How to Prune Tomato Plants for Better Harvest #Organic_Gardening

There are two reason we want to prune our tomato plant. One is to eliminate chances for disease in the first place. Any of the leaves that touch the soil should be removed. If they drop down into the soil, they’ll get water on them and act as a ladder for any disease to climb up into the plant. Any of the leaves that appear damaged, yellowing, spotty, or dying should also be removed, they can be the beginnings of blight and you want that eradicated immediately.

The second reason is your tomato plant will put more energy into the foliage if not pruned than it will into producing fruit. We don’t tons of lush green leaves, we want tons of ripe tomatoes. A bonus reason is we want plenty of air circulation around the ripening fruit and too many leaves don’t allow for good air flow.

You’ll want to prune off all the lower leaves that can or are touching the soil. You may use pruning shears or just use your thumb and pinch them off if small.

The second item you’ll want to prune is the sucker shoots. Most heirloom tomato plants are indeterminate and need the sucker shoots removed.