Accidentally cut top of tomato plant

Topping tomato plants is an essential part of the gardening calendar, and it’s not a one-off! From early summer, right through to harvest, topping tomatoes keeps your plants in check, and helps to produce more reliable harvests.

But! There are some really big mistakes you can make, so let’s take a look at exactly what to do, and what not to do when topping tomato plants.

Timing, height, variety, and location will all affect how and when you top tomato plants.

Most importantly though, not all tomatoes need topping. Determinate tomatoes (those with pre-determined growing heights), also called bush tomatoes, don’t need topping at all.

Pruning tomato plants

Indeterminate, or cordon tomatoes, are a constant battle to reign in their height.

What is topping tomato plants?

Topping tomato plants is as simple as it sounds; cutting off the tops of tomato plants. There are, however, a few different methods.

My preferred method is to top off cordon tomato plants when they reach around 6ft, and then keep on going.

Cutting back to the top growth of tomatoes every few weeks makes sure that they focus their ener

when should i cut the tops off my tomato plants

when should i cut the tops off my tomato plants uk