Tomato plants are having some small branches which are present in between the leaf and the main stem of the plant. These small branches are called tomato plants suckers. They will grow if not removed, and they will even have fruits.
There are two types of tomatoes.
The first one is determinate tomato plants and the second one is indeterminate tomato plants.
In the indeterminate tomato plants, the frost will kill the plant. These plants often grow in long growing seasons. Some examples of indeterminate tomatoes are Brandywine, Sungold etc.
But as we know that in determinate tomato plants, tomatoes will grow in a long season. So, how can we grow it in short seasons? You can do one thing. If you will remove the suckers from the tomato plants then you will get a good yield in the short season also.
For determinate plants, the plant will not grow too much. It will grow to a certain limit only and then it will wait for the fruits to get ripe. Some examples of short growing season plants are Bush Roma, Baby boomer, and many more.
If tomato plant suckers are there then some of the energy of the plant will be taken by the suckers. So, it will not affect much for the long growing seasons but for the short growing seasons if you want good results then you should remove the plant suckers.
How you should remove the tomato plants Suckers?
Removing the tomato plant suckers is very easy. Small branches are present between the leaf and the main stem of the plant, these small branches are tomato plant suckers.
You can remove them by using the scissor or by using hand.
Tomato plant suckers take a lot of energy of the plants also, So if you are going to remove the tomato plant suckers then remove it early otherwise it will not be beneficial.
What you can do with tomato Sucker Plants
If you are having the tomato plants suckers, then you can grow another tomato plant by using the sucker. You have to root the sucker. So, by using this process you are getting a large number of tomato sucker plants.
If you are facing a large number of unripe tomatoes.
You can use frost blanket to keep your plant warm to increase the count of ripe tomatoes. If you are keeping unripe tomatoes indoor, then they will ripe in one week or two weeks.
If you are removing the tomato plant suckers from your plant, then the fruits of the plant will also grow bigger in size.
Removing tomato suckers are a good idea or bad
Whether you want to remove tomato sucker or not, it just depends upon you. It will affect the quality of the tomatoes. Gardner’s don’t remove the suckers often. More suckers will lead to more fruit.
What are the different benefits of removing the tomato suckers-
If you are removing tomato suckers, you will get a large number of benefits depending upon the quality of tomatoes. these are-
The fruits will be healthier
If you are removing tomato suckers then the branches will be less and more nutrients will be there in the fruits. So, you will get healthier tomatoes.
Various diseases will be prevented
Removing the tomato suckers will also provide you disease-free tomatoes. This is because along with tomato suckers there will be a last number of branches, and also a large number of tomatoes. As a result of this, the plant will be nearer to the ground. Due to all these tomatoes can have contact with water bacteria etc and hence the fruits can various diseases.
When you should not remove the tomato suckers
Determinate Tomatoes are in no need of removing the tomato plant suckers from the plants. This is because, after a specific time, they don’t grow. Even if you will remove the tomato suckers, they will not grow after that also.
These were the things that you should do with tomato plant suckers depending upon the situation.
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