Pruning Indeterminate Tomatoes in Containers and Identifying Tomato 'Suckers'

Tomato 'suckers' will actually turn into stems that produce tomatoes. If you don't prune the 'suckers' from your indeterminate plants you will end up with dozens of stems that produce tomatoes. It is a problem. You will end up with too much growth that is difficult to manage. That can lead to diseases, more but smaller tomatoes and you end up with a plant that won't survive in a container. You have to prune indeterminate container tomatoes to one main productive stem. If you are adventurous and can manage the plants water... you can get away with to main production stems.

Some other pruning videos of mine

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[THERUSTEDGARDEN]

Thanks so much for your support! Cheers & Thanks, Gary!

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Join this channel to get access to Perk Memberships which focus on providing small live garden mentoring Q & A sessions, classes, and member influenced videos:

My Books:
The Modern Homestead Garden: Growing Self-Sufficiency in Any Size Backyard

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[RobertoMusicHelp]

You know what?  I've seen many explanation of this topic but more focused on large already well established plants.  I thank you very much for being more specific and talking about container tomatoes.  This is exactly how I have my seedlings at the moment and your video hit the nail on the head.  Thank you!

[THERUSTEDGARDEN]

It takes a bit to figure out the suckers and even more time deciding how many many production stems you might want. But I figured I would start with the basics. I am glad it helped.

[THERUSTEDGARDEN]

Your welcome. It is sort of an art but the basics were in the video. I typically let mine go come August and just let them do their thing.

[callsign.Noctra]

I'm new at container gardening and I've been watching videos about how to properly care for a garden and I have to tell you that your video was the best and easiest to understand! :)

[julierhan]

so helpful! I have heard that they should be pruned but no one has ever explained it so clearly- thank you!

[Crochet.Liza]

Gary thank you, I'm a new gardener growing tomatoes for first time. I've been hearing everywhere about side-shooting, removing parts of the plant, but without pics I was struggling to figure out what was meant. Your video finally explained and showed me brilliantly! In the nick of time too, the plants are unruly, so I'm off to do as you showed, Thank you

[THERUSTEDGARDEN]

Glad it helped. It is important to know if the tomato you have is the indeterminate variety. Those are the ones you want to prune.

[donnagrace]

Thanks Gary! I was doing it partially right, although I was taking the suckers from the whole plant. Good to know I don't need to do the whole plant.

[cgarvin]

Thanks for taking the time and effort to explain. I am a new Gardner and I was not clear on defining a sucker from a stem and last year my tomato plants looked awful and I didn't know why. This totally explains. This was very helpful and now I can do this! Great presentation :)

[Teddibere]

As another commenter on here, I too have been looking at videos on here on how to IDENTIFY suckers on a Container Tomato Plant.  Your video is THE BEST Gary !!  It was great that you repeated over and over what exactly was a sucker, and showed us and stressed this was a sucker as you removed it - superb!  worked for me! I now feel confident that I know what a sucker is and I will take a look at my plants tomorrow.  Mind you, they are only 2 feet high as yet.  I have 6 plants - and I am new at this.  Grew some last year, but did not prune them.  I certainly did not remove any suckers, not knowing about them.  The plants did tend to go all over the place, but I staked them up well and got loads of tomatoes off them.  I have 6 plants, but they are only babies.

[Maxsteinberger]

I've never grown tomato plants before and because there is a lack of space in my garden I am experimenting with pots/containers around the patio etc. I found this video etremely useful and it has answered all my questions so far. Many thanks for uploading.

[myu]

Gary, thanks so much for this video. You do a fine job of explaining the potential issues with "suckers." It makes great sense to me now, especially since I'm growing my tomato plants in large containers. I've seen some people prune suckers from plants in open garden plots to help control the growth, but I appreciate how you have to be more aggressive with potted plants. I was a little late on my black krim... it has a 2nd growth stem that is too large to prune now. But I'll limit it to just 2.

[THERUSTEDGARDEN]

The single stem is best for containers. In my earth beds I might manage 2, 3 or 4 production main stems.

When about 2/3rds of the season is gone I let the tomatoes go up top and let the 'suckers' mature. There are so many options but figured I start with how do you identify suckers and manage container tomatoes.

[FaithJourney]

Just beginning my container garden and found your video to be very informative and helpful. Thanks for taking time to explain the process so clearly. Very well done!

[THERUSTEDGARDEN]

Yes right from the wedge joint. It starts as 1 stem. A sucker will branch and make 2. The main stem can produce another sucker and the sucker (2nd branch) can also make a sucker. Before you know it you have dozens of growth stems/stems with growing tips. They will produce tomatoes. That is goal of pruning. You decide the optimal amount of stems you want.

If you only keep 1 stem, they cant form on any part of the leaf but in that joint. Often they keep regrowing in the joint.

[OccasionalSojourner]

Thanks for the really simple and easy to understand instructions. My tomato plants are, each on their own, jungle bushes and now I know exactly why!

[lisamarie]

This is the best video to really show where the suckers are and how to prune them. Thank you.

[jgraef]

I had no idea there was an determinate and an indeterminate. I've been planting tomatoes for years in an old galvanized container. Total success every year, plus nice to pick tomatoes from my patio rather than mosquito bitten from walking to the garden.This was my first year to see "wilting" leaves. Today's newspaper introduced me to this topic of ind and d. Apparently this year I have my first indeterminate tomato plant. Glad I read the article and so glad to find your video. I hope my new knowledge gives me a healthy, fruit bearing plant. Thank you so much for sharing, Gary. Fingers crossed that I clipped properly. Joan

[sorrowC]

I've been avoiding pruning cause I thought it would be some scary complex task but your video made it clear and simple to understand. Thanks a lot! I am off the prune my tomatoes : )