How to Trick Your Tomato Plant into Producing More Fruit

Time to get more fruit from your tomato plant! If you want to increase your tomato yield without adding any harmful chemicals, you鈥檝e come to the right place. Here are some tricks to sucker your tomato plant into producing more fruit.

1. Pinch off the Suckers

Start by pinching off the suckers, or the small shoots that grow out from where the leaves branch off the stem of your plant. While these suckers won't turn into new full-fledged branches, they will absorb nutrients from the rest of the plant, making it less productive. By removing these suckers, you ensure that the plant's energy is instead focused on producing fruit.

2. Prune Your Tomato Plant

As your plant grows, it will develop more and more branches, and less energy can go into producing fruit. So, if you want your tomato plant to produce more fruit, you need to prune it regularly. Pruning involves pinching off the tips of the branches so that your plant will basically redirect its resources to those areas where fruit is growing. It can also help to trim off any extra leaves that block sunlight and reduce the number of flowers or fruit that emerge. Just be careful, as pruning too much can damage the plant or reduce its ability to photosynthesize.

3. Use a Fertilizer

Though you might be tempted to use chemicals, you can use natural fertilizer to help your tomato plant thrive. A great natural fertilizer is compost, which you can find at any garden center. Moreover, you can add some organic matter like peat moss, cow manure, or worm castings. These added nutrients will help ensure that your plant gets as much nutrition as possible from the soil, allowing it to produce more fruit.

4. Water Your Tomato Plant Regularly

Tomato plants grow best when the soil moisture is consistent. That means keep the soil consistently moist, but not water-logged. You also want to avoid letting the soil dry out, as that can harm your plant. Water your tomato plant regularly - around every five days - instead of relying on occasional deep watering. This will ensure that your tomato plants are getting as much water as they need to thrive.

5. Increase Sunlight

All plants need sunlight to grow, but tomatoes especially so. If your tomato plants are not getting enough direct sunlight, they aren't going to produce as much fruit. It鈥檚 best to place your plant in an area where it can get at least 6 hours of direct sunlight per day. If it鈥檚 not possible to move the plant to where it can get more sunlight, consider adding a reflector or two. With a reflector, you can redirect and amplify the amount of sunlight that hits your tomato plant.

By following these tactics, you can sucker your tomato plant into producing more fruit. Remember to pinch off suckers, prune the plant, provide organic fertilizer, water regularly, and increase sunlight. By doing all of these things, you should end up with a bumper crop that will last you through the garden season. Happy growing!