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This Is News to Me! Why You Should Think Twice Before Removing Tomato Suckers

If you’ve ever tended a tomato plant, chances are you’ve heard the advice: remove the suckers. These small shoots sprouting between the main stem and the branches are often labeled as unwanted, energy-draining growth that hinders your tomato plant’s productivity. But what if that common gardening tip isn’t the whole story? What if removing tomato suckers isn’t always necessary—or even beneficial?

Here’s why you might want to rethink the sucker-removal routine and embrace a more nuanced approach to growing tomatoes.

What Are Tomato Suckers?

Tomato suckers are the tiny shoots that emerge from the axils—the angles between the main stem and branches. They look like little baby stems and can grow rapidly if left unchecked. Traditional gardening wisdom says these suckers steal vital energy and nutrients from the plant, resulting in fewer or smaller fruits.

The Conventional Wisdom: Why Remove Suckers?

Gardeners often prune suckers to focus the plant’s energy on the main stem and its fruit-bearing branches. This can help:

• Improve air circulation, reducing the risk of diseases.
• Direct the plant’s resources to ripening fruit.
• Make the plant easier to manage and harvest.

For indeterminate tomato varieties, which keep growing and producing fruit all season, sucker removal is typically recommended to keep plants manageable and productive.

Why You Should Think Twice

While sucker removal has its benefits, recent gardeners and plant enthusiasts are rethinking this advice. Here’s why:

1. Suckers Can Produce More Fruit

Each sucker has the potential to grow into a branch that produces flowers and fruits of its own. In some cases, especially with vigorous plants or certain tomato varieties, allowing suckers to grow can actually increase your harvest.

2. Suckers Improve Plant Health and Resilience

More branches mean more leaves, which can enhance photosynthesis. This added foliage can help the plant build stronger root systems and become more resilient to stress factors like drought or pests.

3. Less Labor-Intensive

Constant pruning can be time-consuming and laborious, especially in larger gardens. Allowing suckers to grow naturally reduces the workload without necessarily sacrificing yield.