How to Grow Short and Bushy Tomatoes | Hunker (2024)

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How to Grow Short and Bushy Tomatoes | Hunker? ›

Vining tomatoes can be grown as short and bushy plants if their central stems are pruned. Semi-determinate or semi-bush varieties grow 3 to 5 feet tall, while dwarf indeterminate, or dwarf vining plants, grow to the same height as bush tomatoes.

Determinate, or bush tomatoes, tend to be smaller and more manageable. Most tomato pruning involves removing suckers -- the shoots that form in the axils where side branches meet the stem. Remove suckers when they're small by pinching them off with your hand or snipping them with pruners.

Remove flowers until plants are 12 to 18 inches tall, so plants can direct more energy to the roots. Remove all leafy suckers beneath the first fruit cluster so they won't slow the development of the fruit.

Now that you know how to pinch them out and also stop them, you can ensure most of the energy will go towards producing the trusses that in turn produce the fruit. Not doing this will mean you have a fantastically aromatic yet bushy plant that only produces tiny green unripe tomatoes by the end of the season.

Start pinching out your tomatoes once there are at least 6 sets of true leaves. You are aiming to cut back the side-shoots, rather than pinching from the top, because you want the main stem to keep striving upwards for a good while.

When the plant reaches the desired height–usually no taller than its support, 4 or 5 feet is good–consistently pinch out all new growing tips. In a week or so time, the plant will quit trying to put out new growth at the topmost part of the plant and concentrate on new growth and fruit below.

The lower branches of tomato plants inevitably become diseased first. This is because they have the most exposure to the soil, which is where fungus hides. As a general rule, I will trim at least several branches off both determinate and indeterminate tomatoes, so that the lowest several inches of the stems are bare.

If you've transplanted your tomatoes into a vegetable garden bed, they'll need daily watering for the first week to 10 days. Always remember to water at the soil level with a soaker hose, a hose nozzle with a gentle setting, or a watering can. Once roots are established, continue watering three to four times a week.

Just prune off the tallest part of the plant. Tomatoes grow many “suckers” from the junction where a branch meets the stem it branches from. Each of these suckers is essentially a complete tomato plant t.

When the plant reaches the desired height–usually no taller than its support, 4 or 5 feet is good–consistently pinch out all new growing tips. In a week or so time, the plant will quit trying to put out new growth at the topmost part of the plant and concentrate on new growth and fruit below.

How do you shorten tomato plants? ›

Simple pruning means pinching young suckers between a main stem and a side stem. There are other ways to pruning tomato plants successfully, too. Try these. One way to prune suckers, other than simple pruning, is to pinch them off at the tips rather than the base of the shoot.

The main reason for tall, spindly tomato seedlings is insufficient light. As the plants reach toward the light source, they elongate and become thin in an effort to reach it.