Author Topic: tomatoes: to sucker or not to sucker (Read 1673 times)

yankieGirl · « **on:** June 02, 2011, 12:57:23 am »

Should I sucker my tomato plants or not?

Please advise.

Fleecewife · « **Reply #1 on:** June 02, 2011, 01:07:33 am »

What do you mean by sucker? This is not a word I have heard used with tomatoes but we probably just use a different one here. Suckers here are usually on roses and fruit trees grown on a different rootstock, where shoots come up from below the graft point and are usually removed because they are not of the wanted variety. Are your tomatoes grown on a commercial rootstock ?

manian · « **Reply #2 on:** June 02, 2011, 06:13:54 am »

morning,
if you mean the side shoots..... i pick them out
mx

northfifeduckling · « **Reply #3 on:** June 02, 2011, 09:16:55 am »

unless you have bushy varieties like some cherry tomatoes

Fleecewife · « **Reply #4 on:** June 02, 2011, 11:22:59 am »

If it's side-shooting then as said above it depends on the type - bush are left with all the side shoots on, but large fruited indeterminate varieties are usually side shooted and the top stopped at some point - here in about August, but when you judge that any new fruits to form will not have time to ripen before the end of the season. I grow a variety called Sakura which is a cherry type which will grow to about 8' tall and has lots and lots of trusses. I take out the side shoots low down then allow about half a dozen to grow on. I stake all the side shoots and get a much larger crop than I would if I just let the main stem grow and this variety is still producing edible tomatoes into December with protection (polytunnel plus lots of horticultural fleece at night). So it depends an your variety and local conditions.