The decision of whether to prune cherry tomato plants depends entirely on the specific variety and your gardening goals. Cherry tomatoes are vigorous plants that can quickly become sprawling if left unmanaged. Pruning manages this growth, ensuring the plant’s energy is directed toward producing a healthy, abundant harvest. Understanding the different growth habits of tomato plants is the first step in determining the proper care regimen.
Understanding Your Tomato Plant Type
Tomato plants are categorized into two main groups based on their growth habit: determinate and indeterminate. This distinction dictates how much, if at all, you should prune. Most cherry tomato varieties, such as ‘Sungold’ or ‘Sweet Million,’ are indeterminate, meaning they grow like vines and continue to lengthen and produce fruit until frost kills them. Indeterminate plants need substantial support and benefit greatly from pruning to manage their continuous, sprawling growth.
Conversely, determinate varieties, often called “bush” tomatoes, grow to a fixed height, usually between three and four feet. They stop growing when a fruit cluster forms at the terminal bud and produce the majority of their fruit over a concentrated period. Determinate plants generally require little to no pruning; removing too much foliage can actually reduce the overall yield.
The Purpose and Benefits of Pruning Cherry Tomatoes
For vining, indeterminate cherry tomato varieties, pruning enhances plant health and fruit production. A primary goal is to improve air circulation, especially in humid environments. Reducing foliage density allows air to move freely, helping leaves dry quickly and reducing the risk of fungal diseases like early blight.
Pruning also manages energy, redirecting resources to beneficial areas. Removing excess vegetative growth concentrates nutrients into fewer growing points, leading to more consistent and faster ripening. This improves the overall quality and speed of the harvest.
Another benefit is the efficient management of vertical growth, useful when gardening in limited spaces or using trellises. Limiting the plant to one or two main stems trains it to grow upward in a narrow column, making it easier to maintain and harvest. This focused growth ensures developing fruit receives adequate sunlight for optimal flavor development.
Practical Pruning: Identifying and Removing Suckers
The most common technique for pruning indeterminate cherry tomatoes involves removing “suckers.” Suckers are small, secondary shoots that develop in the axil—the V-shaped junction between the main stem and a leaf branch. If left to grow, suckers mature into full-sized, fruit-producing stems, turning the plant into a dense, sprawling bush. Removing them maintains a single-stem or double-stem structure.
Suckers are easiest and safest to remove when they are small, ideally less than four inches long, by simply pinching them off. This creates a small wound that heals quickly, minimizing shock. If a sucker has grown thicker, use clean, sharp gardening snips to make a clean cut close to the main stem to avoid tearing the plant tissue.
It is also important to remove lower leaves, particularly those that are yellowing or touching the soil. Soil is a common source of pathogens, and splashing water can spread disease to the plant. Removing leaves up to the first fruit cluster, or about 12 inches from the ground, creates a protective, disease-free gap and improves air flow at the base.
Essential Non-Pruning Support
All cherry tomato varieties require physical support to handle the weight of their abundant fruit production, regardless of pruning intensity. Indeterminate varieties grow tall and heavy, necessitating a strong support structure to prevent sprawling. Allowing vines to collapse and fruit to touch the soil makes them vulnerable to rot, pests, and soil-borne diseases.
The three main support methods are staking, caging, and trellising.
Staking
Staking involves driving a strong, six to eight-foot post next to the plant and tying the main stem to it at regular intervals. This method is highly effective for pruned, single-stem plants, allowing for close spacing and maximizing vertical space.
Caging
Caging, using store-bought or DIY wire structures, allows branches to rest on the wire rings as they grow, requiring less frequent tying than staking. For tall, indeterminate varieties, the cage must be sturdy and at least five to six feet tall to provide adequate support throughout the growing season.
Trellising
Trellising, such as the Florida weave or a hog wire fence system, offers a durable, long-term solution by providing a continuous framework for multiple plants to be trained and secured.