A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum The Tomato Forum Two Questions

First question...
I had always been told to take the "thumbs" off a tomatoe plant. Then I read another book, and it said Not to prune... is it common to take the thumbs of the tomato plants or not?

Second question..
My tomatoe plants are doing great, growing... lots of blossoms. But as the tomatoes are coming in they are VERY small. I water every morning and evening(I know you are not suppose to do the evening but with this 110 Texas heat- They have needed the extra water)

What can I do to help the fruit grow bigger? FYI-The tomatoes are suppose to beef steak tomatoes.. but they are coming in no bigger than a cherrie tomatoe...


Thank you for taking the time to read this post..
Angie for the Seller Family

Welcome!

There is a post in the tomato forum titled "to pinch or not to pinch" (or something like that). It is a great discussion of the pruning suckers issue. Bottom line: it's your choice! And there are good arguments for both. I do not typically do this. But check out that post! You may want to, given the current heat situation etc. where you are.

I'll defer to the other TX tomato growers here, and just comment that beef steak (at least where I am) take a LONG time to get big. But again, there are TX folks here. They'll be along shortly!

Angie,
Like Marcia stated there is another thread where this is covered. It boils down to what works best with your gardening methods. I only prune if needed and stated why and when I do in that thread.

If I understand it correctly you are saying your fruit is smaller than it should be. If I misunderstood please correct me. I find here in extreme SW KS where we get the extreme heat and wind that the fruit is usually smaller during mid and late summer till cooler weather hits. If I manage to get them in real early and they set early sometimes the early ones will have a little more size then get smaller as the heat sets in and then increase in size again in the fall. I have had my soil checked. Have tried most of the methods and nothing works. Once in a while you will find a variety that the heat doesn't bother much or have one or two fruits that come in bigger but overall summer fruit for me is smaller. My opinion is the heat requires so much water to just keep the plant alive that it decreases what is available to grow the plant and the fruit. And also the heat and wind stress a plant. I have had plants grow 3-4 foot from the last week of August till October 1st after it starts cooling off and fruit size jump 2-3 ounces. I consider it part of living here in our climate. I have found shade and windbreaks do help. Why? I think it is because they aren't stressed as much and don't require as much water as those fully exposed to the elements. I have plants in shade after 2 and others that have full sun all day this year. Those in the full sun grew a more before the extreme heat hit. It looks like those in the shade will produce the biggest fruit and have about caught up if they haven't in size as the heat has hit. Jay