How to Prune Greenhouse Tomatoes? Key Steps and Methods Explained
How to prune greenhouse tomatoes? Please explain the guidance: to achieve early maturity and high yield in greenhouse tomatoes, the single-stem pruning method is often used. For early-maturing varieties, only the main axis of the tomato is kept, and all lateral branches in the leaf axils are removed. For mid-to-late-maturing varieties, because of their strong growth vigor, continuous single-stem extension pruning and continuous pinching are usually adopted...
How to prune greenhouse tomatoes? Please explain the guidance
To achieve early maturity and high yield in greenhouse tomatoes, the single-stem pruning method is often used. For early-maturing varieties, only the main axis of the tomato is kept, and all lateral branches in the leaf axils are removed. For mid-to-late-maturing varieties, because of their strong growth vigor, continuous single-stem extension pruning and continuous pinching are usually adopted. They are introduced separately as follows:
For continuous single-stem extension pruning, remove all lateral branches below the first lateral branch under the first flower truss, and keep the topmost lateral branch at the topping point to replace the main stem and continue extending upward.
For continuous pinching pruning, single-stem pruning is used. When the tomato grows 3 to 4 flower trusses, leave two leaves above them and pinch, as the first basic branch. Keep the lateral branches in the axils of the top two leaves of the plant for continuous pinching, that is, after the axillary buds in the two leaf axils sprout, leave one leaf on each and pinch, and when the axillary buds of the lateral branches sprout, leave one leaf on each again and pinch. This pruning method can generally bear 12 to 16 trusses of fruit.
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