TIL my neighbor was right about pruning my cherry tomatoes

I used to think pruning balcony tomatoes was a waste of time because more leaves meant more energy for fruit. My neighbor in the unit below saw my bushy plants last July and yelled up "you're gonna get nothing but leaves up there!" I laughed it off but after getting maybe 3 tiny tomatoes from 4 plants I tried her advice. Trimmed all the suckers below the first flower cluster and kept the center stem clear, ended up with 40+ tomatoes by September. Has anyone else had a stubborn moment where criticism actually fixed your whole harvest? I'm curious if I should prune my bell peppers the same way or if that's a different game entirely.

2 comments

2 Comments

ninas7010d ago

Yeah, the "you're gonna get nothing but leaves" line hit home hard. My first year with tomatoes I had these giant bushes too, maybe six tiny fruits total. After I finally trimmed them like crazy I got buckets full.

nathanbennett10d ago

@ninas70 probably didn't get yelled at by her neighbor from three floors down like I did, but at least she got the message eventually. My plants looked like a jungle, I was proud of them, then after three months I harvested what looked like a single sad handful of cherry tomatoes that tasted like water. Pretty sure if I had pruned my bell peppers that aggressively I'd just get a single pepper and a lot of regret, so let someone else test that theory first. My neighbor now waves at me from her patio every time she sees me with the clippers.