Re: Query: Suckering Tomatoes
- To:
- Subject: Re: Query: Suckering Tomatoes
- From: R* W*
- Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 20:10:04 -0700
- References: <20000503.160021.-204081.0.gardensmith@juno.com> <002d01bfcf0c$497c3fe0$08fce4ce@computer>
- Resent-Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 20:05:04 -0700
- Resent-From: v*@eskimo.com
- Resent-Message-ID: <"niyX71.0.R-7.WlRFv"@mx1>
- Resent-Sender: v*@eskimo.com
I have grown the Brandywine without pruning off the suckers and would not do
it that way again. They got so big that the tomatoes were hidden and
therefore hard to pick and slow to ripen. Many of the tomatoes had black
bottoms and/or very large pithy stems, which I feel was from lack of water.
Boy, can a plant that size take a big drink!
In the current issue (June-July) of Kitchen Gardener is a very good article
about this issue. If you can find a copy to look at I think it would help.
Rachel
----- Original Message -----
From: "Julianne Wiley" <jlw@planetc.com>
To: <veggie-list@eskimo.com>
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2000 9:37 AM
Subject: Query: Suckering Tomatoes
> Dear gardeners,
>
> Do you sucker your tomatoes?
>
> One disadvantage of the sucker (some people say) is that it diverts too
much
> of the plant's energy into growing a whole new set of leaves, and thus you
> will tend to get many, but smaller, tomatoes. Sometimes suckers grow so
far
> past the tomato cage laterally that they flop down to the ground, tipping
> (or even bending) the tomato cage from the weight.
>
> So some people sternly pinch off (or snap off) all the suckers so the
plant
> conforms more to a simple main-stem-and-branches form, rather than a huge
> sprawly bushy viney tomato-producing giant which mugs nearby basil and
> pepper plants, and then sets out to go mano-a-mano with the kudzu.
>
> (I live in Eastern Tennessee, USDA zone 6b, quite near the Unaka Mountains
> which are officially Temperate Rain Forest. We *know* kudzu.)
>
> On the other hand, I have heard of some people clipping off and rooting
the
> suckers, and starting a whole new batch of plants that way.
>
> And (on the OTHER other hand) some people say that the physical damage of
> snapping of all the suckers causes wounds in the plants which invites
> insects, blights, wilts, etc.
>
> I have some fine vigorous Amish Brandywines here. I don't want to ruin
> them. What would you do?
>
> Juli(Unaka)anne
