Please STOP PRUNING Your Plants, It's Probably Killing Them!

In this video, I explain why most gardeners should stop pruning plants in most cases. Too many gardeners are unnecessarily hacking their plants to pieces, wrongly believing it is beneficial to the plant. In many cases, pruning vegetables is detrimental. Pruning plants causes stress, opens wounds in the plant for disease to enter, attracts insect pests and can seriously damage or even kill the plant.

Unnecessary pruning has become an epidemic in many vegetable gardens. I've fallen for many of these pruning myths, wrongly believing that pruning prevented disease by increasing airflow to plants while increasing fruit production. My garden suffered terribly for many years as a result of believing these overpruning myths. Through years of trial and error and education, I now almost never prune plants in my annual vegetable garden, and my production and plant health has never been better. This video tries to set the record straight: do not prune plants unless you have a good reason.

I use the following products* to grow vegetables and fruit trees in my garden:

TABLE OF CONTENTS
0:00 Introduction
0:41 How Bad Pruning Technique Was Normalized
3:44 The True Cause Of Most Plant Problems
6:27 How I Created Native Conditions For My Plants
7:05 Most Pruning Advice Is Nonsense
8:02 Vertical Gardening Advice
8:40 Why Pruning Is Killing Your Plants
10:17 Why I Stopped Removing Diseased Leaves
13:01 How Pruning Attracts Insect Pests
14:48 When Pruning Is Actually Beneficial
15:41 Proof Of Concept: Growing Plants In Shade
17:56 Why Pruning Fruit Trees Is More Beneficial
19:07 The Failures Of Conventional Wisdom
22:21 Adventures With Dale

If you have any questions about why I stopped pruning my vegetable garden, want to know about the things I grow in my raised bed vegetable garden and edible landscaping food forest, are looking for more gardening tips and tricks and garden hacks, have questions about vegetable gardening and organic gardening in general, or want to share some DIY and "how to" garden tips and gardening hacks of your own, please ask in the Comments below!

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EQUIPMENT I MOST OFTEN USE IN MY GARDEN*:

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ABOUT MY GARDEN
Location: Southeastern NC, Brunswick County (Wilmington area)
34.1°N Latitude
Zone 8B

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*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
© The Millennial Gardener

#gardening #garden #gardeningtips #pruning #pruningtips

[TheMillennialGardener]

If you enjoyed this video, please "Like" and share it to help increase its reach! Thanks for watching😀TIMESTAMPS for convenience:
0:00 Introduction
0:41 How Bad Pruning Technique Was Normalized
3:44 The True Cause Of Most Plant Problems
6:27 How I Created Native Conditions For My Plants
7:05 Most Pruning Advice Is Nonsense
8:02 Vertical Gardening Advice
8:40 Why Pruning Is Killing Your Plants
10:17 Why I Stopped Removing Diseased Leaves
13:01 How Pruning Attracts Insect Pests
14:48 When Pruning Is Actually Beneficial
15:41 Proof Of Concept: Growing Plants In Shade
17:56 Why Pruning Fruit Trees Is More Beneficial
19:07 The Failures Of Conventional Wisdom
22:21 Adventures With Dale

[steveanimatrix]

So you're saying my laziness is actually correct. My wife needs to watch this.

[kaceykelly]

I love it when a gardener has the courage to challenge the old standards. This will help a lot of us to have much better gardens. ❤

[lindafreeman]

I completely agree with NOT pruning veggies. I have gardened all my life and have never pruned my veggies. On the videos I watch where they prune tomatoes and cut off the suckers I cringe. I also notice they have to plant 15 or twenty plants to get the same amount of fruit that I get on five plants that I do not prune. They are also replanting to try to get a fall crop because they didn't get enough fruit because they pruned and the plants died too soon where mine are still fruiting into late fall. You are also right about the amount of sun veggie plants need. I built 12 raised beds and placed them between my back fence and sheds where they receive some sun and some shade and they all produce well. Next we need to test the watering theory. I was told I should not water from above...but use a drip system on the ground as to not get the plants wet. My response to those people is....tell that to God...because He did not produce rain to come from below to water plants...he produced it from the sky so the plants can drink and refresh from their leaves as well as from their roots. I have always watered from above and rarely do I have to deal with diseases on my plants. I also think watering from above washes some of the bugs off...like aphids. Nature is smart. So good to see a video that looks at the real truth of the way things actually work best.

[GRB-fu]

I will be 77 years of age in a few days and after watching this video, you have changed my way of gardening after 57 years. Your logic is beyond belief, but it sure makes a lot of sense to me. I have never been a sucker puller, but I have done the rest, but NO LONGER. Thanks for an excellent and very informative video, and I will continue have always thought you were the absolute best gardener on Youtube.

[evemurton]

You hit the nail on the head! Just today I realized that the less time I spend hovering and being a helicopter parent to my plants, the better they grow! They want to be left alone to do what they do! But since we’re in charge of where they are growing, we end up hurting them. Humans are severely interfering, which explains why most vegetation we purchase at the store “look” perfect! They have been raised on everything unnatural from before they were even seeds. Humans are creating their own form of perfect fruit or vegetable because most people want to see perfect and will not buy anything that’s looks anything but. The most natural way to grow HEALTHY food, is to let it grow the way it knows how to defend itself from the harsh environments and pests. If we go in and snip them all up and manipulate their growth, one little moth or worm could/does devastate them!
Like children, who need to play outside with friends who are living in all different environments to increase and strengthen their immune system! We keep wearing our vegetation and then wonder why they are dying. Let’s allow them to grow in as close to their natural environment as possible, and let’s keep our busy hands off and trust them to do their thing. We do need to provide the water and shade if we are choosing their environment, and throw our kitchen scraps into their soil to feed them. And then let them be and watch what’s happens! THANK YOU FOR THE BEST GARDENING TIPS!! I learn so much from you!!

[adotintime]

I do see your logic, however, there are a couple of things to consider. 1) Most of the tomato plants we have today are not naturally evolve to be what they are due to selective bleeding. So, the argument of letting them grow in the wild without human care and they will still thrive may be just speculation because these 'man-made' tomato plants have not been put under any real pressure for a long evolutionary challenge. 2) Most of the time, pruning off tomato suckers is mostly for the purpose of real estate management due to our limited space as we all want to plant more variety of plants (for fun and joy) in a small area. If real estate is not an issue and production is the main goal, then you are probably correct as more suckers will definitely yield more tomatoes in a shorter time but the plant will be definitely growing out of control in a small area.

[Francina]

You are one of the most instinctual, natural gardeners Ive listened to and your communication skills are excellent.

[evo]

I work in a walled garden that has a massive greenhouse and I absolutely get sick of people asking me why Im not pruning my tomato plants, you hit the nail on the head, nature does not prune. When you go around pruning everything you are just making your plant susceptible to diseases. The only two plants in my massive greenhouse that caught a disease where two cucumber plants that had been pruned and yes I did use rubbing alcohol on the secateurs.

Conventional pruning methods will obviously look aesthetically pleasing but that does not mean the plants will be better because of pruning year in year out.

Thank you for going against the common trend, people just need to realize nature does most of the work.

[deltatango]

I can vouch for everything you said. I am originally from the east coast. Out there, I had no idea what I was doing. I filled a raised garden with topsoil and transplanted my seedlings that I started indoors in March, watered about every other day, and that was it! I had more tomatoes than I could eat. Everything else grew great also. I successfully grew string beans, watermelon, corn and more, knowing nothing. The down side is the very short growing season.

I moved to Arizona and have been watching Youtube videos about growing tomatoes for 7 YEARS, all of which said that tomatoes need a minimum of 6 hours of direct sun, and you MUST prune to grow bigger or more fruit, depending on how you prune. I've been following their advice for 7 years, and it's like burning money! Not a single successful garden in all that time!

I had 3 tomato plants this year that were big, green, and bushy, and one tomato! The Arizona heat caused the leaves to curl and stay that way, and almost all the buds dropped off before they bore fruit. They were planted in good, fertile soil, had at least 10 hours of sun, and I watered and fertilized regularly and pruned as they advised.

In 7 years, I've not had a single successful garden, other than kale. For some reason kale seems to grow like weeds in the winter here. I was very depressed until I saw this video. I FINALLY know what I've been doing wrong! THANK YOU!

[fredheineman]

And all these years I've been gardening I thought I was lazy, I've been gardening for 20+ years and have never pruned my tomatoes. For the last two or three years I have been watching you and several others and have learned so much. I still don't prune and my garden is beautiful and producing more than ever. What you say may go against conventional thinking but I agree with most of what you say. Keep up the good work. 👍

[jeffreycook]

Out of all the gardening video's i've watched over the years the content you put out seems to be head and shoulders above the others. Your presentations are great and always noteworthy. Thank you so much.

[pandorafox]

You are absolutely right. Some tomato plants got pruned, others did not. Pruned plants haven't grown, no flowers, etc... I never guessed it was that I was over pruning. Meanwhile, volunteer tomato plants, unpruned and wild, growing big beautiful leaves and fruiting copiously. 🤷‍♀️ No more pruning! Thanks!!! And those volunteer tomatoes are out in the full sun in 100+ degree temps!

[NicholasCamerino]

I totally agree with your theory! Last year, I did not do any purring. I had a huge crop of tomatoes. This year, I took off the suckers from listening to a garden channel, and my tomato crop has been terrible. I am now hoping my plants will recover. Thanks for bringing awareness that gardening is different in every climate!

[dexteryoung]

Powerful video, So true we have to start looking at our plants and say to ourselves how plants in nature grow so well without being cut on. Thanks for this information, I won't be pruning my plants anymore!

[BryceBandstra]

Thank you so much for your tips. I started a garden this year at thirteen and I have harvested 28 non-bitter, Ashley variety, cucumbers from three plants and there are more coming. I also just harvested my first watermelon (19 Pounds), with many more coming. Also, my strawberries and rosemary are doing amazing. I am so glad I found you, Thank you!

[bmiller]

I learned A LOT! I have always questioned pruning. This makes so much sense.
And the shade…last year, just by chance and me being a novice (and not knowing any better), I planted 20 tomatoes under a Redbud tree. Those tomatoes outperformed every one of my tomatoes that were in full sun. 💯 agree with you on the shade!

[kristenw]

This makes so much sense to me. When I first started growing and had no idea what I was doing, my cucumber plants gave me sooo many cucumbers, but since I watched more gardening videos and started doing the pruning and removing the sucker vines that many recommended, I got so much less fruit. I’m going back to leaving them alone. It seems like more and more things that we have been taught in life don’t make any common sense if you really stop to think about it. We have been so programmed to just believe what we have been told by the so called experts that we never stop to think with our own intuitions. The Great Awakening is finally starting to happen in so many areas of life. Thank you for not being afraid to speak out and be “controversial.” Sharing your intuitive common sense will help us all to grow more food, which is so important at this time. ❤

[suedoe]

I wish I had this information 2 months ago. I’ve been pruning my tomato plants and they’re not doing great. I had my doubts but so many of the big gardeners tell you to do this and I started having doubts so I stopped. 😢Oh well, live and learn. But now I know, thank you.

[FM-Patriot]

I moved from Baltimore to western NC and I must say, Thank you for this video! I am ordering my shade cloth today and the pruning will stop. The sun is WAY stronger here than up north. My plants that only get a few hours of direct sun every day always did much better than the ones in full sun. We are often blinded by the "normal" ways of doing things even in the face of common sense. I am going with common sense on this one. Thanks again for the video!