Gardening Grandma says…
“You must remove suckers from your tomato plants. Suckers steal the plant’s energy, and you get fewer tomatoes.”
Truth or myth?
What is a tomato sucker, anyway? Tomato suckers are small shoots of leaves that grow on a new stem between two larger stems at a 45-degree angle. So, what is wrong with having suckers? Nothing is essentially bad about suckers, but they do take water and nutrients from the plant and usually do not produce any tomatoes themselves.
Texas A&M University recommends removing tomato suckers, or side shoots, while they are small to help produce larger fruits. “Removing suckers helps direct the plant's energy towards producing fruit rather than foliage. You should remove suckers at least once a week, and the sooner the better.”
TAMU’s Easy Gardening Tomatoes includes a graphic illustration of a tomato sucker on page 3.
https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2011/03/E-517_tomatoes.pdf
Are there benefits to removing the suckers? Yes. You will have better air circulation through the plant allowing the leaves to dry faster making them less susceptible to diseases like wilt and fungal leaf spots. With less dense foliage, it is easier to spot pests like the hungry tomato hornworms.
Cornell University Extension recommends, “When pinching out suckers, the earlier they are removed, the better. Once the suckers are thicker than a pencil, they will leave a large wound behind when removed. Check at least twice a week during the initial growing period to catch the suckers when small.”
From those gardeners who do not recommend removing suckers, they report that they get more tomatoes, but
acknowledge that the fruit is smaller on the plants with suckers left intact. Some authoritative sources also suggest removing early suckers from the bottom but leaving the rest on the plant to shade the fruit from sunscald.
(https://extension.unh.edu/resource/pruning-tomato-plants-fact-sheet).
The Master Gardeners of the University of California Extension suggest that determinate tomatoes do not need to have the suckers pruned, but they recommend it for indeterminate tomato varieties.
For North Texas gardeners there is a potential benefit of removing at least some of those suckers. The suckers can be rooted and planted later for a fall tomato harvest. Plan on trying to root several suckers because individual cuttings will not always establish roots. Be sure to dip the end of the cutting into a rooting hormone to encourage root development.
Sources and Resources
Easy Gardening Tomatoes. (n.d.). https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2011/03/E-517_tomatoes.pdf.
Pruning Tomato Plants [fact sheet] | 1 Extension. (2025, June 26). Extension. https://extension.unh.edu/resource/pruning-tomato-plants-fact-sheet
Pruning: The Secret to Bigger and Tastier Tomatoes. (n.d.). https://ucanr.edu/blog/hort-coco-uc-master-gardener-program-contra-costa/article/pruning-secret-bigger-and-tastier.
Happy Gardening!
