Well the smaller the lateral branch (what you call "sucker") is when you remove it the least damage done. This is assuming one would even want to remove them in the first place since you lose the fruit they would have produced. 6" long when carefully snipped is no real issue. Much bigger than that if only 1 is clipped is usually ok. But trying to remove multiple large ones can really stress the plant.

Topping indeterminate - the search will pull up discussions about that and why it isn't recommended but basically it doesn't stop it from growing. It just sprouts 2 stems from just below where there was one before and keeps on growing. That is the nature of vines, the more you prune the taller they get.

8' plants are no problem depending on how you support them and are the norm. If using full CRW cages or Florida weave the extra growth just drapes back down and keeps on growing. If you want short plants only then stick with determinate varieties. Of course they are never pruned.

OK?

Dave

Any branches (that's what suckers are: the branches which make up the vast majority of the plant) that you remove from the tomato plant will reduce its capacity to bear fruit.

I don't think pruning a large sucker is stressful enough to give the plant a shock or a setback. I suppose if you weren't careful how you pruned it, the remaining stem could be weakened at the joint; if I was worried about that, I'd leave a half-inch to an inch or so of the branch I was removing.

One of the reasons I no longer prune to a single stem (as I was raised to do) is the hope that the plant will be shorter. I haven't done any scientific studies to see whether it works out that way or not, but I'm only 5'2" and hope springs eternal.

I haven't ever lopped off the top of an indeterminate tomato that was trained to a single stem, so I'll leave that for someone else to answer. I believe I've read that topping a plant at the end of the season doesn't hasten the maturing of existing fruit.

Any branches (that's what suckers are: the branches which make up the vast majority of the plant) that you remove from the tomato plant will reduce its capacity to bear fruit.

*****

First, to the original posted of this thread, the only stupid questions are the ones not asked IMO, said Carolyn speaking as a former teacher. LOL

Actually lateral branches, aka suckers, don't make up the majority of the plant b'c they're only found in the axils, aka armpits, LOL, of two other branches. ( smile)

I've never grown plants that were pruned to one or two stems, but I know that many in the south do top their indeterminates, usually caged ones, in early Fall when there's still time for more ripening of small immature fruits, and it does work for some.

There are two other ways to hasten ripening when first frost approaches that are much kinder than taking a hedge clipper to an existing plant.

One is to pull up on the plant while twisting it which cuts the feeder roots near the surface.

The second is to take a flat bladed shovel and about 6 inches away from the plant cut down about 4 to 5 inches around the whole plant and that also severs the topmost feeder roots.

Carolyn

Carolyn, I'm confused. All the indeterminates I've grown (which is several dozen different varieties if I count all the plants that died of Late Blight in 2009, and they were mostly 5-6' tall) start suckers at the junction of every leaf and the main stem. And those suckers all start suckers between every leaf and the sucker they're on. Ad infinitum (or at least until frost).

So by late summer there's the original main stem and easily dozens and dozens of suckers of varying lengths.

If the main stem has only four trusses, it would have at least (4 x 3) leaves, so there could be that many primary suckers (12). And each of those primary suckers would have secondary suckers. And each of the secondary suckers would have tertiary suckers. And so on. If you want to tell me how many leaves the main stem has, I'll even calculate how many suckers there could be.

What am I missing?

Thank you for your responses.

The problem is I plant eight plants in an area a 16" wide and 40' long between the house and a sidewalk in an area that only gets 2 to 3 hours of sun a day.

I like the beefsteak type of tomatoes, so that is what I plant and usually get a lot of fruit, however it is on the medium rather than large size.

I suppose because of the lack of sun I get a ton of foliage and it ends up being a jungle there by fall.

I guess I'll just try pruning one plant heavily and see how it fares.

Well, I would've thought getting a quick haircut to be kinder than having my whole body twisted and racked or my feet stabbed and shorn of their capillaries. But what do I know? (smile)

missing, you say you've grown several dozens of indet varieties, and old lady that I am I've grown over 3,000 different varieties and maybe 95% of them indeterminates b'c I'm not that fond of most determinates.LOL

If you Google the definition of sucker you'll find some good links and I chose the one below b'c I think it's one of the best.

Yes, a shoot that appears in the armpit between the main stem and a side branch BUT not every one of the so called axils do form a sucker.

Dave, in a post above also defined suckers as lateral branches as I do.

I never prune suckers b/c the more foliage the more photosynthesis which makes ATP and GTP which are the energy compounds that are involved with root and above ground growth as well as blossom formation, fruit set and fruit maturation.

And why were they called suckers by some in the first place? Because some thought that allowing them to grow "sucked" the energy out of plants, which of course is not true, and never followed through to see that they do form blossoms and fruits. It is true that if you prune most suckers that the fruits usually will be larger, which is one reason that some folks who grow varieties for competition sized fruits do so.

The second reason why it might be a good idea to not prune suckers is that if foliage diseases appear there's some backup foliage.

Folks in many parts of the south in particular have high humidity and that encourages lots of spots and rots so many of them do prune to help ensure good air flow.

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: definition of tomato sucker

A neighbor gave me 4 black tomato plants.(He didn't remember the name but his wife does, I've not remembered to ask her. LOL) One of them died, I decided to plant a sucker off one of the other plants to utilize that space and fertilizer. The adjacent plant had two trunks about the same size so I broke one of them off (almost half the plant) and planted it about 8 inches deep. If I keep it watered it should put out roots and produce fruit. I'm sure that damaged the remaining plant but sure it will recover. If not I will publish a warning on here in the future.

Topping indeterminates (digdirt Dave):

I read some threads about why this should not be done. I never have before, but am thinking about doing it, starting this year.

You said it would reduce my yield (production). I've been growing tomatoes for 8 years in 5' tall CRM cages, and have never had a ripe tomato produced from the growth above the top of the cage. (I have a short growing season, and strong winds that sharply crimp the plant over above the top rung.) I do not use green tomatoes at the end of the season.

I'm considering topping my plants this year (and pruning upper suckers as necessary to keep the plants from flopping over the top, which just makes them harder to remove from the cages at the end of the year.)

Determinate tomatoes would be a lot easier to handle. Unfortunately, I don't know where to get seed for determinate: Brandywine, Carbon, Cherokee Purple, Cuostralee, Earl's Faux, Gregori's Altai, Kellogg's Breakfast, Lucky Cross,... that I am growing this year.

I believe I will try topping half of my plants this year to see how it works and if it will make it easier to get them out of the cages at year end.