little. Before long you'll feel much more comfortable.
Cody Columbia ..sometimes I have put the decent 20cm suckers in water until they shoot roots then planted them out. I hate anything being chucked out. I even rescue plants growing in concrete.
Very detailed,exactly what is needed,great job
Glad you liked it. Thanks!
Thanks a lot man, been applying some of your methods to my own garden, and I must say it's come a long way. Cheers.
Thank You, Sir
Absolutely clear on what to do pruning wise. Thanks so much! I have 20 plants, all indeterminate heirlooms and all pruned up. I live in Southern Oregon about a mile in from the Pacific, so this is a big experiment. We have to contend with the marine layer. Even so, my plants are outside in gro-bags against a building. Already staked and trellised in their own microclimate. Three feet tall on June 8th.
I grew Beefsteak tomatoes last year. Indeterminate. I knew something about pruning suckers... Which kept me busy!...but haven't pruned any major branches. This year I'm going to prune around the bottom as you suggested. Thanks for the video!
I agree, this guy is really good. I always felt guilty about removing the suckers, but not any more thanks to Scott
By far the Best pruning video I've seen. Thank you so much. It was so easy to listen and follow along.
Best tutorials that I have come across (and I have looked at a lot).
Such excellent instructions. Thank you!
Thank you for this video!! I am new to gardening and this was super informative and easy to understand!
Best video on tomato pruning I've seen. Especially with regard to how many suckers to leave growing in relation to how high and bushy you want the plant to be. Excellent!
I loved the way everything was explained. So interesting , I appreciate the time you took to teach how to prune tomatoes. Thank you so much.
Thank you for all your excellent videos. This is my first year trying to grow a garden in raised beds. I bought some tomatoes from the garden center and gifted some from a kind neighbor. They’re growing nicely. The problem is I don’t know if they’re determinate or indeterminate tomatoes. It may not matter, but I’m string trellising them anyway. This may seem silly, but I love touching all the plants. Very rewarding.
Thanks for the pruning tips , I am not growing in dirt so bugs are not so much of an issue , but was unaware of suckers so I will be looking out for that issue.
Very informative and well presented. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful!
A really good, comprehensive and re-assuring video. Shows you can choose your own style of pruning according to your circumstances.
I must admit, I have never pruned my tomatoes except for low branches. I've read that the suckers won't bear fruit. I've never noticed that to be the case and from the video it seems that they indeed do. Usually, my plants are huge and bear vast quantities of great tomatoes, but they can get so big that even when ringed with many stakes and reinforced with multiple lines, they still end up falling over, and it can be a challenge to get to the tomatoes. This next season I think I'll try pruning two of my plants following your guidelines and see how that goes. You are right: it is very hard to prune my plants, but I'll take a deep breath and dive in. Thanks for the video.
You speak with clarity and that helps tremendously. I have learned from this video, and agree with much due to experience. Thank you for your time.
You are very welcome, Shane. Thanks.
I played it on 1.5x speed... I’m a fast talker though. Good video
Thank you! My yield was much greater. These plants seem immortal now lol!
Thank you, GS, especially for the last part on helping me grow my plants out with strong stalks rather than up (past about 5 foot) in the space I have. Very educational and to the point. So many youtube channels spend time talking about everything under the sun rather than the stick to the topic they say they are going to cover
Thanks, Thomas. I'm so glad it was useful.
Thx for this info
This was such an incredibly helpful video. Thanks so much. I guess I have a lot of pruning to do!
Sir Gardner Scott, you gave a very thorough presentation about the types of tomatoes, their corresponding styles of pruning, you talked about pruning the sucker branches, and pruning branches close to the soil in a very clean and concise form. For that I thank you. I also want to compliment you on your style of presentation which combines the acting of Hollywood stars and the lecturing of university professors. Your knowledge impressed me. Your style of presentation of your knowledge fascinated me. Thanks again.
This is, by far, the BEST tomato pruning tutorial I have found. Many thanks Scott.
Thank you very much, June.
You're the most informative videos I found on UA-cam yet! Other videos just tell you plant water prune Harvest but they don't go into detail on exactly how or why! I'm really learning a lot from your videos.!
Wow this was like an instructional television show on PBS! By far the BEST information a about growing tomatoes I've ever heard and I've been gardening for over 20 years! I'm from Ohio but now live inGeorgia and I'm really struggling to get a nice harvest of tomatoes yet. Definitely will be trying these pruning techniques immediately. Thanks so much and you got yourself a new subscriber 👍🏾👏🏾😊
Thank you so much.
I live in SE NC, where the summers can be brutally hot. I do like to prune a bit, but like another poster said, leaving some extra foliage to shade the fruit may be the way to go. Will try that next season. I would have done it this year, but deer found my "buffet." :-(
A great explanation, as usual! Thanks!
Where I live I do very little pruning the reason being when the heat of summer ramps up my tomatoes need a little more shade. I also have great success with little maintenance.
That can be a good reason to limit pruning. Because I grow more plants closer together they tend to shade each other, but I do reduce pruning as the season progresses for the same reasons you point out.
Thankyou for explaining Removing Suckers the correct way. I have been gardening for many years. I have had several people try to explain the process but they could not do it for me to comprehend what they were trying to say. Now I get it. I also had my wife sit down and watch your video. Great Job, Thank You.
Thanks. I'm glad it was helpful.
If you need to watch a video about pruning tomatoes then this is the one . Brilliant thank you
Thank you very much.
Great job, Scott. Couldn't be explained better.
Much appreciated!
Great video. I'm glad you added that part towards the end, about leaving lower suckers and pruning the upper ones. I use cages and stakes, so about 5 feet is my height limit. Also, it seems that aside from being determinate vs non-determinate, the variety may change my pruning habits too. I grow a hybrid called Fourth of July. The fruit are rather small, very much like the store bought Campari tomatoes, and I usually don't prune the suckers at all, like I do for my Beefsteak varieties. I also give my plants at least 36" spacing so I can afford to let them get a little bushy.
Super helpful video. Thanks!
Best video I have ever heard and seen. Description great and great clarity. I can actually understand what to do.
Thank you.
Very helpful, new info, will follow advice Thanks
Thank you so very much, Gardener Scott! You are thorough and precise, and I actually am able to internalize your information.
Your knowledge is very valuable. Thank you again!
I'm so glad I found you. I'm a first year gardener. Your video is very informative and helpful ,thanks!
I'm so glad it was helpful. Enjoy gardening!
Thank you fro your soft voice and clear directions , it is easy to follow your information. Gratefully.
This is one of the most informative tomato pruning videos I have come across. Great job explaining, with clear visuals and recommendations. Greatly appreciated! You have a new subscriber.
Wonderful. I'm glad it was helpful.
Yes, HOWEVER: If you let your suckers reach such maturity that they had actually already set fruit and you need pruners to snip them off, you suckered too late and your plants have wasted too much energy on developing mature suckers, which could have gone to fruit production. Don't wait so long and remove your suckers when you can still pinch them of with your fingers!
Thanks a lot, great video..,
Great information. Trying to follow your tips this spring/summer. Thanks for the tips
Your video was excellent 👏 I'm headed for my garden this evening to have a pruning party 🥳 I remember my Granddad back in the sixties and seventies spending hours with his tomatoes plants. He always had huge tomatoes 🍅 every year. Wish I could revisit those days. THANK you
What a great video, I feel confident about pruning tomatoes this year! 🍅
Thankyou for your clear, defined and sensible advice on pruning tomatoes.
best pruning tutorial ive seen. great tips. and even prepared a lot of samples for demo of actual pruning. thanks mr. scott! real helpful 👍
Thank you.
Very nicely explained. I like it. I am going to follow it.
Great! Thanks!
Great clarity. The best tomato pruning tutorial I have seen. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
I tend to progressively also prune the lower leaves, once the fruit "hiding" under them is ready to turn to its final colour. That way they get direct sunshine and super good taste from being directly sunkissed.