I see lots of friends and family in the Tri-Cities area posting pics of their first tomatoes coming off the vine. Some years I have a lot of success growing tomatoes, other years not so much. I blame the lean years on late winters or cold springs, but now that I've learned how to properly trim my tomato plants, I don't think I have room for any excuses. I've watched several videos on Youtube about trimming tomato plants, and what exactly that does for your tomatoes. I had no idea where to start, and quite frankly, was afraid to lose future BLT and fresh salsa fixins' by cutting the wrong limbs. But once you understand what "suckers" are and avoid cutting the main stem and the limbs that have flowers or fruit on them, you'll be snipping away like I did!

We actually harvested our first tomato last week. While I was watering, I noticed some 'red' peaking through the mass of leaves. It was pushed up against other limbs and trying its best to be awesome, but it was just too crowded. Now that I've learned about trimming the "suckers" and those worthless limbs that come out at 45-degree angles and never produce fruit, I'm pretty excited about future harvests, and can't wait to see how the plants do now that so much growing energy is NOT going to leaves, but to the actual tomatoes. Look at the difference after my pruning job...you can actually see the bottom of the plant.

Steve Woods/TSM
Steve Woods/TSM
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You can watch lots of videos about this topic, but the one I found the most helpful is below. And while she may not exactly get Tr-Cities weather, sometimes it's pretty close, as she is located in Ontario, OR, just this side of Boise.

 

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