It’s much encouraging, having a big harvest of tomatoes out of your garden after a hard work of raising fruitful tomato plants. You want to have such a bountiful harvest of tomatoes? Yes! It’s probably an answer to anyone who does farming.
Topping has been proved being one of the very substantial process one can easily do to enhance tomato harvest whether in determinate or indeterminate tomatoes. It’s obvious you’re asking yourself what is it.
This article is therefore brought into your sight, to give you a blueprint whenever you consider topping tomatoes as a technique to learn. The focal interest under this potential presentation is to bring to your knowledge what Tomato topping is, why should you opt it for you garden, when it’s a perfect time for doing it and finally How can it be done.
Now let’s get in together!
What Tomato topping is?
Trimming or pinching off growing tips of the tomato plants from the central stem, mostly the ones grown above the cage or stake. Simply cutting off the top of the tomato plant, however some use it interchangeably with pruning, while this one is particularly at the top section of the plant (TOPPING)
Why should I top my tomatoes?
Despite of not being a must do procedure for all tomato varieties, it’s rather a very important technique for you as a gardener to manipulate plants growth for better results you always desire to have. As I have said this technique works for better in indeterminate tomato variety, (without predetermined growth height) as they keep growing throughout the season. On the other hand, topping to determinate (they have limited growth, they rarely grow above 4ft tall) tomato plants equal to sending a simple message to a plant to stop more growth. By topping your tomatoes, you will wonder how productive your garden becomes, just dare the technique!
Here below are some benefits you will surely enjoy by topping your tomatoes;
1. Improved growth
It’s pity looking at leggy and weak stemmed tomato plants along your garden isn’t? Having your tomato plants topped, at the beginning of the season in particular, the energy flow is redirected to the central stem making it much stronger, the plant becomes bushier. Having a strong stemmed plant provides an assurance of the plant to resist damage by heavy rains as well as catastrophic winds.
2. More Fruits
Instead of having larger plants with fewer fruits, topping them will act a potential function by catalyzing the production of much fruits. Instead of a plant struggling to distribute limited amount of nutrients it has to enable flowering and growing up the taller plants, it will rather focus the energy onto growing out fruits.
Let’s be honest, this is every farmer’s ultimate desire; To have nice looking harvest. Topping your plants on a right time when plants are blooming and growing out fruits will ensure substantial supply of nutrients such as, magnesium & phosphorous to the fruits. Remember pruning the top part of the plant will force the plant to redirect nutrients to the remained parts, guess what? Fruits gets bigger and better.
3. Bigger and healthy tomatoes
4. It is easier to support
Particularly to Cordon (indeterminate) variety, which keeps growing continually until frost; It’s very unfortunate that we can’t get out timber from them. It sometimes become disturbing wrestling with giant tomato plants in your garden especially if your plants are caged. As you top your plants just above the stake or trellis, it really helps you to decide the height of your tomatoes. If the tomato plants grow beyond their support, you will sadly watch them breaking during heavy rains and wind.
When should you Top your tomatoes?
Though it seems to be a beneficial process you as a gardener to opt for you tomatoes, still doing it at a right season and time remains crucial factor for a successful topping. Hence you need to know perfect timing at which topping will be favorable and needed for better expected results. You don’t just top your tomatoes at any time you hold your clippers! The results will be heartbreaking.
As much as cordon tomatoes are concerned, it’s advisable to start topping your tomatoes as soon as they reach 6 feet tall at first. Thereafter it can be done in three to four weeks whenever there is a new growth. Undeniable fact is that, as the plant reaches 6ft tall and above it will unnecessarily shade out neighbor plants as well as the fruits, in turn fruit ripening is slowed even hindered.
- In cool climates like ours it can be done just 4 to 6 weeks before the first frost.
- Your using cages, trellis or stakes it will be fine topping your tomatoes immediately after the plant reaches above support.
- In a greenhouse top your tomatoes as the level of humidity exceed 70% to 75% to allow easy ventilation as well as avoid the danger of fungal diseases (Septoria blight) and rot
NOTE: If you want to top determinate tomatoes, you should strictly do it at the end of the season when you want to speed up the ripening, any time before that will only hamper the plant’s growth and provide you with tiny harvest at all.
How do you do it?
You do not need to be a PhD holder agronomist, to carry out the simpler process as this, however it’s very important to understand that you shouldn’t do it blindly without being knowledgeable at all.
The following tips are vital to consider when topping your tomatoes;
- Tools for topping such as garden clippers should be well prepared, if they have been used recently for a similar work, it’s safer to treat them with disinfectants (bleach solution has proved to work better) before using them to keep away the risk of infection.
- The scissors or clippers must be sharper as possible to avoid damaging the plant.
- Trim the central stem of the plant just above the fruits.
- You can also remove suckers that grows of the stem.
- Avoid over topping, sufficient foliage should be left to ensure reasonable shading
- The plant will regrow quicker, don’t be tired! repeat the task, when the stem gets too high.
- Finally, don’t throw away the cuttings, they can be replanted by propagation or add value in your compost heap.