Tomato is a rather capricious vegetable. He loves sunlight and in low light can wither or simply refuse to produce a crop. Therefore, with a fairly dense planting pattern, the leaves will interfere with each other and take away all the lighting, which can lead to slow growth of the tomato or wilting, because. greenery will take the strength of the plant to fight with others for sunlight. That is why it is recommended to prune tomato bushes. How to cut tomatoes in the open field will be discussed further.
Benefits of pruning
If one plant obscures the sun to another, then the stem of the second plant, which lacks light, will begin to lengthen, will form foliage on new stems, i.e. forces will be devoted to the cultivation of new greens, and less to the nutrition and growth of fruits.
Thus, the conclusion suggests itself that it is important and necessary to cut the leaves that obscure the sun to others. This will help ensure that all tomatoes have approximately the same level of light exposure, and therefore improve and possibly increase the yield.
The increase in yield in case of pruning is explained by the fact that the functioning of the plant is reconfigured to feed the fruits, and not on unnecessary greenery. Therefore, after removing most of the leaves, you can notice an increase in the amount of yield.
Also, pruning is important because it reduces the risk of disease, as more germs and pests start in the shade. In addition, it was noticed that after constant pruning of the bushes, the fruits became a little larger, there are more of them, and they ripen much faster than on those bushes on which the vegetation is preserved. The stems must not be allowed to fight among themselves for warmth, because then you will probably get big, lush bushes, and the fruits will remain the same small and green, if they appear at all.
Even if you have a very large garden, you need to trim the tomato at least from time to time. Yes, they will not ripen as quickly as with frequent pruning, and perhaps the harvest will not be very large, but still do not forget that there are many benefits from pruning the bushes and you should not forget about them if you want to get a lot of tasty tomatoes.
Pruning instructions
Open ground cannot always provide tomatoes with as much sunlight as they need, usually the bushes themselves are to blame, because by closing each other, they thereby do not allow them to develop properly. For this, the tomato must be cut off.
First, those leaves that touch the soil are subject to pruning. This is done in order to ensure that direct sunlight hits the base of the stem. Gradually, you need to free it from greenery.
In the end, the leaves should not remain below the first flower brush. As mentioned earlier, this is done to provide warmth for the plant, and also to prevent diseases that may develop under the greens.
Those parts that are on the periphery are also trimmed. You also need to remove those parts of the leaves that obscure other parts of the plant or are themselves in the shade. It is also worth removing those parts that obscure neighboring fruits from the sun.
It is also important to remove stepchildren on the bush, except for the strongest one – this will also concentrate all the forces and nutrients of the plant in one place, which will help it develop better.
If you don’t know where the strongest stepchild is, look under the first flower inflorescence, you can usually see it there. The method of pruning will depend on the type of plant, so in the determinant type, a tomato is usually taken as the basis of four to five stems, and the remaining stepchildren are ruthlessly removed so as not to take strength from the main plant and not obscure the open ground and the stem itself from the rays of the sun. 
In seedless tomatoes, it is recommended to leave fewer stems. And when the fruits are tied and become large, in any type it is necessary to cut out all the greens below the level of the fruits.
The last step in pruning bushes is to remove the tops. During pruning, you need to select one small ovary, leave a few leaves on it, and remove everything else. So the tomatoes will have more strength for the growth and nutrition of the fruit.
Ideally, pruning should take place two to three times a week, but if you can’t cut bushes that often, don’t worry. It is enough to clean up excess greenery at least once a week, and you will get a large crop of delicious tomatoes.
Video “How to prune tomatoes”
After watching the recording, you will find out why to trim the leaves of tomatoes, how to do it correctly and how often.
