This means all the plant’s energy can be diverted into fruit, which will hopefully mature before the end of the season.īe aware the plant will react to being stopped by trying to form new shoots so you need to increase your vigilance when side-shooting. You just take the leading (main) shoot at the top and pinch or cut it off. Tomatoes range from 50 to 80 days to crop from germination. This is usually when the plant has set four or five trusses but with some varieties you can get seven or eight.Ī lot depends on when you sowed and planted as well as the speed which the plant grows fruit. Stopping TomatoesĪs the season draws to a close the plant will not have time to set, grow and ripen more fruits and it is time to stop it. Useful early-season if you find yourself short of plants and it is too late to start more from seed. If you let a side shoot grow to about 6″ or more you can cut it off, pop it into a pot of wet compost and have another plant. It sounds crude but ripping them away results in better formation of scar tissue and is less likely to bleed or allow disease to get in. Rather than cutting these side shoots off, tear them away. These grow from the stem but not from the leaf joint. A truss is the stem that carries the flowers, which turn into tomatoes. They are easy to miss, so whenever you are watering or feeding your tomatoes, keep an eye out for them and remove.Īfter the plant is stopped, it reacts by producing more side shoots – so watch out.īe careful not to confuse these shoots with a truss. The earlier they are removed, the less energy is wasted.

Trimming tomato plants download