My hybrid tomato plants are tall and sprawling and the fruit touches the ground. How do I stake and prune them?
How and when should I stake and prune indeterminate tomato (tamatar) for better quality?
RRohit Thakur7mo ago · 281 views
7 Answers
🌾Farmer.in Krishi TeamExpert ✓7mo ago
Tall indeterminate hybrids need staking and some pruning to give clean, gradeable fruit. Stake early, soon after transplanting establishment, before the plants flop over, using bamboo and twine or a trellis wire system, and tie the plants up loosely as they grow so the stems and fruit stay off the soil. This reduces fruit rot and blemish, improves air movement which lowers disease, and makes spraying and picking easier. Remove the side shoots or suckers that grow in the leaf axils on indeterminate types to keep the plant to one or two main stems, which channels energy into fruit and improves size. Also remove lower yellow and diseased leaves to keep the canopy open. Determinate or bushy varieties need less pruning. Confirm spacing and the training system with your KVK for your variety and conditions.
VVikram Negi7mo ago
Stake before they fall, not after. I delayed one year and tying up the already sprawled plants damaged stems and broke trusses. Putting the stakes or wire up early and tying loosely as they grow is far easier and the plants stay upright.
SSanjay Chauhan6mo ago
Removing the lower old leaves so the bottom of the plant gets air really cut my fruit rot and early blight in our humid spells. The open base dries faster after dew and rain. I also keep to two stems on the hybrid, more than that and the fruit goes small.
PPraveen Sharma6mo ago
Tie loosely with a soft material, not tight wire. Tight ties cut into the swelling stem as it grows. I use strips of old cloth or soft twine in a loose loop so the stem can thicken without being strangled.
NNeha Negi6mo ago
Removing suckers regularly, not just once, kept my hybrids manageable. The side shoots keep coming back, so I check every week or so and nip the small ones in the leaf axils while they are tender. If you let them grow big and then cut, you leave a bigger wound and waste the plant's energy.
SSuman Thakur6mo ago
A wire trellis lasted me better than single bamboo stakes for the tall indeterminate plants. The bamboo bent and snapped under the loaded plants in wind, while two wires with twine held the whole row up. It costs a bit more to set up but it carries the crop through to the end.
RRakesh Rana5mo ago
Do not over prune in our strong hill sun. One year I stripped too many leaves and the exposed fruit got sun scald on top. Now I open the lower canopy for air but leave enough leaf cover above to shade the fruit. Determinate types I barely prune at all.