How to stepson tomatoes in the open field and greenhouse (video)

During the cultivation of tomatoes, it is recommended to regularly feed the soil with various mineral fertilizers. This has a positive effect on the amount of harvested crops. However, top dressing also contributes to the appearance of a large number of branches, which can interfere with the formation of large fruits. To get rid of shoots, it is necessary to pinch tomatoes in open ground. For beginners, this procedure may seem rather complicated, and therefore it is recommended that you familiarize yourself in advance with how to properly pinch tomatoes and whether you should do it at all.

General information

Before you figure out how to stepson tomatoes, you need to familiarize yourself with the basic information about this procedure.

The main task of the root system of bushes is the uniform distribution of all nutrients. During growth, most of the substances are spent not on fruits, but on the growth of tops. In order to somehow reduce the cost of elements for tops, tomato pinching is carried out.

Staging a tomato in the open field is a pruning of unnecessary shoots that are formed only for the growth of the plant. Quite often, stepchildren in tomato seedlings appear in the leaf sinus. They grow between the main stem of the plant and the leaf. To properly get rid of these shoots, you need to know how to properly pick off the stepchildren of a tomato.

Stepchildren will have to be removed from the bushes throughout the entire cultivation. This is the only way to get a good and large harvest.

The appearance of stepchildren

To figure out how to pinch tomatoes, you need to understand what stepchildren look like and where they most often begin to form. After all, not everyone knows exactly which shoots need to be removed in order to improve productivity.

The stepson is a shoot that begins to form from a bud located between the stem of a bush and its leaves. The growth of this shoot is not limited in any way. Over time, flowers, leaves and even fruits will begin to form on it. It is imperative to pinch tomato seedlings with such extra shoots, since a bush that is too thick does not bear fruit well. The leaves are also sometimes pruned. However, this will not help to completely stop the thickening of the plants. Only a complete pinching of the tomatoes will help in stopping the thickening. It is recommended to do this when the plant grows to 50 cm, and the length of the shoots reaches 5-8 cm.

When to remove shoots

Before you cut the shoots, you should figure out when to do it. For the first time, the procedure is carried out even during the cultivation of seedlings. Quite often, unnecessary shoots begin to form on very young bushes.

At the same time, while pinching tomato seedlings, stepchildren that are more than one centimeter are removed.

Next time you need to pinch tomatoes in the greenhouse and on the site after planting in the ground. It was during this period that new shoots intensively begin to appear on the bushes. Therefore, you need to periodically get rid of them and engage in pinching a tomato in the open field once a week.

Main recommendations

Recommended to read the basic tips for removing shoots to understand how to properly prune tomatoes.

Quite often, stepchildren are removed without any additional tools. Many growers simply remove them by hand. Such pruning of tomatoes in a greenhouse must be carried out with gloves. It is recommended to engage in manual breaking off of shoots before lunch, as in the morning they are juicy and because of this it is much easier to break.

It's pretty easy to figure out how to pinch tomatoes. During this procedure, the shoots are tightly clamped with the index and thumb. After that, they should be rocked in different directions until they break. After pinching, a small wound appears on the bush. It must not be touched until it is completely dry.

You can also pinch tomatoes in the open field with scissors or an ordinary kitchen knife. This method is more complicated than the previous one and therefore it is worth familiarizing yourself with how to pinch tomatoes in a greenhouse with cutting tools:

Pruning a tomato in a greenhouse should only be done with well-sharpened tools so that when pinching it, the stem is minimally damaged.
Removing shoots on tomatoes requires certain skills from a person. After all, hand movements must be accurate and very fast for the procedure to be painless for the bushes.
Before cutting off stepchildren on the next plant, all tools used must be disinfected in a solution of potassium and bleach.
To prevent the emergence of new shoots, a small piece of the stepson should be left after removal.
The breakable shoot must be disposed of immediately. If left on the site, they can become a source of various infectious diseases.

Working with indeterminate bushes

The scheme for pinching such tomatoes is quite simple. However, you should still familiarize yourself with how to properly stepson tomatoes in the open field and greenhouses.

The main difference of all indeterminate plants is that they can grow continuously. If you do not take care of the removal of excess shoots in a timely manner, then in the future the bushes may occupy all the free space of the greenhouse.

You can form such tomato bushes in various ways. It all depends on the variety of tomatoes grown. During the formation in one stem, you will have to get rid of all the shoots located in the leaf axils. If the bushes have a tie, then before pinching the tomatoes in the greenhouse, the tie will need to be removed to lay the stem on the ground.

During the formation of several stems, the plant will have to leave the required number of shoots. Over time, they transform into additional stems that need a mandatory garter so that they do not break. All other shoots should be removed.

Working with determinant hives

Quite often, undersized tomatoes are determinant varieties. Their distinguishing feature is that they stop growing when a brush appears at the top. After removing additional shoots, the plant will stop forming stepchildren with new leaves and brushes.Therefore, the yield of such varieties is limited by fruits formed earlier.

There are a few basic guidelines that will help you understand how to properly prune tomatoes in the greenhouse and on the plot:

it is necessary to deal with the removal of only those stepchildren from tomatoes whose length is more than 5 cm;
before starting work, you should select the main sprout shoot;
sometimes the garter makes it difficult to remove stepchildren, so it is better to remove it during work;
it is not necessary to remove all the extra shoots, as you can just pinch the tomatoes to stop their development.

There are also superdeterminant varieties that have their own principle of pruning tomatoes in a greenhouse. Some of them greatly simplify the cultivation of tomatoes, since they stepchild only once. The fact is that if stepchildren are removed before the formation of the brush, then in the future they will not appear.These include Raketa, Yamal, Moskvich and Vershok tomatoes.

Removing sheets

It's no secret that leaves are an important element of any plant. After all, they are responsible for nutrition and gas exchange. Therefore, they must be removed very carefully so as not to accidentally get rid of a he althy and young leaf.

It is recommended to get rid of only those leaves that negatively affect the development of the fruit. For example, these include leaves that shade tomatoes. If you get rid of them in a timely manner, this will improve the air exchange of the plant and speed up the process of ripening tomatoes.

You also need to cut off the leaves that grow near the brush of the plant. It is recommended to remove no more than four sheets per week. However, if the bush is well looked after, and it does not get sick with anything, then at one time you can get rid of six leaves at once.

At the end of the season, you can get rid of almost all leaves, except for a few that are at the very top of the bushes. This procedure helps to protect the bushes from the appearance of various diseases.

Conclusion

During the cultivation of tomatoes, it is necessary to deal with their stepsoning. Before that, it is recommended to figure out how to stepson tomatoes in order to improve yields. It will help you understand how to stepson tomatoes in the open field video, which will be a step-by-step explanation of this process.