It allows more energy to go into the tomatoes on the main stem rather than being diverted into side stem toms. If you prune, you'll likely get less toms, but they will be bigger. Don't prune and you may get more toms, but they will be smaller.

I'd rather have more toms than bigger toms, so I don't "pull suckers".

part of the idea of pruning to a single stem is that it allows more plants per square foot of ground space. you can really pack 'em in when you grow vertically instead of horizontally.

i'd rather grow tomatoes than tomato stems anyway :)

More tomatoes per square foot is a good, logical answer, Shelbyguy. But I'd like to think of it as "Controlled Management" in that there aren't unsupported, tangled branches laying on top of on another. This condition leads to disease problems and if you scan the threads on this forum you'll read of loads of problems associated with unmanagable plants.

Think of controling the growth of your tomato plants much like personal grooming. Not all men shave daily and not all women comb their hair daily but those that do are comfortable with the routine. Regular suckering and stem support onto stringline (clipping) makes harvesting the visable fruit a breeze and if disease does begin I can be right on top of the problem.

I didn't prune last year (first time growing 'em) and it was a mess. Dense, impenetrable foliage, branches everywhere, and aggressive disease. Once they contracted blight, I tried spraying, but with such a mass of foliage, it was impossible to cover all the leaves, top and bottom.

This year I've been pruning many of the suckers, especially on the lower 3 feet. I cut off all branches on the first 12-14" of the plant, since those usually come down with blight first. The plants are still pretty bushy, but spraying is a breeze, air circulation is great, and they just seem healthier. I haven't pinched off all the suckers, at 4 feet or so, I let them all grow so I'd have a nice canopy to shade the tomatoes. So far so good.

exactly, dirt_poet. i have 2 plants in each of 2 of my large containers and i neglected to prune for a while. now i've got giant tomato bushes and probably half the yield i should have. the other plants in other containers are relatively well-pruned and it's night and day when it comes to getting to fruit.

i usually prune to about 4 vines so i can train them on four corner stakes attached to each container. i like having more than one stem just in case wind or something breaks one.

I'm pretty sure I read that pruning means that your total yield will be smaller, but you will get your first fruits earlier.

In my garden, where I barely have time to grow long-season tomatoes at all, that is enough reason to prune.

It also means that each plant is neater and easier to manage, but that is secondary.

Sometimes I'll let an extra stem or two grow up from the bottom of the vine, but pruning works for me.

There are some here who never prune. They say that suckers provide more foliage and therefore protection from sunscald (not a problem in my shady garden) and that extra foliage provides more energy from which to make fruit. My unscientific anecdata seem to indicate that this doesn't happen in my garden, I just delay the first harvest.

I second what bmoser said.

reginacw, the yield per sq. foot should not change suckered vs. unsuckered.

The key phrase here is "per sq. foot" If you factor in what was said earlier about more plants per sq. foot suckered this make perfect sense.

If each plant yields 30 pounds, you can have (60) half pounders suckered or (90) one third pounders unsuckered.

I use PVC pipe to make my cages. I train them to 4 main stems.
If I don't, I have that tangled mess everyong talks
about. I don't have room to let them sprawl. That's why
I use cages after all. More plants in a smaller area.

I believe the yield (in terms of number of tomatoes)
is smaller, simply because you have fewer opportunities for
flowers. But I also think the fruits are a bit larger.
It about balances out in the long run.

Can someone explain pruning - as opposed to pinching suckers? I never aggressively pinch suckers only because it is too tedious to find them all among the dense foliage. But if I thought I could just take pruning shears and lop off a few stems to control the plants a little bit, I'd do it in a heartbeat. My plants are fairly close together - I planted them 16" apart which seemed like a lot when they were tiny seedlings, but they are all touching now.

So when ya'll are talking about pruning, does this mean at any stage of growth I can prune back without damaging the plants? I am not too concerning with getting "less" total tomatoes. I'd rather have quality vs quantity.

I cage and do NOT prune. I would prune if it could be proven to me that a truly higher yield would be the result, but so far I do not see the evidence, and I am not going to do all that extra work on a lark. My plants are as nature would allow them to be, and as such they are currently LOADED with fruit, as they are most every year. I use stackable cages, and yes, it gets fairly jungle-esque out there, but it is manageable because I have limited the number of plants. I try to be very selective about the varieties so as not to waste growing space.

I'm trying a lil experiment, I'm suckering and pruning some that are in the ground and containers. Then other in the ground and in containers I'm letting grow as they wish. So far I like the appearance of the suckered pruned ones so much better. The plants also seem healthier.

I am by no means a tomato expert, but I prune pretty much any time and any thing I don't like on my plants. They seem to take it very well. When I get home tonight, I'll take some pics and post them.

Bill

As between pinching out side growth and pruning it out, pinching is better since it means that the plant doesn't put energy into producing stem and foliage that is discarded. But I was on vacation for a week and came back to a tomato jungle so I've been prning and pinching, trying to restore some kind of order.
16" is TOO close. I try to keep mine 24" apart in the rows and the rows three feet apart but was defeated by my helpers who kept shrinking those distances. (when I protested I was told that free help is hard to find, which is true)
I've moved a few stakes in an attempt to keep the rows open and have managed to keep some space between the rows. And in some cases there are four shoots tied to the stake rather than the two I prefer. But I was able to get through this morning and spray all of them with daconil.

I use the Missouri method of pinching/pruning/desuckering/whatever whereby I let the sucker shoot grow its first two leaves and then I pinch it off. It keeps the plant growing to a single stem, but gives more leaf area for happy photosynthesis and sugar production.

Okay, here is what mine look like. Had to go out and to some pinching and pruning. And this is the result. Had to prune some bigger ones to get it back under control

CPs

White Queens
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Tiger toms
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Lost the tag for these, but I think BW Sudith
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Stupice and I think KGs sprawling
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The garden isn't quite what I want it to be yet, but I'm working on it.

Bill S

Looks like the CPs didn't come thru, let me try again

CPs
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Bill,

Do you have any larger pictures then those thumbnails?

Thanx

Sorry Joe, still working on how to inbed a full size picture.

If you click on these, you should get the full size.

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These are suckered, sorry no unsuckered pics to show you.