Chapter 14

Staking, Training and Pruning

Under favorable conditions of soil and climate, plants of most varieties of tomatoes will, in field culture, yield as much fruit if allowed to grow naturally and unpruned as if trained and pruned. This is especially true of the sorts of the Earliana type and on warm, sandy soils, while it may not be true of the stronger growing sorts, or on rich clay lands or where the fertilizer used contains an excess of nitrogen. In any case more fruit can be grown to the acre on pruned and staked plants because more of them can be gotten on an acre; and it is an advantage to grow them in that way because it enables us, by later cultivation, to keep the ground in good tilth longer; also it facilitates the gathering of the fruit; and last, but not least, it generally enables us to produce better ripened and flavored fruit.

Staking and pruning used to be the almost universal practice in the South, but in many sections growers have abandoned it, claiming that they get as good or better results without it. In the North it is rarely used in field culture, though often used in private gardens and by some market gardeners, and both staking or tying up and pruning are essential to the profitable growing of tomatoes under glass. In the South, stout stakes from 1 to 2 inches in diameter and 4 to 5 feet long are driven into the ground so that they can be depended upon to hold the plants erect through the heaviest storms, as seen in Fig. 21. This is generally and wisely done as soon as the plant is set, though some growers delay doing so until the fruit is well set, claiming that the disturbance of staking, tying and pruning tends to hasten the ripening of the fruit. The plant is then tied up, the tying material being wrapped once about the stake and then looped about the plant so as to prevent slipping on the stake or choking the stem of the plant as it enlarges. Raffia is largely used and is one of the best tying materials, but short pieces of any soft, cheap string can be used. The tying up will need to be repeated as the stem elongates, which it will do very rapidly.

In pruning the tomato we should allow the central shoot of the young plant to grow, and remove all of the side shoots which spring from the axils of the leaves and sometimes even from the fruit clusters, as seen in Fig. 22. It is very desirable that this be done when the branches are small, as there is then less danger of seriously disturbing the balance of the growing forces of the plant, and also because there is less danger of careless workmen cutting off the main shoot in place of a lateral, which would seriously check the ripening of the fruit. It is especially important that any shoots springing from the fruit cluster be removed as early as possible. For these reasons it is important that, if the plants are to be pruned at all, the field be gone over every few days. If the pruning is not well done it is a disadvantage rather than a help.

Some growers allow two or three (Fig. 23) instead of one shoot to grow, selecting for the second the most vigorous of the shoots starting from below the first cluster of fruit. In some locations they stop or pinch out the main shoot just above the first leaf above the third or fourth cluster; in some soils it is an advantage and in others rather a disadvantage to do this. I have seldom practiced it. When fruit at the lowest cost a bushel is the desideratum, neither pruning nor staking is desirable.

=For home gardens.=--In the home garden trellising and pruning are often very desirable, as they enable us not only to produce more fruit in a given area but of better quality. Many forms of trellis, have been recommended. Where the plants are to be pruned as well as supported, as they should always be in gardens, there is nothing better than the single stake, as described above. For a trellis without pruning, one to three stout hoops supported by three stakes so as to surround the plant which is allowed to grow through and fall over them, or two or more parallel strips supported about a foot from the ground on each side of a row of plants answer the purpose, which is simply to keep the plant up from the ground and facilitate the free circulation of the air among leaves and fruit.

I have seen tomatoes grown very successfully by the side of an open fence. Two stakes were driven into the ground about 6 inches from the fence and the plant, but slanting outward and away from each other. The tops of the stakes were fastened to the fence by wooden braces, and then heavy strings fastened to the fence around the stakes and back to the fence, the whole with the fence forming a sort of inverted pyramidal vase about 3 feet across at the top. In this the plant was allowed to grow, but it would be essential to success that the fence be an open one.

=In the greenhouse.=--Here pruning and training are essential. The plants may be supported by wires or strings (a coarse wool twine will answer), twisting the string about the plant as it grows. The growth is usually confined to a single shoot, though some growers allow two (Fig. 24); the method of pruning does not differ from that given for field culture, but it is more important that the plants be gone over often and the branches removed when small. If allowed to do so, branches would spring from the axil of each leaf and the plant would become a perfect thicket of slender branches and leaves and produce but little fruit. The main stem is sometimes pinched out after three or four clusters of fruit are set and the branch from the axil of the first leaf above is allowed to take its place. This tends to hasten the maturing of the fruit clusters already set. After several clusters have matured, or the main stem reaches the top of the house, some growers allow a shoot from the bottom to grow and as soon as fruit sets on it the first stem is cut away and this takes its place. Others prefer to remove the old plant entirely and set in young ones. A plant ready for transplanting is shown in Fig. 25. In figures 26, 27 and 28 are shown interior views of greenhouses at the New York station at Geneva, the Ohio station at Wooster, and the New Hampshire station at Durham. Note the strong, vigorous plants in Fig. 26; the method of utilizing tile for watering in Fig. 27; and the ground-floor bedding in Fig. 28.