Thanks, will give it a try when I will give it a try when I go up north. Fred

I don't know who wrote that, but leaves are not there "to provide oxygen". Oxygen is a waste product of plants. Leaves are there to create sugars, which the plant uses for metabolism. Basically, they're food factories.

That doesn't mean that the plant needs every last leaf it ever produces, or that pruning is somehow always bad. Far from it. But leaves aren't exactly some sort of luxury to the plant, like that person presented.

karenrei:

I agree. I only edited a little grammar and not content. Even at that I missed correcting "whole" for "hole"; oops!

Theoretically, it looked like something good to share. Most of us grow a great number of tomatoes, so trying this "pruning" method on a few just for a test sounded like a good idea to share with the rest of the hydro crew.

Am germinating "Stick", a.k.a. "Curl" variety now to try (for the tomatoes not the oxygen) - very unusual clustering leaf pattern; check it out at Victory Seeds (or elsewhere).

I may be wrong, but I thought that the tomatoes pulled sugar from the leaves and that is what determines the "brix" factor. I would like to try this to prove one way or the other, but I'm not sure I could go through with possibly damaging the plant by limiting photosynthesis so much. It's hard enough to thin plants in the soil garden. It's like killing puppies . . .

I may have to agree with Freemangreens, here. I started pruning my outdoor tomato plants when I planted back in February. I was mainly doing it to encourage the plants to grow taller more quickly. I was shocked to see my first fruit set after the plants had been in the ground for only two weeks!

I understand the "killing puppies" remark. It's a little nerve wracking for me to sit there and pull leaves, but if you've ever seen a commcerial tomato setup in a greenhouse, it's just row upon row of lanky tomato plants with very little foliage and a ton of tomatoes.

Another note about thinning out leaves; keep the leaves on the vine that are closest to the fruit. These leaves produce the most for the tomato fruit.

Here's how I learned it, you can add or subtract as you see fit:

For indeterminates
1. Always prune "suckers" - any growth tip that is not the main stem.
2. Prune any leaf below the lowest fruit cluster.
3. Leave everything else.

Tomato leaves are compound leaves so you have to learn what they look like. (It looks like a branch with several leaves, but the whole thing is just one leaf.) Once you know the difference it's easy to spot.

Just a quick note here: I have hundreds of green tomatoes and not quite as many leaves.
I use the "single-truss" method and leave only the leaves on the fruiting truss.
The plants look horrible, but they produce beyond your wildest expectation!

That's the way the pro's do it. I like a leafier plant myself for foolish reasons (to impress neighbors more) but you're right about it being the way to maximize harvest.

UPDATE: After this thread, I decided to try it out on a couple of my extra tomato plants. Sure enough, they have humongous fruits on them already and more flowers than the other plants. They look like a shaved cat as far as natural goes, but I'm starting to become a true believer. I'm leaving the leaves closest to the tomato clusters and allowed two vines per plant (2 plants). My grandfather looked at them and looked at me as if I was stupid and committing a gardening crime. That was before I had more fruits than any of his plants. I still feel almost bad for cutting the plant so much. I have to prune daily. I'm doing this with hydro and soil plants. The tomatoes are brandywines. I'm starting to remove the excess leaves from two other varieties, too. San Marzano and mortgage lifter. Not on all plants, just a couple of each to compare. I also want to be able to tell if there is a difference in taste based on what I have read concerning brix factor and photosynthesis. If the stripped plants don't have as good of taste, it's not worth it. If it isn't noticeable, next year all my plants will look like shaved cats!!! (and for anyone that doesn't know, exclamation points do not mean hostility. . . that was meant for someone in particular)

could you post a picture of your shaved cats? I'd like to see what you mean. It paints a most wonderous picture, but I'm not sure my mental image matches your actual plant.

The shaved cat statement is a bit of an exaggeration. Was based on the cat at my feet when I posted. No he's not shaved. I just couldn't think of a comparison and that popped into my head when I looked down at him. Anyway, ignore the San Marzanos next to the stripped brandywine. Just notice that I only have about 5 or 6 leaves on the whole plant and that the plant has two branches. All the rest has been removed as needed. My soil trellis is similar, though not quite as far along in vegetative growth.

I always have a problem with tomato roots clogging my pipes. Will the pruning lessen the root growth?

Hi bruce,
I got respected advice on the Container Forum about dwarfing factors for tomatoes: if prune leaf canopy there will be a commensurate die back of roots.
To link you to it I'd have some searching to do, am not very geekified; tell if you need it.