Pinching out tomatoes in June: channel the plant's energy into fruit
Side shoots cost your tomato plant energy without adding a single extra fruit. Pinch them out regularly now and you'll harvest bigger tomatoes on healthier plants.
By late June, tomatoes shoot upward — and a new shoot forms in every leaf axil. With cordon (staking) tomatoes, it pays to remove these side shoots consistently. It sounds like work, but it takes less than a minute per plant and has a real say in your harvest.
What a side shoot is — and why it gets in the way
A side shoot grows in the leaf axil, exactly in the angle between the main stem and a leaf stalk. Leave it, and it turns into a full second stem with its own leaves and flowers. The catch: the plant then spreads its energy across more and more shoots. Instead of a few large fruits you get lots of small ones, and the dense foliage stays damp longer after rain.
Cordon yes, bush tomato no
Pinching out only pays off with cordon tomatoes — the tall varieties you train up a stake or string. They crop best on one or two main stems. Bush and patio tomatoes, on the other hand, set their fruit precisely on those side shoots; pinch them out and you cut away your own harvest. If you’re unsure, check the seed packet or plant label: if it says ‘bush’ or ‘patio’, leave the plant alone.
Do it in the morning, with your fingers
Take the small shoots in the morning, when the plant is full of water and firm. Shoots of two to five centimetres snap off cleanly sideways between thumb and finger — the small wound seals over quickly. Cut larger shoots with a clean, sharp knife. Once a week is plenty. Do it in dry weather: an open wound plus moisture is the gateway for fungi such as late blight.
Don’t overdo it: leaves are not side shoots
A common beginner’s mistake is to strip the plant bare. The leaves feed the tomato through photosynthesis — they need to stay. Only remove yellowing lower leaves that touch the soil; they’re the biggest risk for spores splashing up. And don’t confuse the leaf stalk with a side shoot: the side shoot always sits in the angle between leaf and stem, not the leaf itself.
Don’t throw the side shoots away straight off
Healthy side shoots about a hand long root surprisingly easily in a glass of water — usually within two weeks. Growing a new plant from one in late June is more of an experiment: at our latitudes, tomatoes started this late rarely ripen fully. For a mild late summer or fast cherry varieties it can still work. Otherwise the shoots are perfect food for the compost.
How to keep the weekly rhythm
The key is consistency: a quick weekly check beats cutting back a jungle once a month. In Rootivo, the Care tab shows the upcoming tasks per bed and lets you tick them off — so pinching out doesn’t slip through the cracks. And in the plant encyclopedia, the tomato profile gives you the right spot, spacing and companions at a glance.
Im Lexikon: Tomate