‘Essential’ garden job to ensure tomato plants produce a ‘more bountiful crop’

When properly cared for, tomato plants can grow quickly and increase the amount and size of fruit produced.

One of the most important gardening tasks for tomato plants in July is a certain type of pruning called “pinching out”, according to the experts at British Garden Centres.

They claimed that tomato plants need pinching out to enable all the plant’s energy from the roots to go to the fruit of the plant instead of the vines and leaves.

The experts said: “This is essential to lead to a more bountiful crop growth by the end of summer. 

“Not only that but it also allows the plant to stay healthy as it improves airflow and nourishment throughout the plant.”

Pruning also allows for the removal of any dead or diseased parts of the plant, which could potentially compromise it.

Gardeners should continue to pinch off growth during fruit production and follow up with pinching in autumn to increase the amount of ripe fruit harvested.

All blossoms that form on the tomato plant before it is a mature size should be pinched out. 

Pinch sucker branches that are formed between the branch joints below the first stem of flower clusters. 

Suckers are the beginning of new branches that allow only one or two main stems to grow.

These need removing to prevent a heavily branched plant result in low fruit production.

Fruiting branches that form close to the first stem of flower clusters on indeterminate tomato plants should also be pinched. 

Remove branches so there are four to five main stems left on the indeterminate plants as this increases fruit size and production.

It is also recommended to pinch the leaf tip ends in late summer to early autumn when the end of the growing season is near. 

Remove the top of the tomato plant and several inches off each branch to force the plant to stop growing in size. 

This will force the plant’s energy to move towards ripening fruit before the first frost.

The gardening experts also suggested that gardeners use supports for their tomatoes, especially when the plant begins to bear a mass of fruits.