Heirloom Tomato Question

[earthtotable]

Hi All,
I am currently growing around 35 varities of heirloom tomatoes, many purchased through Baker Creek. This is my first year growing for market and planting for profit. Everything I do is gentle to the earth. My question is regarding staking and pruning heirloom tomato plants. My staking method was to erect metal poles every 10' between tomato plants planted about 18" apart. I allowed them to grow willy/nilly and did my best to tie them up with jute twine. I was having little luck controlling these heirloom monsters and began doing some research. After reading many articles, I decided I would go in and remove suckers and open the plants up for more air. This was quite the project. In removing the suckers I was overwhelmed by how much fruit I was pruning out. It seems that most of the suckers had wonderful fruit developing and at times it appeard to me that the cluster were better on the sucker stems than on the main stems. Can you please share with me your thoughts on removing the suckers and methods of controlling these huge plants! Thanks in advance for your help. Cheryl

[drobinson]

To control tomato growth, I use concrete wire (6" mesh by approx 5 ft tall) formed into cylinders about 20 - 24 inches in diameter. It takes some doing to make these because this wire is really stiff, but once made, they will last for many years. The bottom ring is cut off and the vertical wires left on the bottom, to punch into the earth. They are spaced about 3 to 4 ft. apart and put over the tomatoes when they are a foot tall and growing well. 'T' steel posts are placed every third cage and a one by two" strip of wood is tied to the post and tops of each cage. This holds everything in place when the plants get large and fill the cages. Pruning is minimal.

[earthtotable]

Great suggestions, thanks for your help! I will be growing over 400 indeterminae heirloom plants next year and need to come up with a good method. I noticed that neither one of you are doing much sucker removal. I have been removing a good deal of my plant/fruit by keeping the suckers removed. I was of the understanding that this is critical to have the best quality flavor and fruit. One thing I noticed is that the heirloom tomatoes produce alot of fruit on their sucker limb. Can anyone confirm or deny that this fruit is of less quality than the fruit that comes from the main stem. Thanks again. It has been a huge amount of work and I have loss at least half if not more of my fruit by using this method. If it does not improve the flavor than I'm not sure I should use my labor for this task next year.

[ceresone]

the best results i've ever had was the year i made tomato cages from conctete wire-but i made large circles, put a pvc pipe with holes drilled along the length, i inserted this down the center(with a hose connection on top)and then filled the circle with compost and rotten hay.then, i planted 4, and in some cases 6, tomatoes around the OUTSIDE!these i also mulched heavy. the tomatoes grew roots all along the sides-and into the hay. watering was done from the inside. bushels of tomatoes were picked from these heirlooms.

[zebraman]

Hey Don't forget to root the suckers from your really great plants.They will grow Carbon Copies of the plants you cut them from.Also in late Summer or Fall or Winter here in CA.I cut the tops off of the plants and continue growing all winter long.I only cut suckers for this purpose.More leaves means more flavor-

[gulfcoastguy]

Ceresone, I am actually planning on planting like you are around my compost pile. I've been using concrete wire tomato cages for years. I just plan to tie the individual cages to the big center cage that contains the compost pile. I never pinch the suckers off because they need the extra foilage around here to avoid sunscald.

[redbrick]

I sucker mainly for "jungle control", otherwise they take over the walkways on both sodes of the bed. I remove all the suckers until the flowers start, then I let each sucker develop one or two flower clusters before pinching off the growth point. That is, until I get overwhelmed in high summer!

[earthtotable]

Hi and thanks for your message. Where in CA do you live? I'm on the central coast. Please give me more information on how far down you cut your tomatoes. I cut mine down to the ground, mulched them with straw and built a house around them, they all died.

[deb65802]

you can cut the suckers off and stick them int he ground. they will root another tomato plant and therefore extending your harvest. Tomaotes will root anywhere they come in contact with moist soil or compost. You can top them too and do the same thing.
deb

[Bluegillman]

Cut the suckers off and stick them in the ground, that's true it would start another plant. Learned about that from our ducks who used to cut them down when the tomatos were young. We put them in a jar of water and wait a week then put them ground, they came up and caught up with the others. :)

[stonysoil]

hi earthtotable.. i would suspect that the qulaity on the suckers would not defer from the main stems as they have the same dna.. i think the quality of the fruit is contingent on the leaf to fruit ratio as they meed enough leaf m,ass to produce sugars during photosynthesis.. i rember growing brandyines and not staking or pruning them one yr and the yield seemed more with this practice.. the reason i stake my tomatoes now is when left unstaked i get alot of slug and rodent damage.. the mice seem to take only one bite of each tomato..

[wilderness1989]

To control tomato growth, I use concrete wire (6" mesh by approx 5 ft tall) formed into cylinders about 20 - 24 inches in diameter. It takes some doing to make these because this wire is really stiff, but once made, they will last for many years. The bottom ring is cut off and the vertical wires left on the bottom, to punch into the earth. They are spaced about 3 to 4 ft. apart and put over the tomatoes when they are a foot tall and growing well. 'T' steel posts are placed every third cage and a one by two" strip of wood is tied to the post and tops of each cage. This holds everything in place when the plants get large and fill the cages. Pruning is minimal.
Good advice! I've been using the same method for 35 years I just use snow fence instead of wire....taking out every other cedar stave in the fence.