Do you let your tomatoes develop 2 or 3 or 4 "leaders"?

My theory is that if there is enough room for a sucker, then why not let it grow, and allow the bush to get up to 4 leaders, as long as the bush does not get too congested - thanks, paul m.

Any pruning is strictly optional and is never required and will cost you fruit production. Determinate varieties are never pruned. Like Lucille said, I never remove (prune) any branches from my plants except those really low ones that drag the ground and never have in over 50 years of growing tomatoes.

Literally 100's of discussions and even a FAQ here about all this and I linked some of them below.

Dave

As with any living plant...the theory of pruning is often to increase vitality and strength to the fewer recipients (branches) of the plants vitality

Yes, that is the "theory". Unfortunately there is little evidence to support the theory. Testing shows that when plants are pruned there is only a marginal, if any, increase in remaining fruit size and no effect on flavor or nutrient levels. So the question becomes why sacrifice so much production for such marginal returns?

There are differing views on pruning tomatoes...for sure.

Very true. Unfortunately many of those views are based on myth or a lack of knowledge about plant anatomy. Many good 'anatomy of a tomato plant' guides are available online.

Dave

Each fruit and vegetable has its own growing guidelines. But generalizing from one crop to ALL crops or even to another crop, whether one is talking about watering or feeding or plant spacing or pest control or even pruning, can lead to all sorts of misleading conclusions.

The need to selectively prune various fruit trees is well documented. So is the loss of production and the stress to the plant and the minimal increase in fruit size when it comes to pruning tomatoes.

I do not say there is never a need to prune tomatoes plants or even that it should never be done. Its need is directly tied to the type of support system used, the space available for growing, and the plant spacing used. When those factors can't be adjusted to accommodate a standard plant then some pruning may be required and that is the option of the grower.

What I object to is the enduring myths that have repeatedly been proven to be false both by research and in common practice by the thousands of gardeners that successfully grow tomato plants annually without any pruning. Those myths that pruning MUST be done, that tomato plants MUST be pruned to a single stem, that so-called suckers MUST be removed, that the so-called suckers will leach energy and nutrients from the plant, and that they will not produce fruit are all patently false.

Dave

I do this because I have limited space. I can't go out,
so I go up. I use PVC pipe for cages that have four
legs. One per leg.

It turns out that different tomato cultivars vary in their response to sucker removal. For some, light pruning (removing the first four suckers) results in the greatest yield; for others, no pruning gives the highest yield. Experiment with your favorite variety.

I am also field planting tomatoes with 4 Ft spacing and using CRW cages for support. I probably won't sucker those at all.

CH

A better analogy to removing "suckers" would be training fruit trees to an espalier, which absolute reduces the amount of fruit you get (altough they look very tidy and cool! ) Nobody would argue cutting off most of the branches of a fruit tree every year increases production!

If you want volume of tomatoes, refrain from hacking off the green parts. If you want controlled branches with one or two HUGE tomatoes, then by all means take out the "suckers".
Myself, I want as many tomatoes as I can get!

Carla in Sac

So here I am with my book of philosophy about pruning tomatoes. An analogy that I find is pruning grape vines. I wonder why those vine growers and wine makers do that? Shouldn't more vines produce more grapes?

About the nature of Tomato planst: It seems that they don't believe in "Planned Parenthood". They have a very greedy nature to keep on keeping on to grow branches, flower clusters and green tomatoes and more laterals up until the normal frost date. Somehow, in their system, there is no such a thing as ; There is a season that will end. Probably because they came originally from somewhere that there was no such a thing as FROST.

So, as a gardener , I have to interfere and draw the lines, make rules : "Thou Shall not Have More Children Than You Can Support!." I have an ego, you know ! I want to be the master of my own destiny and even that of the tomato plant.

I don't want to end up with buckets full of green tomatoes when the cold winds blow and the birds migrate and go, even the crow...How much green tomato does a man (or woman) need for pickling and frying?

Hi, I asked this question, about suckers, and overwhelming response is DO NOT CUT ANY SUCKERS!!! This is like having a sailboat, and throwing away the sails, and then wondering why you are going nowhere -
this is the link to why not to prune suckers:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tomato/msg0609471311477.html?1 4
have a nice day - oh, and i think they are toast, plant are definitely ruined.

I think if that is the conclusion you cane to from the answers to your question then you mis-understood much of the information provided.

No one said " DO NOT CUT ANY SUCKERS!!!" and doing so does NOT ruin the plants.

You asked if suckers were good or bad. They aren't "bad", since there really is no such thing. It is just a misleading negative label slapped on the lateral leader branches. How many of them get left on or get removed is determined by your reasons for pruning, your support system, your plant spacing, the length of your growing season, and your goals for production.

There are no absolute rules when it comes to raising tomatoes. There are too many variables to be considered.

Dave

Then there are factors that Dave already mentioned (support system, spacing etc.).

Know your climate and act accordingly :)

Cheers,
Djole

I generally don't prune much unless I'm cloning. There can be problems with no pruning though. If your plants are too close together the airflow will become a problem. Certain diseases could come about and you can expect a lot of spiders.

Excessive pruning while good for airflow I think slowly kills the plant and denies it's true potential. Instead of pruning just make sure you don't over fertilize.

I've got tomatoes in a greenhouse and some have 4 stems of equal girth from the base up. It's gonna get crowded as things fill out but I want massive production. I might add a fan this summer to help with airflow but I won't be pruning any time soon.

I see no reason to trim branches or 'twigs' from the tomatoes, since I figure nature does a good enough job, and I still get very early production and large amounts of tomatoes which are the envy of everyone who sees my garden.

How many farmers go into their field and 'trim' the 'suckers' off their tomato plants. I doubt any real farmers do it.

How many tomato plants were developed and bred using a method where trimming suckers was important? I doubt very many. They were probably mostly grown on healthy 'natural' plants, so why would you think that 'artificial' pruning is likely to benefit it.

I say, let nature take its course in this respect UNLESS you are using some special staking or caging method where it is important to control where and how your plant develops.

Of course, I also live in a relatively dry, desert climate, so airflow and buildup of excessive moisture in the plants is rarely a problem. Pruning COULD open up the plant to extra airflow, but it should probably still only be used if you find you have problems with this.

As for fertilization, I agree that you shouldn't over fertilize, or you will get excessive vegetative growth and actually DELAY the production of fruit. I keep the fertilizer relatively light, and I almost NEVER fertilize after June 1st. That is my fertilizer cut off day.

TomNJ/VA