A Complete Guide to the Latest Tomato Pinching Methods

Tomato is a vegetable crop that can be eaten raw and also used to stir-fry all kinds of dishes. When used for stir-frying, it also has the effect of enhancing freshness, and it is very popular among many people. Therefore, there are now a great many people growing tomatoes. When growing tomatoes, pinching work is essential and is of great help to tomato yield. So how should tomatoes be pinched? Below, the editor brings you the tomato pinching methods. Let's take a look!

1. Pinching Time

Before pinching, we must first determine the right pinching time for tomatoes. Generally, when the tomato plant has grown its last truss of flowers, this is the best time to pinch the tomatoes. When pinching, keep about 3 leaves on the last fruit truss. After the leaves mature, they can provide sufficient influence for the plant and promote the swelling of the top fruit truss. This avoids poor development of the top fruits due to a lack of sufficient nutrients, which can lead to deformed fruits and so on. It can also provide shade for the fruits, promote tomato coloring, and avoid physiological diseases.

2. Pinching Methods

After tomatoes are planted, the first inflorescence of the tomato plant must first be treated with hormones. This causes a strong branch to grow from the internode below the first inflorescence, and then after the third or fourth inflorescence has grown, keep the first two leaves of the fourth inflorescence and pinch. Cultivate it as the second basic branch. The inflorescences on each branch should be determined according to the plant's growing space and growth vigor. Under normal circumstances, if there are too many side branches, the yield is likely to decrease. Therefore, the number of inflorescences per tomato plant should be kept at about 12, and at most must not exceed 15.

After tomato flowers are treated, it takes about two months for them to reach the market. Then during the color-turning period, if affected by high temperature and strong light, the formation of lycopene in the tomato fruit is hindered, making tomatoes prone to producing many green fruits. Therefore, when pinching, we should mainly leave shoots at the leaf axils of the upper leaves, and then pinch when the side branches grow to 3 leaves. After continuous pinching for a long time, pay attention to properly removing leaves. Ensure the growth of side branches and avoid poor growth of flower buds. When removing leaves, all the leaves on the lower section of the main stem can be removed, and the petioles should also be cleared away to prevent gray mold.

3. Precautions

Many growers pinch the tomatoes as soon as the top truss of flowers has just grown. At this time, the top leaves of the plant have not yet grown out, which very easily leads to poor plant development due to a lack of nutrients. This increases the proportion of deformed flowers and deformed fruits, and also has a great impact on fruit swelling, leading to reduced yield. Moreover, tomato fruits generally mature when the light is relatively strong, and if the top fruits lack leaf shade, they are prone to sunscald, fruit cracking, and other adverse phenomena. Therefore, everyone must pay close attention when pinching, and only pinch after the top leaves have grown out.

The above is a brief introduction to tomato pinching methods. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only, and I hope it can help everyone!