Maintaining fruitful produce plants may begin with a surprising early step: removing budding flowers from the plants before they grow too large.
The scoop
In a recent TikTok, a user named Andre (@andrethefarmer) explained a clever hack for making produce plants grow bigger and stronger, thus providing the potential for more fruits and veggies to blossom in the future.
"One of the things that I've learned over the years is when you have plants like tomatoes or cucumbers or peppers or squash and they start flowering and they're really small, the best thing you can do for them is to cut those flowers off," Andre says in the video.
@andrethefarmer Grow bigger better tomato plants #andrethefarmer #foryoupage #gardeningtips #fyp #permaculturelife #growyourownfood ♬ original sound - Andre the farmer
Andre snips small flowers from a tiny plant in his garden, explaining, "This plant is not ready to produce fruit. I want it to focus on growing itself, becoming bigger. You're gonna get a much larger harvest and better yield and a healthier plant in the long run, so sacrifice those early fruit for a long-term success."
How it's helping
Andre's hack allows plants in your garden and home to grow bigger and produce larger fruits and veggies in greater volumes.
Growing your own food helps save money on groceries and also helps you avoid dangerous chemicals found in store-bought produce. A study by the Environmental Working Group reported that 75% of nonorganic produce in the United States has residues with potentially harmful chemicals from pesticides.
What everyone's saying
TikTok users shared their excitement about Andre's hack in the comment section of his original video.
"I honestly don't know what I would do without you! Thank you," one user wrote.
"I worked at a greenhouse for like 15 years and we did this to every single plant in there. We called it 'de-budding,'" another user said.
"Wow I'm so happy I came across your page. Thank you for posting this helpful information! I'm growing my first few crops coming up," a third user commented.
Join our free newsletter for easy tips to save more, waste less, and help yourself while helping the planet.
Cool Picks
