French pruning... a.k.a. Did you destroy that beautiful tomato plant on purpose?
A French Pruned tomato plant?
This year I am trying something new. I am French pruning my tomato plants. And, I am learning how to do it best every step of the way. I love hearing from another farmer that they experiment...you know, trying something new to see how it works for them. It seems nothing is set in stone for those of us with a green thumb and a little imagination.
There was much more to my motive than just the "French" thing, trust me. Still, there's just something a bit perfect about "Le Farm" having French pruned tomatoes...just saying.
Basically, you remove all suckers and side leaves so the plant is left with a leafy canopy. From everything I have read, there are some great advantages to doing this:
There is no chance of moisture to splash up on the plant that might cause mold, wilt or disease. You can place them closer together. The plant doesn't expend energy making leaves and concentrates on making fruit, instead. Your yield increases and fruit is larger. You just might have outsmarted the notoriously hungry hornworm. Yuck... x 2. (This might be worth doing it for this very reason alone. This ugly sucker could carry off your firstborn.)
There has not been a real downside from what I can tell so far. It might render your tomatoes more vulnerable to the elements like sun. Also, tomato plants must be treated gently. I have snapped off more than a side leaf from making this mistake. It cannot be haphazardly done. It takes thought, finesse and a carefully calculated snip. Apart from the unconventional appearance and the OMG horrified gasp your friends will make when they see them, there is nothing else detrimental that I can come up with.
Believe it or not, there is a video link on-line that spends 45 minutes building up to someone's grandfather's super special secret to pruning tomatoes...but, this guy won't tell you until you buy his book. ( Hello... I learned everything I needed to know during the build up.
And then I Googled the rest of the story and put it all together. Too bad Mr. Marketing.)
The French are masters at unconventional creativity and disguise.
(How do I know this? Half the genes in my DNA are French so in my mind, half of me is off somewhere being unconventionally creative and elusive, at any given time. Believe me, it's true.)
I attest that my French pruned tomato plants are the perfect example of art and invention coming together in a very practical expression.
Yes, I spend way too much time thinking up ideas useless to most of mankind but, maybe this will open your mind up to trying something new and if you like how it works, make it part of your routine or at the very least, an interesting experience that you can learn from.
"Vivre un peu!"
("Live a little!")
