Tomato clipping needs to be done at the right time. When to clip the top and what varieties you should not clip

Clipping or pinching tomato suckers should not be neglected. However, there are varieties that you should not clip. What should you know about tomato pinching and if you do pinch, how should you do it?

A tasty tomato, sometimes also called an eggplant tomato (Solanumly copersicum , syn. Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.), is a very popular variety mainly for excellent taste and a huge number of important nutrients, such as potassium, vitamins C, B, E, carotene, lycopene, zeaxanthin and lutein.

How to pinch tomatoes correctly

To maximize your harvest and to avoid all fungal diseases, you should learn how to pinch suckers correctly. Clipping is only done on climbing varieties because bush tomatoes or the increasingly popular wild tomatoes do not require clipping.

Photo: Pixabay

The aim is to lighten the plant and only leave the strong shoots.You should clip all suckers growing between two large shoots. Ideally, you should clip suckers before they are 10-15 cm long. If you wait longer, the sucker will become too strong and pinching may create a large wound.

When to pinch the main shoot

At the beginning of August, when the plant produces 6 to 7 flowers, you should pinch the main shoot too. The reason is simple. Tomatoes that will form from late flowers will not have enough time to ripe (they need about two months to bloom). Ripening of the last tomatoes will take too much energy from the plantIf you grow in a greenhouse, you may wait longer before you clip the main shoot.

Source: https://zahradkarskaporadna.cz/clanek-12759-tajemstvi-uspesneho-pestovani-rajcat, https://permaseminka.cz/poradna/pestovani-rajcat/jak-zastipovat-rajcata.html, https://abecedazahrady.dama.cz/clanek/prave-ted-muzete-vylepsit-budouci-urodu-rajcat

Preview photo: Pixabay