Thanks to many different care treatments, my plants grow luxuriantly and bloom profusely. This is usually something to be proud of.There are cases, however, when this growth and flowering need to be limited a bit.In order to achieve higher yields, I am sometimes forced to cut or break the tops of the shoots of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, pumpkins or melons.
If you are looking for ecological remedies for pests, diseases and plant slurries, you can also find them here:
I usually do this in early August to prevent the plant from wasting its strength on further growth and focusing on producing more fruit. Due to the topping of growth cones, plants bear fruit faster, more numerous and more magnificently.
Topping out is not a difficult procedure, although I follow a few rules when doing it. First of all, I wait for dry, rainless weather, then remove all redundant, diseased and withered leaves, and only then cut the top of the main shoot above the last flower, leaving two leaves above it.If necessary, I repeat this procedure for too exuberant shoots, reviewing the condition of the plant at each fruit harvest.The vegetables strengthened in this way return a rich and good yield.
In addition to all the cucurbits, eggplants, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes, other crops such as Brussels sprouts, garlic, broad beans, herbs and flowers can be topped and even have to be topped off. These, however, are governed by slightly different rules. We don't announce Brussels sprouts until the end of September.Otherwise, we may be counterproductive.Remove the inflorescence shoot of garlic immediately after it appears.
Broad beans form larger pods faster with systematic removal of leafy tops.Thanks to this, we also get rid of aphids feeding on young shoots. Herbs react differently. Topping them up accelerates the growth of new leaves and prevents the formation of fruit that is not needed in this case.
Teaching flowers
Top perennials from flowers, but also the annuals that we do not want to spread again. We do it systematically, after noticing the first signs of wilting petals.Allowing the seeds to form will provoke the directing of all the plant's forces to nourish them, which in turn will result in weaker development of subsequent flowers, leaves, roots, bulbs and next year's buds.
I leave the rose bushes, directed outwards, an eye above the first, five-fingered leaf, forcing them to produce more flowers on the expanding side shoots. I also do not forget about topping the vines in the summer. I trim them over the fourth leaf of the highest cluster.
This makes the grapes bigger and the overexposed bush is less susceptible to the spread of fungal diseases.Topping does not harm the plants and allows me to enjoy earlier and more abundant crops.
