You may need to get on your knees to get in at the base of the plant so these oldest stems can be cut right to the ground or to vigorous side shoots originating near ground level.
If you removed the central stalk to promote side shoots, you won't be able to harvest seeds.
After this time point, the apices from one to three side shoots per plant were collected, altogether from 40 plants per sampling.
This means you'll be trimming the stem back beyond the flowered part, and all the way down to where side shoots are growing off.
A wilder Mexican tomato called Matt's Wild Cherry shows signs of resistance; another is Koralik, a sprawling bush tomato (the type where you don't have to pinch out side shoots) closely related to Matt's.
Once the main vine gets to considerable size, cut it at the growth point to produce more side shoots (the parts that grow the actual gourds) which will result in many more gourds per plant.
Cut back side shoots to 2 to 3 inches (5.08 to 7.62 cm), making sure each shoot has 2 to 3 flower buds.
Don't let the ball go behind your head or off to the side; shoot it in a fluid, forward motion.
And you'll need to remove their side shoots once these reach about 3cm so they can concentrate on the fruits that form along their main stem.
Buds also form in the axils of the leaves ready to produce new side shoots.
