Farmers Weekly Review

I know many say we are living in a tumultuous time. And I couldn’t agree more, but I am not talking politics or religion. I am referring to vegetables, specifically the singular hot topic of pruning.

And, no, I’m not talking about when you are grooving to your favorite tunes on your headset while mowing the grass and you accidentally mow off half of your cucumber vine. I am talking the intentional, strategic pruning of certain parts of only a certain few specific vegetables to maximize production and decrease incidence of disease.

The choice is still yours, but here are some tips (get it tips?? Pruning?? I am here all week, folks) to help you decide if you want to let them sprawl or prune.

The first pruning of all garden plants that most gardeners have heard of, one way or another, is the suggestion to remove all flowers or fruit on any transplant before you plant it.

True? Mostly. The benefits of removing these energy sucking structures (remember nature’s whole goal in animal and plants is to reproduce to continue their species) is to stop the immediate energy flow from seed production, back to root establishment.

Once plants put on flower buds, the energy budget switches from producing energy gathering structures, roots, and leaves, to energy spending in the formation of fruit and ultimately seeds.

So go ahead and prune off any early flowers on your vegetables, but there is one exception: The cucurbit family — from zucchini to cucumbers, melons to gourds, and every squash-summer and winter — has a unique characteristic of having separate male and female flowers.

The problem is that if we follow the “prune first flowers to make the plant more resilient” rule, you have removed the male flowers. And the girls, well they remain, shall we say “ladies in waiting” forever. Sadly, the unfertilized flowers will just bloom, close and fall off (abscise). So, no pruning this family’s flowers.

But that is not the end for the cucurbit family when it comes to pruning. You can prune zuke, cuke, melon and gourd vines, especially if you are trying to save space and grow vertically.

You wait until the vine gets going, because, remember all those leaves are photosynthetic engines turning sunshine into food for plants (and us.) Over-pruning can be its own worst enemy.

Prune off side growth (suckers) after a few leaves have developed. You can prune off older leaves to increase air circulation, which helps reduce the dreaded powdery mildew of late summer. It won’t kill your plants; it just reduces photosynthetic ability. You can also choose to prune off some fruits if you are trying for larger cucurbits like in the case of pumpkins.

You just have to remember that the increase in size is still limited by the genetics of the type of pumpkin you are growing.

Another rule about pruning vegetables is some, through the magic and science of agriculture, have been hybridized to be optimally structured. Take tomatoes. Tomatoes are the number one vegetable that is pruned by gardeners, but only some need it.

The origins of tomatoes, the wild tomatoes were all sprawling lanky plants, called indeterminate. They continued to grow on and on throughout the season, producing fruit along the way till frost. Most heirloom tomatoes are indeterminate as are Beefsteak, Better Boy, Early Girl, Big Boy, Sweet 100’s.

Fast forward to hybridization (1815), when the first determinate or bush tomato was created. These are called determinate varieties. These plants grow into a strong bush form, stop growing and then put on tomatoes. Varieties that are determinate include Celebrity, Bush Early Girl, Bush Beefsteak.

You never need to prune determinate tomatoes. Pruning indeterminate tomatoes helps prevent them from becoming unruly and also helps to improve airflow and thereby preventing some diseases, making it easier to find fruit as well as pests.

The most effective way to prune indeterminate tomatoes is to remove suckers. Suckers develop at the base of each leaf on the main stem. For a two-stemmed plant, remove all the suckers up to the one immediately below the first flower cluster.

Suckers should be removed when they’re small, no more than 2 to 4 inches in length. Allowing them to grow larger before removal wastes plant resources, and the larger wounds create possible infection sites. When indeterminate varieties grow too large, the tops can be cut off to encourage lower growth, keeping tomatoes within easy harvest height.

Another pruning of tomatoes really helps to reduce early blight — the common fungal disease (particularly common in cool, wet springs) will cause the lower leaves of the tomatoes to develop brown freckles and yellowed leaves. Pruning the lower leaves helps to inhibit this fungus that is spread by windblown rain. Mulching also helps reduce soil splash.

Herbs, particularly basil, benefit from pruning and to avoid the plants from getting leggy. And who doesn’t need more ready-to-eat fresh basil? Allow your basil to get 6 to 8 inches tall. Cut just above a pair of leaves on the stem (this is called a node) to encourage branching and bushy growth. And continue to prune basil every two to three weeks during the entire growing season.

For the vegetables that are “cut and come again,” which includes all the leafy greens, pruning is essential to keep the plants growing and tasting their best. Harvest leaves often to encourage new growth. And as the weather gets warmer, consider a shade cloth to get a longer harvest before they start to bolt and turn too bitter to eat.

And no discussion of vegetable plant pruning would be complete without addressing garden sanitation. I enjoy watching experienced gardeners walking along their rows carrying on a full conversation with ever busy hands and darting eyes. They are constantly looking to remove anything that is diseased, damaged, insect ridden leaves, fruit, or other plant parts.

We should all be doing this plant pruning sanitation at least weekly to keep our plants in premium productive shape. Its also important to always remove diseased materials far away from the garden.

I am amazed how often people will pick diseased leaves and drop them right under the plant, which creates the opportunity for disease spread instead of prevention.