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Tomatoes are a widely cherished vegetable and a favourite among gardeners. However, they require attentive care to flourish, including protection from frost and a regular schedule of watering and feeding.
They can be grown from seeds indoors or purchased as young plants, then cultivated in pots, garden beds, or greenhouses, whether indoors or outdoors. But the experts have urged the gardeners to stop making one mistake that will make tomatoes grow “stronger and more vigorously”. According to the experts, removing tomato suckers will not contribute in its growth but provides more energy.
Larry Hodgson explained the importance of tomato suckers in Laidback Gardener blog. He said that the tomato plants will actually be stronger and grow more vigorously if you don’t prune off the secondary stems.
He wrote for the blog: “It is important to understand that, as the word ‘sucker’ is clearly pejorative. When you hear it, you automatically imagine the sucker stealing energy from the plant. It sounds like something you should get rid of.
“On the other hand, the word ‘stem’, the true term, is a neutral word, neither negative nor positive. You have to ask yourself what is the advantage of removing a stem from a tomato plant.
“And here’s the really important point: since stems produce leaves and leaves carry out photosynthesis, stems don’t “suck” the energy out of the plant. Instead, they provide energy. All the energy of most plants comes from photosynthesis and photosynthesis is carried out by the green parts of the plant.
“Since these secondary stems are not only green, but bear leaves, they add considerable energy the plant can use to grow more vigorously and produce more fruits.”
For generations, gardeners have been advised that pruning secondary stems from tomato plants is essential. Tomato suckers are tiny shoots that sprout at the junction between the main stem and side branches of a tomato plant.
If allowed to grow, they can develop into full-fledged branches with leaves and fruit, making the plant more sprawling.
He added: “If you don’t remove secondary stems, you will harvest more tomatoes, although they will be slightly smaller than the tomatoes produced by a pruned plant.
“On the other hand, they often taste better because the plant has more leaves and therefore more energy… and leaves convert solar energy into sugar.”
