Should tomato plant stems be trimmed off before planting?
There is usually 2 – 4 stems at the bottom that I will trim back, this gives more energy for main plant growth also preventing the plants from flowering and producing the fruit so close to the ground! I noticed you didn’t mention the other stem growth on tomato plants. Commonly known as side shoots, they grow between the main stem and leaf stem. These must be removed they steal energy from the plant by producing more leaves and causes the plant to produce more, less quality tomatoes. See picture below, the X shows you the side shoot all of these must be removed! The side shoots can be removed at anytime even if they are large! To prevent over growth that is to high let it grow to your desired height, mine is about 3 – 4 feet at which time I cut the top of the plant off or what is called the growing tip! Doing this allows all the energy to then be concentrated on the tomatoes! If you see any yellow leaves be sure to remove them, by doing this you prevent the possibility of the plant get
Once the tomato plants are about 3′ tall, remove the leaves from the bottom 1′ of stem. These are usually the first leaves to develop fungus problems. They get the least amount of sun and soil born pathogens can be unintentionally splashed up onto them. Spraying weekly with compost tea also seems to be effective at warding off fungus diseases. -Insert the transplant into your hole, and bury the tomato stem (not just the root) up to the second true set of leaves (snip off the others with scissors.): http://vegetablegardens.suite101.com/article.cfm/howtoplanttomato plant the tomato plant as deep as you can so that you only have the top four inches of the plant above the soil line. Remove the leaves below the soil line. Then fill in the dirt around the plant and water it well every day for the first week.:
I grow my own tomato plants from seeds. Some years they get a little leggy (long stems) and I have to bury them in a trench to maximize the root system and not have the wind damage the exposed plants. I never trim the leaves off the stems as that might cause excess water loss. Tomatoes require lots of very consistent water. Breaking the leaves off can cause them to use even more water. If you keep the soil moist, you probably won’t see any problem from removing the leaves. If, as you said, they are blossoming, you have it made. I do remove the suckers from the plants later on. http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/how-to/articles/pruning-tomatoes.aspx Depending on how large the vines get, I have trimmed excess growth off late in the season to minimize new fruit production and optimize ripening of fruit already on the vines. I currently live in a northern climate, near Lake Huron. The
There is usually 2 – 4 stems at the bottom that I will trim back, this gives more energy for main plant growth also preventing the plants from flowering and producing the fruit so close to the ground! I noticed you didn’t mention the other stem growth on tomato plants. Commonly known as side shoots, they grow between the main stem and leaf stem. These must be removed they steal energy from the plant by producing more leaves and causes the plant to produce more, less quality tomatoes. See picture below, the X shows you the side shoot all of these must be removed! The side shoots can be removed at anytime even if they are large! To prevent over growth that is to high let it grow to your desired height, mine is about 3 – 4 feet at which time I cut the top of the plant off or what is called the growing tip! Doing this allows all the energy to then be concentrated on the tomatoes! If you see any yellow leaves be sure to remove them, by doing this you prevent the possibility of the plant get
