Many gardeners think about pruning like mowing the lawn – just one more thing they have to do to keep a garden looking tidy. However, commercial growers have known for decades that, when done strategically, pruning can increase your harvest exponentially without having to plant another seed.
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Check PriceThese nine crops promote aggressive cutting, and can lead to harvests three times greater than normal. Each type of plant has adapted and developed specific responses to cutting, and redirects its energy from non-essential growth to the production of food.
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1. Tomato products: A revolutionary way to remove suckers!
Shoots are growing from the main stem and branches of your tomato plants. These suckers take away resources from the plant instead of helping it. Suckers should be removed weekly. You will see the plant concentrate its energy in ripening tomatoes instead of producing leaves. You will have 40% more productive plants that are easier to harvest.
2. Pinching Technique for Chili Peppers and Bell Peppers
To encourage your pepper plants to branch out, pinch off the growing tips when your plants reach 6 to 8 inches tall. This will cause your plants to develop multiple stems, each with their own clusters of peppers. As the growing season progresses, trim some inner leaves to improve airflow. As a result, you’ll reduced the chance of developing serious fungal infections, which is a common issue for pepper plants during humid growing seasons.
3. Eggplants: Quality over Quantity Pruning
As eggplants grow, they will set more fruit than they will be able to develop. When a few fruit start forming, you can prune the bottom leaves and remove the side shoots to help direct the plant's energy to developing fewer, larger fruits. This also enhances air circulation and lowers the chances of soil diseases that could attack the eggplants.
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4. Grapevines: The 90% Rule
Many home growers become nervous when it comes to winter grapevine pruning, but it is very necessary and productive. You need to cut back 90% of last year's growth, leaving only 1-2 main canes per vine. This helps the vine focus on producing a smaller number of large and sweet grape clusters instead of a large quantity of smaller clusters with poorly developed grapes.
5. Verwaltung der Pflanzen bei June-Bearing-Erdbeeren
Strawberry plants create runners (long stems with little plants attached) during their harvesting period. For the next year's crop, most runners should be removed to strengthen the mother plant's crown. However, if you wish to stimulate natural growth of the strawberry patch, leave 2-3 of the strongest runners.
6. Cucumbers and Lower Pruning
For rot prevention due to ground contact and to promote energy upwards to fruit production, remove all the leaves and side shoots below the first five to seven leaf nodes of the vertical cucumber plants. Also, the exposed leaf nodes and better airflow will reduce the powdery mildew that adversely affects the harvests of cucumbers.
7. Skarpe bønner er et fantastisk valg for lengre høstingsperioder.
As soon as you see the bean vines at the top of the supports, pinch the tip of the growing vine to stop any further vertical growth. This encourages the plant to grow additional side branches and clusters of flowers to extend your harvest period by several weeks. Also to reduce humidity, which bean rust loves, thin out the overcrowded vines.
8. Fruit Trees – The Benefits of The Dormant Season
During the dormant season of fruit trees, it is best practice to prune crossing branches, water sprouts, and weak growth. Pruning canopies assists in the the improvement of light penetration and air circulation. This ultimately results in larger fruit and fewer pest problems. Try to create an open center so that light can enter.
9. Basil and Culinary Herbs: Tips to Avoid Flowering
Remove flower buds that start to form on basil plants. When a basil plant flowers, it stops producing new leaves. The plant diverts its energy to seeds and the basil plant will be done producing leaves for the season. If you keep removing flower buds, basil plants will continue to produce leaves for several months. This is also true for herbs like oregano and mint.
Timing and consistency are key elements to successful production pruning. Throughout the growing season, examine your plants on a weekly basis for small, targeted cuts that can be made in addition to larger pruning activities. Your intentional cuts during production pruning will increase your harvest totals while pruning for mere aesthetic reasons has assisted a number of gardeners in boosting their production by 200-300%.
