Knowledgebase
Pruining Determinate Tomatoes #750204
Asked May 16, 2021, 10:34 AM EDT
Montgomery County Maryland
Expert Response
Hello Gina,
Determinate tomato varieties stop growth at a certain point (eventually, with a bloom) and so should not get so large they necessitate pruning. In general, they stay around 4' high or smaller, depending on variety. 'Sunrise Sauce' in particular tends to max-out around 3' high. If this is too large for its container where it tips over easily or runs out of root space, you may need to use a larger pot size to accommodate it, or switch to a smaller-growing cultivar. For compact tomatoes, as an example, an approximately 5-gallon capacity container is an ok size, though bigger can be better: https://extension.umd.edu/resource/types-containers-growing-vegetables
You can do some light trimming to control height if you'd like, but stop by mid- or late July so you don't eliminate too much fruiting potential.
Tip-trimming will promote bushiness and more suckering from the leaf nodes, so retain most of them if you want a bushier plant. You can remove those suckers that appear at the plant's base, however.
Miri
You're welcome!