What is a tomato sucker and how do I identify one?

Question

I tried looking this up on google, but I could not find a good explanation. How do you tell if a branch is a sucker? I have never pruned my tomato plant. It is my 2nd year growing them. Is it too late to prune these branches this late in the growing season?

Answer 1

Hi,
Here is a good article:
http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/pages/g00031.asp

I tend to prune early in the season and let them grow later. If your plants are taking over though and laying on the ground, I would prune now.

Good luck

Answer 2

It is the lateral branch that grows from the axis between a leaf and the stem. The axis is just the place a leaf comes out of the stem. It is most obvious in young plants or the growing tips. look along the main stem til you reach a leaf. There will be a bud coming out between the leaf and the main stem. This bud grows into the side branch. Pinch the side branch off before it develops more than an inch or two. Since the hormone to elongate is only in the tip it will not come back once it is pinched off. I would hesitate to remove large branches as that will be a larger opening for disease to enter. Thin the upper reaches to encourage the fruit already set to be the plants main effort.

I usually remove the first few lateral branches to thin the plant and push it towards fruiting when I start the plants. All branches below the first fruit cluster are removed. No other branches are removed above the first cluster to set fruit on. Then later in August I start thinning again to prevent new fruit and encourage ripening in the fruit I have.

I use the stake and weave method of growing my plants rather than cage them. This way I trellis them onto string woven between stakes. Staking or trellising works in my small space and I don't have to store cages.

Answer 3

A sucker is just a branch that's growing away from the main branch. Some are near the bottom of the plant, but they can be at any point. If you're growing an indeterminate variety of tomato (the kind that simply gets taller and taller), then you may want to get rid of the suckers. If you're growing a determinate variety, then you may want to leave them there to produce more flowers/fruit. I have grown tomatoes lots of times, and unless a sucker is near the bottom of the plant, I don't bother with removing them.

Answer 4

Depending at what your tomato plants are doing now would determine if it to too late to prune. If you are growing an indeterminate variety (i.e. a viney plant), these plants will continue to produce fruit until frost gets them, so pruning now would probably be fine.

If you are growing a determinant variety (i.e. the plant is more bush-like), and has been producing fruit, it may be too late to make a difference. Take a look at the article, which tells you how to identify suckers and the best way to prune tomatoes. I have been following most of these suggestions for several years and they have worked for me.

Answer 5

Sirollerblader, what a fabulous site. I already know about suckers, but it takes forever to write it all out. Check out Sirollerblader's source, it is great.