Two stems already on my tomato plant

Discussion in 'Fruit and Vegetable Gardening' started by susiederkins, Jun 5, 2009.

  1. susiederkins

    susiederkins Member

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    North Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Hi everyone,

    I've planted an indeterminate plant (I think it's indeterminate - it's called 'patio'). I have been dutifully pinching off the suckers, but I missed one right at the base. I think I missed it because the sucker was pretty big by the time I looked at it, and I didn't notice it had the original branch underneath it.

    So now I have two rather substantial stems growing side by side. I know this isn't good for my plant, but what do I do now? Do I cut off the second stem, even though it has started flowering? The whole plant is a little over a foot high now.

    I'm a real newbie gardener; my boyfriend does most of the caring for our plants, but I'm in charge of the tomato. I'd hate to ruin my one plant!

    Cheers,
    Rena
     
  2. Acoma

    Acoma Active Member

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    Lets slow down a moment. There has been, and always will be debate on this. You can go crazy with suckers so that tomatoes get more focus and production. You can let suckers go so that you have more leaves creating photosynthesis for the plant, which provides more growth. Suckers offer no fruit, only more photosynthesis for the plant to grow. More growth, more fruit. Make sense? Relax. Enjoy the garden, don't sweat it.
     
  3. The Hollyberry Lady

    The Hollyberry Lady New Member

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    I have grown a type called 'patio' too, but mine was a determinate variety, with no suckers.

    : )
     
  4. JanR

    JanR Active Member

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    Hollyberry Lady is correct as far as I know. Patio Tomatoes are determinate varieties. I read recently that it is not necessary to remove suckers from determinate varieties of tomatoes. I don't think it will be a problem. My mothers grew lots of tomatoes and never removed suckers off anything and she always got a big crop of tomatoes.
     
  5. susiederkins

    susiederkins Member

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    Thanks for your help - this is such a relief. Last year I had a plant of sweet 100's, removed all the suckers religiously, and removed many of the leaves. I had a ridiculous amount of little tomatoes last year, so much that I was actually getting a little sick of them by the end of summer. I guess this year I'll let the suckers grow, and see what happens.

    Thanks so much!
     
  6. JanR

    JanR Active Member

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    I think when you remove suckers, it makes the tomatoes grow larger, but you get less tomatoes. The tomatoes may take a little longer to ripen too as the plant is putting it's energy into growing more branches. I would think that with cherry tomatoes it wouldn't be a good idea to remove suckers as you want lots of little tomatoes.
     
  7. The Hollyberry Lady

    The Hollyberry Lady New Member

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    Yeah, I agree with JanR totally. I never remove too many suckers, certainly not religiously, and I always get a whole whack of tomatoes too.

    You know when I have way too many cherry tomatoes to eat myself, I wash them and freeze them whole, in bags. It is so wonderful in the cold months, to go to my freezer and pull out of beautuful summer grown bag of sun-ripened cherry tomatoes, place them in a sauce pan, and simmer them wth my favorite herbs and chili peppers, and then pour it all over pasta! Wow - you talk about good! A great way as well, to save the extras, if you can't eat them all at once.

    : )
     

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