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Why remove tomato suckers:
Many don’t know about tomato suckers. However, understanding what tomato suckers are may be the key to healthier and more productive tomato plants. That’s because “suckers” can “suck” the energy out of tomato fruit production by putting on more green growth. Moreover, tomato suckers all over a plant can encourage disease problems too.
Clip out Suckers at the point where they emerge from the base of a leaf on the main stem
Do all tomatoes have suckers that need to be removed?
Not every tomato needs to have tomato suckers removed. That’s because tomatoes some don’t form a lot of suckers. And these plants can be left mostly unpruned.
In a nutshell:
- If you’re growing an indeterminate, pruning is a good idea. That’s because these produce lots of suckers. It’s as though they undecided (or can’t “determine” when it’s time to stop growing green shoots and focus instead on ripening fruit. So, left unchecked, they may grow loads of green growth without lots of ripe tomatoes.
- However, if you’re cultivating determinant tomatoes, you likely don’t want to prune. Or you don’t need to prune out as many green shoots as you would on an indeterminate plant. That’s because these tomatoes are “determined” to grow to a single size and set fruit on that size.
- As well, to make things even more confusing, some tomatoes fall between those categories. These are called semi-determinant. For these in-betweeners, a bit of pruning may be in order.
And, if you need help choosing which tomatoes to grow, check out list of some of our favorites.
What are tomato suckers anyway?
The suckers on plants are vegetative shoots. To clarify: these are green shoots with lots of leaves. And while they will form flowers and fruit, the plant will flower and fruit off of the main stem faster than it will off of a sucker. So that means, when the sucker is removed, it takes less time energy for the plant to grow another green shoot and later flower on it.
How do suckers put a strain on tomatoes?
Too a lot of tomato suckers may put a strain on a plant’s limited resources. That’s because the plant has to support all of that green growth. Yes, the green growth may provide more photosynthesizing power. However, the plant may not focus on forming fruit and ripening if it is working hard on growing the green stuff.
Moreover, when a plant is dense with green growth, it may have minimal airflow. And when airflow is reduced, disease may thrive. Plus, when plants become dense with foliage, light may not get into the interior of the plant. And this can negatively impact the overall plant and fruit ripening.
The tomato stem on the left is a sucker. And, about 2″ above it is a flower stalk.
Where do suckers grow on tomatoes?
Briefly explained: suckers are the new shoots that emerge out of a tiny bud near the base of a leaf. This growth happens right where the leaf base connects to the main stem.
However, before you remove a shoot, it’s important to be sure that the shoot isn’t a flower shoot. That’s because these are where the fruits form.
And, its important not to remove the main, tip shoot on the plant if you want it to keep growing upward.
The images in this post illustrate where to prune out tomato suckers.
Can I remove suckers that have gotten big on my tomato plant?
Sometimes we don’t see a tomato sucker until it’s gotten large on a plant. In fact, sometimes those suckers might even have some flowers growing on them. That being said, it’s still possible to snip out a larger sucker from a tomato. However, it is more ideal to pinch out tomato suckers when they’re small.
Is it ever good to allow tomato suckers to grow on a plant?
Tomato suckers are a natural part of the plant. And while removing them has many benefits, sometimes keeping a few can be good too. For instance, tomatoes can be trained like a vine in an espalier style. In particular, cherry tomatoes can product abundantly this way. Moreover, by allowing a few, select suckers to grow on this kind of vining plant, it’s possible to create a very decorative and fruitful tomato along a fence line.
Ok, but wouldn’t it also be good to prune flowers early season to promote growth and get a larger later season harvest?
Not in our experience. However, some gardeners do choose to do this. We garden in the PacNW, which means our growing season is very short. Our tomatoes often don’t go into the garden until late May or early June, which means flowers may not appear until late June. So, we prefer to eek out as many fruits as possible from as many flowers as possible!