If you grow tomato seeds, here are our top tips for how to prune tomato plants so they are more productive and healthy all season:
First, you can start with pruning your young tomato plants – pruning off some of the first blossoms can help the tomato plant will help it put more energy into growing bigger. Pruning off the first blossoms on your seedlings and plants is especially good to do before transplanting, so they can spend energy getting their roots settled in before going into seed production mode.
Some gardeners also like to prune the tomato suckers off of indeterminate tomato plants (you can root suckers in water to make more tomato plants or just compost them.)With indeterminate tomatoes you'll see small new branches sprouting in the elbow spot where a branch meets the stem – many gardners like to pinch those off. We often run out of time and don't prune tomato suckers, but you can try it if you're ambitious! Some people swear by it, though we find that they usually do just as well either way.
Prune Lower Leaves of Tomato Plants:
One other thing we recommend with pruning your tomato plants is to prune off the lower leaves that are more likely to touch the ground or get splashed with soil when watering. This allows for more airflow under the plant, reducing the risk of fungal and bacterial diseases that thrive in moist, dense conditions.
Leggy Tomato Seedlings?
If you have long leggy tomato seedlings, don't worry! When you transplant them into bigger pots or into the garden, just bury most of their stem into the ground. The stems will grow roots and give your tomato a much more robust root system that will help it thrive and be more productive. You can also prune off the lower leaves of tomato seedlings to bury and get a deeper root system.
Grow a variety of tomatoes for the best harvest!
Choosing a wide range of tomato seeds is a great way to grow a salsa garden so you can experience all the flavors and colors of different tomatoes from your garden. Grow both heirlooms and hybrids and you will surely have a great tomato harvest come late summer.
Want more tomatoes?
Check out our Short Season Tomatoes that come to harvest earlier in the season, and over a longer growing season so you'll have plenty to make salsa recipes with! If you have late spring frosts or early fall frosts, short season tomatoes are the fastest growing tomatoes you can grow so you'll be much more successful, whether you prune them or not!
Looking for no-heat Habaneros because you love the Habanero flavor but want to tame the heat? We have two varieties of no-heat Habaneros that have the complex fruity flavor of...
Looking for no-heat Habaneros because you love the Habanero flavor but want to tame the heat? We have two varieties of no-heat Habaneros that have the complex fruity flavor of...
Wondering what seeds you can plant in May for your food garden? May is a great time to direct sow vegetable seeds for summer. While you may have already started...
Wondering what seeds you can plant in May for your food garden? May is a great time to direct sow vegetable seeds for summer. While you may have already started...
Hardening Off Pepper Plants is important but simple – you just want to gradually expose your indoor-started pepper seedlings to the outside sun and breezes so they are not shocked...
Hardening Off Pepper Plants is important but simple – you just want to gradually expose your indoor-started pepper seedlings to the outside sun and breezes so they are not shocked...
Fantastic! I will be ordering from Sandiaseed from now on.
Germination for nearly all of my varieties was 3-5 days (95% - 100% success rate). My varieties include: Red Ghost, Carolina Reaper, Trinidad Scorpion, Devils Tongue, Cayenne Ring of Fire, Habenero Red, Yellow Jamaican, Paprika Numex, and Bolivian Rainbow. Another thing that I really appreciated is that each packet seemed to contain 20% more seeds than indicated (each 10 seed pack contained 12 seeds) - Not sure if that is standard but it was a nice bonus.
I've found that when you combine roasted carrots, habaneros, lime juice and garlic, it will make the best hot sauce of your life. I think it's the sweetness and depth of the carrots that make the sauce even better, and pairs perfectly with the habanero heat. I got the inspiration from one of my favorite store-bought hot sauces, Marie Sharp's Habanero hot sauce. Sometimes I add some of your Chef's orange tomatoes too to make more of it, and they also give more flavor to the hot sauce and help tame the heat a bit. I grow these in my garden every year along with your orange habaneros, orange tomatoes and other hot peppers and veggies. Very reliable.
These fabulous peppers added lots of color to our patio pots. So pretty in multiple colors, plus you can pick them and add to salsa for a nice spicy kick. These are fun in any ornamental edible garden.
We let these hang dry, then ground them up – they made the tastiest pepper flakes. They have a nice kick, but good flavor too. Easy to grow plants, pretty peppers.
Great seeds, good germination, plants grow quickly and produce lots of pods for roasting. Great flavor and just the right amount of spice. We grow these every year in our garden in Utah.
I tried these purple Cherokee seeds on 2024. This is the first time growing these purple Cherokees and were amazed at the ease of germination and taste
These germinated in two days. I started them in midsummer and they fruited by late fall in my zone 10b garden and are overwintering just fine. I’ll have more to harvest by late spring. I made my red sauce for pozole for Christmas with my harvest!
Big Chiles with just enough heat to add to green enchilada's. The flavor after roasting is fantastic. Since green chile roasting is not a local thing in Eastern Washington we us a weed burner. The smell of roasting peppers is heavenly.
My favorite green chili to grow. Plenty of heat and after roasting sit perfectly on a hamburger. Also my wonderful wife makes Puelo Chili jam that is a real crowd pleaser