You don't have to prune. All the stems will produce tomatoes.

If you want to prune because you can't reach in to harvest, then feel free to remove the ones you need to remove to accomplish that.

When the suckers grow do they become stems with leaves?

No they become fruit producing branches. Why not go over to the Growing Tomatoes forum here and read all the discussions there about pruning - the many cons and the very few pros.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato forum

If they become fruit producing branches than why do people cut them off?

btw thanks for the tomato link...i didn't know it existed

Dcrosby,

Some believe that by reducing the number of fruiting sites on the plant, it will produce fewer but larger and more quality fruits on what is left. Not really proven to be true though... I only prune for space reasons, and usually only to allow increased airflow on the lower portion of the plants...once they get to a certain height, I stop pruning and let them go. I don't think I am going to continue doing this though and will probably just start planting less densely in the future. No pruning equals less work for me, and less stress to the plants.

I agree with howelbama. The only place to prune is on the lower branches and suckers. The reason is to increase air circulation and prevent disease which usually starts from moist leaves in contact with the ground.

I usually will prune everything below the first cluster except 3-6 main branches.

If they become fruit producing branches than why do people cut them off?

Because a century or so ago people who didn't know any better claimed that the lateral branches 'sucked' energy from the plant and "would never produce fruit". (Of course they won't if you cut them off.) Thus the totally inappropriate label "suckers".

That this claim isn't true has long been known and repeatedly proven false but the myth, and the label 'suckers', keeps getting passed on.

Dave

If you've got the space then do not worry about pruning the "suckers". As mentioned above all your doing is removing parts of the plant that will produce more tomatoes!

I personally only remove the lower branches/leaves which keeps them off the ground. It makes it much easier to water and also prevents any of the leaves from sitting on the wet ground. Plus it's much easier to pull the weeds when you can actually see the ground under the tomato!

I think I�ll go with the lower branches pruning idea. It does seem to make the plant more manageable

Thanks for your thoughts!

Dale

I pick all the branches off up to the first fruit on the bottom of my plants...and I also pinch off suckers. I know everyone has their own opinion on this...but it works well for me. We've eaten a couple dozen tomatoes already :)