Comments on: Tomatoes: Are You a Sucker-Plucker?

By: Daniel Gasteiger

Daniel Gasteiger — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 13:57:00 +0000

Baxter: 175 Romas? With about 85 total plants last season, trellising and plucking suckers was a considerable undertaking. Just for the work you’ll save, I agree with your decision not to pluck. As well… as tomato plants go, Romas are fairly compact and make nice “bushes” when you surround them with cages or other trellising. Were I to grow determinate varieties such as Romas, I’d lean hard toward caging them and letting the suckers grow. The crazy indeterminate varieties I grow usually go at least 3 feet above my trellises, totaling 10 feet from ground to terminus. They’d be much shorter if I left the suckers to grow… but trellising would be a nightmare. Have a terrific growing season, and thanks for visiting!

By: Baxter

Baxter — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 17:49:39 +0000

Great article, as I read for the sole purpose of whether or not to pluck suckers….the key point that there is no difference in production, basically.
I have 175 Romas, which are determinate and I am letting the suckers alone. Since they are in 8 rows, I use poles at intervals with a heavy wire and tie-off each plant to the wire.

By: Kathy @nativegardener

Kathy @nativegardener — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 20:28:03 +0000

That was a very helpful article. Thanks, Daniel. Now I think “indeterminate” would be the way to go.. heirlooms?

By: Salvia Divinorum

Salvia Divinorum — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 21:27:24 +0000

I didn’t even know there was a name for those little offshoots. I’ve been growing tomatoes in my dorm room. Pretty cool!

By: Tomato Supports in Your Small Kitchen Garden | Your Small Kitchen Garden

Tomato Supports in Your Small Kitchen Garden | Your Small Kitchen Garden — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:08:29 +0000

[...] an earlier post, I explained about how to manage tomato plants. I, personally, am a sucker-plucker; even on determinate varieties of tomatoes, I remove suckers and tie the tomato vines to [...]