A terrible thing happened the other day. I heard you should trim the top of your tomato plants 30 days before a hard frost. This allows the plant to put all of its energy into producing fruit for the remainder of the growing season. I consulted Wisconsin Online Gardening (
http://www.wisconline.com/almanac/gardening/index.html) for when to expect a hard frost. Yikes! October 4-10? There are only a few weeks left? The Ghost of Tomatoes Past conjured visions of frost bitten tomato plants! Oh, the horror!
OK, OK - I'm being dramatic. My tomatoes are just fine for the moment.
I ALSO read that if you remove the non-fruit bearing branches (during the normal growing season) the plant will produce more fruit. I had two plants that drooped every day, no matter how often I watered. So I pruned those two - thinking if they have less leaves, they'll transpire less water throughout the day, so perhaps they won't wilt. They seemed to benefit from it, so I pruned the remaining six plants. They look kinda spindly, but I AM getting plenty of tomatoes.
One added benefit (I'm allergic to bee and wasp stings) is that I can see and retrieve my tomatoes without putting my hand into dense foliage where a bee or wasp might be hiding. Now that the nights are getting cold, I'm wearing rose gardener's gloves. No stinging insect can penetrate elbow length suede.
Knowing I ought to trim my tomato tops, I snipped a few. But my heart just isn't in it. Trimming them implies the season is almost over. I have a tendency to resist the march of time. I have to be dragged kicking and screaming from one season to the next. However, if we keep having these 40 degree mornings I
may reconsider..... :)
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