Yes, suckers do form new plants easily, but I'm one of many who never removes sucker,aka lateral branches, b'c they bear fruits beautifully, they give me more foliage as backup if and when foliage infections arrive and the additional foliage also leads to greater photosynthesis which produces the energy compounds that allow for plant growth in the vegetative phase and then in thesexual phase blossom formation, fruit set and fruit maturation.

Whoops, I didn't mean to typesuch a long sentence.LOL

The only time that I root suckers is when there has been plant damage and then I stick the sucker in the soil,build a wee moat around it and keep that moat filled with water until I seen new growth.

Carolyn

Had great success thus far this year using suckers. I pinch all the suckers off but I grow in small spaces vertically up twine. Having the plants 12-18" apart sort of requires me to grow up. I have, on occasion though, allowed a few suckers to grow on the outside plants with good success.