I'm interested in the experts' opinions on pruning tomato plants. Is there any research that proves it's beneficial to the plants, fruit quality and yield? I went ahead and pruned and thinned mine anyway, but I'd like to know what you think.
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Pruning tomato plants?
Submitted by Gugsi on July 11, 2009 - 3:02pm.
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Pruning tomatoes
Ah, to prune or not to prune, that is the question.
Generally, early season varieties (less than 70 days to harvest) do not require pruning.
Late season and large vines benefit from pruning off some side shoots, too prevent them from getting too tall and bushy.
If the tomatoes are caged, less pruning is necessary, although breaking out some shoots is beneficial in providing better air circulation for the plants. Here is the link to the MU Extension bulletin on Tomatoes.
Carole
Johnson County Extension Master Gardener
pruning has been shown to
pruning has been shown to increase individual fruit size/weight and can result in slightly earlier ripening than non-pruned fruit. If plants are trellised/caged the total weight produced of prune vs unpruned is statistically about the same (in a field comparison of many plants) - again the individual fruits are usually larger on the pruned whereas on the unpruned there are a more but smaller fruits).
Pruning on determinates (probably what Carole calls "early varieties") can be done to all the side shoots BEFORE the first flower cluster. This opens up the plant at the bottom for air flow and reduces foliage touching the ground where it is more likely to get foliar disease or for those fruits to touch the ground and rot. Doing so on a determinate has little effect on production. It can increase ripening time a few days before unpruned. If you spray it can also open up the plant some to allow more spray within the canopy (another reason most commercial growers prune determinates this way).
The highest yielding method is to let the plant sprawl. The problem is one usually loses fruit to rot/pests. The fruits will also be smaller.
I cage most my plants at home. I prune all kinds up to first flower and let them be after that. I prune them this waay because it reduces the foliar disease problems which typically start in the lower part of the plant.
Prune for flavor?
Quantifying the yield for pruned v. non-pruned is fairly easy to do, but what about some of the more subjective qualities like flavor?
For instance, missouri vs sucker pruning, have their been studies on sugar content or similar measurable qualities comparing the two methods? (All things being equal and that the plant is just stem to the first flower cluster)
I know there must be a million variables involved, I just haven't seen anything beyond "old wisdom" to support claims that pruning of any type makes them taste better.
I haven't seen any in
I haven't seen any in journals. There could be some from glasshouse research but I haven't come across it.
Taste studies are expensive. They require hiring a trained panel of tasters which does not come cheap.
One can chemically look at sugars and specific flavanoids and quantify those. Again that gets rather expensive. And something like brix (a measure of soluble solids) does not always correlate with better taste or perceived sweetness.
Most of the funding sources that would have the kind of money to pay for such a study are probably not growing tomatoes in a way which requires pruning. Pruning is considered an added labor expense in commercial fields so if there was someone paying for such research it would probably be coming from glasshouse studies.
You might look further into something called "cluster pruning".
Like yield, each plant has only X amount of genetic potential and energy resources (light/nutrition) available to it. It is believed that indeterminates usually have better flavor because of the balance of resources at a given time (most determinates ripen most of their fruit at once compared to indeterminates which ripen smaller amounts of fruits in flushes). So it could be that something like cluster pruning could change the balance and concentrate more of the energy going to make sugars. I do not know if that's the case. Such pruning might at least alter the environmental aspect and concentrate more into fewer fruits.
There is/was some guy on the internet with a growing system whereas he pruned ALL leaves except the one petiole nearest the fruit cluster. He claimed this produced more and improved quality. if I remember correctly he was also out to sell something.