Suckers on Celebrity tomatoes?

[Salmon Egg]

I have some Celebrity tomatoes growing, They are starting suckers. Celebrities are supposedly semi-determinate. What experience do people on this group have comparing removal to non-removal of the suckers on Celebrities?

Bill

-- Ferme le Bush

[farmerdill]

Actually Celebrities are determinate. Personally I do not prune any tomato plant, but cage the big indeterminates like Brandywine. It is pretty detrimental to yield on determinates, which are supposed to be short bushy plants.

[Salmon Egg]

I am not quite sure that I understand. Is the pruning detrimental? Or are the suckers detrimental?

Bill

-- Ferme le Bush

[farmerdill]

Determinates have short vines, Usually two to three feet in lenght. They make up for the lack of fruiting space by growing side shoots ( what you are calling suckers) which will approach the lenght of the main leader, giving the plant a bushy look. Each of these side shoots bear tomatoes approaching the rate of the main leader. If you cut them off you only get tomatoes off the main leader. It is not as critical with an indeterminate as the main leader keeps on going and setting fruits further up the vine. Some of them when trimmed to a single vine will reach 25 feet in lenght. One of the reasons determinates are the choice of commercial growers is that that they give you a tremendous yield over a short period of time. The side shoots are what makes it possible.

[Salmon Egg]

Thanks.

I guess that is why they are also called bush tomatoes. I will experiment with letting all, but one, grow with the side shoots and trim them on the remaining one. I guess that it is also possible to root side shoots into new plants.

At one hydroponic grower, they used indeterminate plants and clipped the main leader to a string. Then, as the vine grew, they trimmed the side leaves and dropped the string. That way, they were able to get about 30 feet of growth within ten feet of the floor.

Bill

-- Ferme le Bush