Fylgia Pi

Women to women :

“I still don’t understand the difference between suckers and branches… yet when I remove them, I harvest fewer tomatoes.” This is a very honest concern, and many experienced growers feel the same. Let’s make it simple and clear. In Tomato, what we call a sucker is simply a young shoot that grows in the “V” space between the main stem and a leaf. At that early stage, it looks different, so we give it a name. But with time, that same sucker grows, strengthens, and becomes just like any other branch. That is why it becomes confusing. Because in reality, a sucker is not something different. It is a branch that has just started. So instead of trying to separate them by appearance, focus on where they grow from. Every leaf comes out from the main stem, and right in that angle, a new shoot can appear. That shoot is what we call a sucker. Now here is the part your experience already proved. Those suckers you removed could have produced flowers and fruits. Some take longer to bloom, but they still contribute to yield. So when you removed them, you reduced the number of fruiting points on the plant, and naturally, your harvest decreased. You were not wrong. You were simply following incomplete advice. The truth is, tomato pruning is not about removing all suckers. It is about managing them. If you remove too many, the plant produces fewer fruits. If you keep all of them, the plant becomes overcrowded, fruits become smaller, and diseases increase. The best approach is balance. Remove the suckers close to the ground to improve airflow and reduce disease risk. Then keep a few strong ones higher up so they can grow into productive branches. This way, you maintain both plant health and yield. In the end, a sucker is not a mistake by the plant. It is a potential you can choose to manage. If you remove it, you limit production. If you keep too many, you reduce efficiency. Good farming is not about following rules blindly. It is about understanding the plant and making the right decision for your goal.