Techniques

Pruning tomatoes, cucumbers, and pumpkins

Cutting back side shoots is important for most summer vegetables. By removing them, you stop your plants from wasting energy.

These energy-sucking side shoots on tomatoes are called, well, suckers.

A tomato sucker that needs to be pruned — *Ah ha! A tomato sucker*

I'll show you how to recognize suckers on tomatoes, cucumbers, and pumpkins, and how to remove them.

In the Makkelijke Moestuin, pruning is extra important

After all, we aim for the maximum harvest in the minimum space. That is why we work in squares of 30 x 30 cm.

That applies to summer vegetables too, including the ones you grow by the trellis. If you let climbing summer vegetables do their own thing, they take up much more space in no time and leave no room for their neighbours.

To prevent that, it is really important to keep the plants compact, tidy, and within their own space.

Tomatoes

All tall tomatoes produce side shoots. These grow in the axil - or armpit - between a leaf and the main stem.

They're called suckers for a reason: they are major energy suckers. So, get rid of 'em quick.

Small suckers snap off easily:

Using your fingers works to snap off tomato suckers — *Pinching off small suckers with your fingers is a snap*

But when they get bigger, use scissors:

Pruning suckers with shears or scissors — *Cut back the big ones*

Check regularly for new suckers and remove them as soon as you see them: they'll grow into full-on side branches before you know it.

Check the spots where you removed suckers before: sometimes they grow back in the same place.

A tomato sucker regrowing next to an earlier pruning point — *This sucker regrew right next to where I pruned it*

Don't forget to check the bottom half of your plant. I've overlooked plenty of suckers close to the ground and wound up with huge side branches there.

What about bushy tomatoes?

Do you need to prune low-growing tomatoes too?

Do you have to prune tomato varieties that grow close to the ground? No: these varieties are supposed to get nice and bushy. Like our Yellomato:

No pruning for low-lying dwarf tomatoes necessary — *Low-growing tomatoes don't need pruning*

There is one exception: late in the season, from around early August.

If new side shoots appear then, it is better to remove them. At that point, the plants need all their energy to ripen the tomatoes already growing.

Cucumbers

A cucumber plant quickly turns into a tangle of stems and vines with flowers and cucumber fruits. This is our cucumber:

Cucumber side shoots aren't quite like tomato suckers. They can actually help you get a bigger harvest. So, you don't remove them right away.

You also don't want to let them grow forever.

So, let them turn into side shoots but cut them off after the first flowers and cucumbers appear.

Here, some visual aides should help:

A young cucumber side shoot growing in the axil of the leaf — *See that little side shoot on the right? It won't stay little for long*

That little side shoot will just keep growing and growing.

When it gets to be 10-20 cm long, you'll already see a few flowers and little cucumber fruits on it. So, cut off the rest of the side shoot after the first two cucumber fruits:

Pruning a cucumber: Use scissors to prune the cucumber side shoots so the remaining cucumbers can develop — *Leave two cucumber fruits on the side shoot and cut off the rest*

Pumpkin

A pumpkin also produces a lot of side shoots. These have enormous growing power, so it's better to remove them all right away.

That can be a bit of a challenge when the plant is just starting to grow since the main stem and the side shoots look really similar.

So, start at the bottom of the plant, look carefully for the main stem. Then cut away the side shoots one by one.

After that, you can gently weave the main stem through the trellis net:

A baby pumpkin plant that's been pruned back in the Planty Garden — *Freshly pruned baby pumpkin*

Once the pumpkin plant is larger, it becomes easier to tell everything apart. The main stem is thicker and often dark green, while the side branches are thinner and pale green.

Small pumpkin and side shoot forming on the main vine — *A small side shoot and developing pumpkin*

Oh, and if the main stem accidentally breaks off when you're weaving it through the trellis, don't panic. Just let the next side branch grow out. It'll take over as the main stem.

That's one advantage of having so many side shoots, isn't it?

The pumpkin side shoot takes over the function of the main stem — *The side shoot takes over for the main stem*

Climbing courgettes

Our climbing courgette, Black Forest F1, does not normally produce side shoots. Very occasionally, a side branch grows from the base of the plant. It is best to remove it.

Black Forest F1 climbing courgette — *Our climbing courgette*

A few climbing courgette varieties do produce side shoots: Long Green Trailing, which we used to grow, Ola Escaladora and the Violin butternut squash. These varieties behave like pumpkins and produce enormous runners.

Extra tips:

Remove suckers when the weather is dry, to prevent infections.
Use clean scissors.
Put the removed shoots on the compost heap or in the green waste bin.

And one last tip for large tomato suckers you only discover late: pop them in water for fun. Roots soon grow along the stem, and just like that you have a new plant.

Tomato side shoots rooting in water — *Rooting side shoots from tall tomato plants*

Keep an eye on them

So, now you know what suckers and side shoots are. And how and why you should remove them: they use up a lot of energy, which would be better spent producing fruit.

So, check your plants often and get those suckers out of there.

Go get 'm 😉