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With the end of August almost upon us, many people’s tomato plants will be thriving. However, to get the best tomato harvest, it’s imperative gardeners prune their plants. Pruning tomatoes properly should help boost their growth which will ensure you get an abundance of delicious fruit.

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Pruning the plants can also help the plant receive more sunlight and therefore photosynthesise more effectively. But how you prune depends on what variety of plant you have.

Vine tomato plants will need dead shoots and leaves pruning more regularly than bush tomato varieties, which tend to ripen all the fruit in a shorter amount of time.

These are the three tips to remember when pruning tomato plants, including the key sign to look out for that your plant needs to be pruned.

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Remove any dead or yellowing leaves, as this is usually a key sign it’s time to start pruning.

Older tomato leaves can turn yellow because they’re trying to provide nitrogen to younger leaves. However, yellow leaves could also be a sign of iron deficiency.

Tomato suckers which appear as side shoots that grow in the “V” space between the stem and a branch of a tomato plant need to be removed, as these will grow into full-sized branches.

The suckers will sap energy from the rest of the plant which could lead to smaller tomatoes, so it's important to ensure these suckers are removed when they’re as small as possible.

Use pruning shears or your fingers to pull off the suckers if they’re less than two inches long.

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Long-hanging branches touching the soil need to be removed as they are more prone to diseases and fungi.

If these branches are left, they could infect the rest of the plant.

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