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You are here: Home / Fruits & Vegetables / Growing Vegetables / How do you keep tomatoes from growing too tall?

How do you keep tomatoes from growing too tall?

6 Comments

QUESTION: How do you keep tomatoes from growing too tall?

ANSWER: You can prevent your tomatoes from growing too tall by pruning them. Pruning also encourages the plant to grow fruits instead of creating more foliage. Always use clean, sterilized shears when you prune to avoid spreading disease in your garden. Prune so that leaves do not throw shade onto other leaves, but do not prune away the leaves that shade flowers or clusters of fruit, as the shade will protect them from the heat.

Once a plant is the same height as its support mechanism (which is usually four or five feet), prune it regularly to remove all the new growth at the top and keep the plant a manageable size. You may also wish to prune away the “suckers” that grow from the bend where a branch meets the main stem, which will make fruits larger but can reduce the number of overall fruits produced.

Next time, try growing a bush or determinate type of tomato, which does not tend to get as tall.

vine tomato plant with text overlay growing tips tomatoes how to keep tomatoes from growing too tall

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Filed Under: Growing Vegetables, Tomatoes

Comments

  1. Thomas Jaglowski says

    July 17, 2020 at 2:28 pm

    My plants look healthy and they buds but the buds never turn into tomatoes they just dry up nd fall off, whats the problem ?

    Reply
    • MICHAEL GILBERT says

      July 18, 2020 at 4:41 pm

      Shake those plants to help pollinate the blossoms. Makes a big difference. Sounds like you don’t have many bees around. Helps to plant flowers that attract bees around fruits and vegetables.

      Reply
      • Kelly says

        June 30, 2021 at 7:06 pm

        You can also tease them with a small hand paint brush and self pollinate the flowers. Works wonders!

        Reply
    • Nate says

      July 18, 2020 at 6:22 pm

      Mostly likely your soil.

      Reply
    • Lan says

      July 19, 2020 at 2:41 am

      Probably lack of pollination. You can look up how to hand pollinate. In the future, consider planning flowers specifically for bees, and avoid mosquito treatments and other things that kill bees.

      Reply
    • Tracy says

      June 13, 2021 at 5:58 pm

      Probably your soil and watering. Plant w basil…on a next subject… Makes tomatoes tastier ?

      Reply

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