How to Prune Cherry Tomatoes: Maximum Yield for Your Effort

Ask ten tomato growers how they prune their plants and you'll get 10 different answers. Minimum. Throw cherry tomatoes into the mix and the options get a little overwhelming. And that's because cherry tomatoes really do require a (slightly) different pruning and trellising strategy to get the best harvest for a reasonable amount of effort.

In this video, we'll provide a practical and evidence-backed strategy for pruning indeterminate cherry tomatoes **without** getting bogged down in every possible option. You'll learn the when, why, and how of all four major pruning conditions: early flowering, lower leaves, pruning suckers and creating leaders, and ongoing maintenance.

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#tomatoes #gardening #homestead #tomatoplants #vegetablegarden

[Dossk]

Another fun tip, if you miss a sucker and it gets fairly large once you cut it off you can literally plant it into another container and have a replacement plant waiting in case something goes wrong with the original

[amygray]

I have NEVER pinched off the first blooms. I have celebrated the first early fruits (often smallish and not that great) while my plants' growth slowed to a crawl, and now I'm chuckling that I never put two and two together. I'm am super excited to get tomatoes in the ground and do this in the coming growing season - thank you.

[vimondireksri]

The amount of research and information he puts into these videos is underrated. Cheers

[marcuspowell]

Perfect timing for me. I’ve been searching for answers about pruning indeterminate cherry tomatoes. 👍🏾

[vimondireksri]

I love your information style. "This is what I do but if in your So many scenarios matter. Cheers.

[chungledorf]

I've just reached my 1-year mark for growing my own vegetables, definitely not to the extend you are but I actually really enjoy it. Definitely a lost art that I wish more people took the time to learn. destroying something takes no effort in most cases, growing something to actually nourish yourself. there's beauty in that, I think. thanks for all your helpful videos!

[Rockaholic]

First time growing tomatoes here and this was so easy to understand! Thanks for the hard work you evidently put into your videos...Subscribed! 😃🪴

[legatissimo]

love how your pruning recommendation is based on a research paper! very informative and helpful! Would love to see a video on how you would trellis tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, etc in containers!

[unicornswag]

One thing that a lot of people tend to overlook when reading studies that compare yields of single / double / multi-stem plants is that those studies usually compare yields per square foot of greenhouse space, and spacing varies drastically with each method. For example, single or double stem tomatoes grown in commercial greenhouses are usually spaced 10-12" apart. However, lots of home gardeners will space their single or double stem plants 3 or 4 feet apart. With that kind of spacing, you'll generally get far better yields by simply letting all the suckers grow out.

[DeborahC.-sktz]

You are amazing with explaining things while keeping it clear and simple. Thank you so much. Just so you know how much I appreciated your video - I've never subscribed to You Tube. I actually opened an account just so I could like and subscribe

[homebodyjen]

I have always loved cherry tomatoes and now that I started to grow them, I love them even more. They withstood the heat like champs and now that it’s cooled down, they are going insane. I had to top them because they got too tall for the t-posts I was using to stake them up. Your pruning methods have worked great for me. I left suckers on just because they got too big and I didn’t want to damage the plants. Thanks to your other video on tomato pruning, I know how to stop suckers from growing and control my plants. :) I wish I could post pictures of my plants on here. I honestly think my cherry tomatoes were saved because of your videos.

[TanjaHermann]

Now that's some detailed and freshly presented information! Thank you. Subscribed instantly!

[Alexia-ogrv]

Love this as a “first time” gardener (and my first choice being cherry tomatoes). So informative and you are very charismatic! Subscribed and looking forward to future videos 🥰 🇸🇪

[Marses]

From Austin Martin,

Tomatoes

Hey here are a few thing we do with our tomatoes:

When we first plant them, we pull off the bottom two or three leaves and bury the stem underground. All the little white hairs on a young tomato plants stems have the potential to become roots, so when you bury the part of them stem at planting you end up with a tomato that has a big root system and will be more resilient

Put some fertilizer or compost in the hole when you plant the tomatoes

We always try to make sure that the tomatoes are planted in spot with LOTS of sun. You can really see the difference in a plant that gets a ton of sunlight vs only some direct sunlight. I think that ideal conditions for a tomato are to be directly in the sun from first thing in the day until maybe 2, 3, or 4 in the afternoon when it’s just really hot

To keep the plants healthy once their all planted, we put a lot of mulch around them. When water splashes on bare, naked soil, bits of dirt can get on the tomato leaves and diseases that live in the dirt can infect those lower tomato leaves. We just use leaves from the back yard for mulch. Mulching also keeps the soil from drying out in the hot sun. It has an insulating effect like the walls of a cooler. I think it makes a big difference

Sometimes we trim the lowest tomato branches to keep them away from the soil and prevent diseases. If the tomato plant grows really big and thick, we may also trim some of the smaller branches on the plants. We do that because when the plant is super thick, it may not get good airflow which could cause the leaves to be moist, allowing for fungal diseases to take hold. But I don’t always do this. I’m really not sure how big of a difference it makes.

If you do decide to trim leaves, don’t trim a sick plant before you trim a healthy plant. It can pass diseases. You should wipe the scissors with rubbing alcohol in between plants

Uh and lastly when the weather is this hot we water the tomatoes

We usually buy cherry tomatoes. Bonnie’s has one called sweet 100 that they sell at Home Depot and Lowes. They aren’t the fanciest tomatoes, but they’re really easy to keep alive and they give you a lot

[craigdavid]

I grow tomatoes indoors with no grow light and they are like 4/5ft tall. I have used grow bloom and micro nutrients though. I have never removed any lower growth and they are all fine i have 11 huge plants and nowhere to put them as i dont have a garden. Ive started growing things at home getting them into seedlings and wild planting in places where nobody goes i take tubs of plants and hope they survive a few hour hike with the dog. But hopefully this time next year i will have had some rewards from the things i planted. I have ADHD and doing plants and messing about helps me hugely i think ive been doing something for 10 mins and ive been at it for hours. I love it

[GenderlessSpoonie]

This is the first of your videos I’ve seen and I subscribed to your channel within the first couple of minutes. Your presentation is so clear and understandable, possibly more so than any other gardening vids I’ve watched!
I can’t wait to watch more of your content, thank you for making it 😄

[Kitty_Lechat]

You are the best! Straight to the important points.😊

[socialservice]

I have just discovered your channel. I love how you put scientific references and share your own experience in your videos. Keep up the good work

[SoilandMargaritas]

Your content (and quality) is amazing, new follower here! I wasn't a cherry tomato lover as much as I adore the beefstake ones, but recently I fell in love with sunsugar and this year I have a few varieties new to me.

[thestrangefire]

This is probably one of the most well done and informative videos I have seen on the subject of growing cherry tomatoes.