Cocktail tomatoes strive for lush branching, like all tomato varieties. If you prefer to harvest tasty fruit, you should opt for regular harvesting. We reveal how it works and present an alternative.
How can you make the most of cocktail tomatoes?
Properly pinching cocktail tomatoes means using two fingers to carefully break out any unnecessary shoots in the leaf axils from a size of 3 to 5 centimeters to the side. This promotes the growth and development of tasty fruits.
Ideal tool: two pointed fingers
All you need to properly harvest cocktail tomatoes is a little attention and two sharp fingers. It starts immediately after planting outdoors, in the greenhouse or on the windowsill. The tomato plant busily forms an abundance of superfluous shoots that branch out into an impenetrable thicket. These unnecessary side shoots must go if tasty cocktail tomatoes are to develop. This is how it works:
- remove the small shoots in the leaf axil from a size of 3 to 5 centimeters
- take it between two fingers and break it to the side
- This care measure should preferably be carried out early in the morning
Leave stingy shoots that are too long on the cocktail tomato because they cause too big a wound on the plant. In this case, simply pinch off the shoot tip so that at least no energy-sapping flower develops.
Also read how to properly prune your tomato plants.
Cocktail tomatoes on a trellis – no need for pinching out
Where a cocktail tomato is allowed to grow airily and loosely, regular thinning can be safely avoided. Cultivation on a trellis is an excellent option. The tendrils of the tomato plant find enough support and can be guided upwards at a sufficient distance. In this way, practical ripening floors are created where each region is provided with sufficient light and air.
- Planting early cocktail tomatoes in a 12 liter pot
- insert the first module of the trellis
- place the lower tendrils over the supports and tie them loosely
- add the second module after a few weeks of growth
Each individual shoot is relieved of the weight of the cocktail tomatoes and reaches the sun from the thicket of leaves.
Tips & Tricks
Cautious hobby gardeners treat even the smallest wound after rooting out cocktail tomatoes with an onion peel extract so that the dreaded late blight does not find a target. To make the tincture, 20 grams of onion peels are soaked in water for 3-4 days and strained. The solution is applied with a fine, disinfected brush.
