Quote:
Originally Posted by TZ-OH6
Many of us prune off the suckers below the first flower truss (for a couple of reasons), so encouraging side branches to form form would be undesirable. I've also had deer and chipmunks top prune seedlings and it sets them back quite a bit.
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Having seen on YouTube where the greenhouses prune at about six inches, I then did a net search and found sevral recommendations for this beyond just greenhouse applications. So, my thought was, especially with the leggy plants, to prune them now at that six inch height and go on and start the development of dual stems early on. For those using cages, it would better fill the bottom spaces and for those using suspended lines to wrap the plants, it would better spread the weight. Just curious as to other's actual experience and thoughts. Sure, it would cost a couple weeks, but starting now, that might not be a bad thing to allow the soil a chance to warm. I'm not so sure that setting plants out in areas like here in GA where the winds are strong and the ground still very cold does anything but encourage disease. I did note, that when hardening, the few plants that died were those I had watered too much prior to a cold night. Setting plants out into cold soil isn't always such a great gain. That said, might tomatoes with low multiple stems be prone to breaking like fruit trees do with a narrow crotch?