Can You Really Increase Your Tomato Plant Harvest By Tapping The Stem?

Everyone loves a good gardening hack, especially if it helps you yield more vegetables throughout the summer. But not all hacks are created the same, and some are much more complex than others. But if you're looking for an easy shortcut, then look no further than this TikTok tapping trick. According to gardening content creators, if you tap your tomato plant stems a few times each week, your harvest will surely increase. But you don't want just to tap any part of the stalk — you specifically want to tap near the yellow flowers sprouting from the plant.

The reason this hack works is because tomato plants are self-fertile, meaning they can create fruit with their own pollen. Tomato plants have both male and female reproductive parts within each flower. The male part, called the stamen, produces pollen, while the female part, called the pistil, contains the ovary where the fruit develops. To successfully grow fruits, tomato plants usually require the transfer of pollen from the stamen to the pistil. Bees and breezes usually do this, but you can help the process along yourself by tapping near the flower, releasing its pollen. This can lead to a bigger harvest.

While tapping your tomato plants during the middle of the day may feel silly at first, this is a common greenhouse practice. Greenhouses are controlled, artificial spaces, meaning there are no wind or pollinators in the area unless they're introduced. To work around this, plants are connected to a wire attached to a device that shakes them, which releases pollen into the air. However, if your tomato garden is smaller in scale, you won't need a fancy device to do the tapping for you. You can just do it yourself.

When you tap near the yellow flowers, the pollen falls from the bloom's stamen and onto the pistil. For best results, try tapping the plants two to three times a day. The more you do it, the more you increase your chances for a higher harvest yield. Just make sure you're gentle with your tapping — you don't want to be too rough, or else your risk breaking the stem.

If you want a shortcut to your shortcut, you can also buy or DIY an electric pollinator. These are vibrating sticks that you can apply to the stems of your plants to shake them. They look similar to electric toothbrushes and are said to increase one's annual yield by up to 30%. However, if you don't want to spend $20 to $50 to get the device, you can also DIY it. Simply take an old vibrating toothbrush, remove the head, and tape a piece of thick wire to the shaft.

If you would rather not introduce tools to the process, you can also try doing things like applying fertilizer with the right NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) ratio or adding soil amendments like blood meal, bone meal, and worm castings to the soil. You can also add eggshells while planting, which increases calcium and fights off blossom rot, which develops nearly ripe tomatoes on the vine. Supporting your plants in wire cages or trellises also helps, since it ensures they grow big and tall.