With proper pruning and preventive care, you’ll enjoy vibrant, flavorful tomatoes all season. For even more tips, watch our Planting Tomatoes video and start your gardening journey.
How to Prune and Troubleshoot Tomato Plants for a Healthy Harvest
Tomatoes are a highlight of home gardening, and proper care can ensure a bountiful harvest. Whether you're tackling pruning or managing common issues like blight and sunscald, here’s everything you need to know to keep your indeterminate tomato plants thriving.
Pruning for Success
Pruning is optional, but it can maximize fruit quality, especially in short growing seasons. Focus on indeterminate varieties for pruning, as determinate ones don’t benefit much. To fully prune, select the two healthiest growing tips and remove all others. This prevents sprawling and encourages larger fruit.
- Always wait until there are at least two full leaves before pruning any growing tip.
- Remove bottom branches touching the soil and any unhealthy or downward-growing branches to improve air circulation.
- Maintain a leafy canopy to prevent sunscald, a condition where tomatoes develop leathery, light-colored patches from excessive sun exposure.
Managing Common Tomato Problems
- Sunscald: Prevent by ensuring adequate leaf cover.
- Fruit Cracking: Use drip irrigation and mulches to maintain consistent soil moisture and reduce sun stress.
- Blotchy Ripening (Gray Wall): Address with balanced fertilizers rich in phosphorus and boron, and manage temperature extremes.
- Early Blight: Treat with copper fungicides like Liqui-Cop every 7–10 days.
- Blossom End Rot: Add calcium-based amendments to prevent this condition caused by calcium deficiencies and uneven watering.
- Fusarium and Verticillium Wilts: Remove infected plants and avoid planting tomatoes or related crops in the same spot for 4–6 years. Use resistant varieties and fungicides like Actinovate for prevention.
