What varieties are you planting and what gardening zone are you in? Some heirlooms like Cherokee Purple can produce good yield! Topping indeterminate tomatoes isn't a good idea in my opinion unless you are sure you won't get anything above them for some other problem you should solve first, because you'd be removing growing tips where the best yield is produced, and forcing it to branch out suckers below where more disease might be too. Most heirlooms are indeterminates. You could try Marglobe which is 100 years old or so and produces well, lots of variety choices. Your yields are low though, pictures if you have any would be helpful to see what's going on because several things could be the reason the plants aren't meeting their potential.

PC

What is your fertilization regimen? Sounds like it could be too much nitrogen. Could also be the variety is less productive than you neighbors. Some varieties like Brandywine can be stingy with production.

We're in CA Central Valley Zone 9. I've only grown indeterminate heirlooms. I've tried Brandywine and Cherokee Purple with minimum success. The few toms that grew were delicious, but few is the operative word. I had the soil tested by Peaceful Valley and surprisingly it was low in nitrogen. I usually fertilize with a small handful of Tomato Tone about once a month during the season. I've probly tried 12-15 different varieties in the past 5 years and the few that actually did produce well were the orange Jeaune Flamme, Matt's Wild Cherry, Green Grape and a Russian purple paste that I forget the name of. As far as pictures, I guess I will make a point of getting some this summer if the problem persists. Right now I have a tall cover crop in that I will be chopping down soon and letting sit until late April Planting. First time doing that. Maybe it will help. Since I grow about 15 plants, I guess I'll experiment with the topping on 1 or 2 to see whats happens. I'll also look into Marglobe.

Thanks

Not sure about the Russian Purple, but the rest are small type tomatoes that do better in heat, where Brandywine can be a dud. Have you considered planting varieties with more reputation for surviving in the heat? That could be your problem, that there are too many days in the blistering 90's and I don't know how much the ground is drying out. Sacramento and low areas in the Central Valley get some brutal summer heat, but if you are up the foothills Auburn ways like the April date sounds you'd think you would be golden for summer production. I think my life would be fulfilled retiring to a meadow near Sutters Mill ;-)

If you are still choosing varieties, here's some I'd try to fit in if you can get charmed by any of them, to see how they do:

Rio Grande (plum, high Yield for your space, fresh salsa, cooking, salad)
Marianna's Peace (beefsteak, 12-14 oz)
Eva Purple Ball (globe, 4 oz)
Black Krim (8 oz, beefsteak, instead of Cherokee Purple)
Anna Russian (heart 12-14 oz)
Thessaloniki (globe, 5.5 oz)
Sioux

Good luck

PC

sounds like soil was to low phosphorus

Not sure where you are, but I will add that here in HZ10, with fierce summer heat, letting the tomatoes grow high is a recipe for plant death. It gets to be a long way from roots to tips, and the plant struggles to pump water that far. I've started topping my large indeterminate tomatoes at 5-foot height or lower, and it encourages branching below. Now, that's a strategy for plant preservation, and not really a strategy for increasing fruit production, but I thought it was worth adding that here. Now, for cherries, that doesn't work, of course, because those are vining, and the fruit is mostly on the top half of the vines. My cherries grow to 8-9 feet, and are dead by August.

Especially if your neighbor is seeing better performance, a soil test is probably in order.

I too was wondering about excess nitrogen, but you say you have lots of flowers. So the problem is that the fruit isn't setting. That could also be a heat/varietal issue. You might see what your neighbor is growing. Oh, you did say where you were, and the heat can be pretty fierce there too.

I would rather plant tomatoes with DET growing habit but with INDET fruiting.

If you top a vigorous indet, soon it will grow branches right under where you topped it. So this make sense to me , if you do it early on and keep more side branches (suckers) to make it look like DET growth habit.

Leaves produce energy for the plant, everyone knows that. If you lop off a bunch of leaves, you are preventing your plant from having the full extent of energy it needs to produce tomatoes for you.

Leaves high up on the stalk also suck water from the plant, and when the plant is straining to pump water, having lots of leaves way on top isn't handy. A dead plant isn't going to produce many tomatoes. My topping isn't intended to increase energy. It's intended to preserve the plant.

My analogy to leaves is like number of workers in an assembly line.
They produce but at the same time they have to be paid wages.
as there is an optimum number of workers in any given assembly line (produce more than they get paid) so are the leaves on a tomato plant. At some point and beyond that they use more resources than they make contribution. That is the concept behind pruning. It is done o fruit trees, grape vine and other things to balance it out. JMO

Seysonn

"Leaves high up on the stalk also suck water from the plant, and when the plant is straining to pump water, having lots of leaves way on top isn't handy."

Even tall trees seem to do just fine. And have no problem fruiting. (Fruit tree pruning does not usually involve merely wholesale midpoint topping to make them shorter)

I doubt that the vascular system of trees resembles tomatoes. I never water my trees, but I do water my tomatoes. I'm just telling you what works for me for tomatoes in HZ10. What HZ are you in? Do you never water your tomatoes??

I have read on other forums that many growers in TX and other areas of high heat top their tomatoes in the heat of summer to preserve them into the Fall and another fruiting.

I agree with Dan. Tomato stem is not like a tree (woody). It is soft and partly hollow with no bark and can dry up quickly at high temperatures and low humidity.

Seysonn

Here is the first person in this thread to mention trees:

"That is the concept behind pruning. It is done o fruit trees, "

Yes, but that mention and the concept referred to wasn't about survival of fruit trees. Survival was my point. But that's true, since trees seem to pump water very efficiently, there is no need to prune them to have them survive.

Now, I will say that, in my understanding, fruit trees are pruned largely to control the size and to shunt resources into a smaller number of fruit, in the interest of fruit quality. That may be the point that was being made.

I think this is an excellent place to remind readers that a good practice is to do a search for your question and read a selection of answers, as there is misinformation out there.,

Here is just a "FORUM".
People express their views and opinions, which may not be scientific or academic. Nobody is an authority here on any subject. Ultimately one has to sift through the information given ( that can be conflicting) and make his/her mind , one way or the other. So that is not, in my view, "Misinformation"

Seysonn

fn:
Misinformation: false or inaccurate information, especially that which is deliberately intended to deceive.
:

I think the way an internet forum works is that one can only really assert authority based on experience. This works for me. This didn't work for me. Fundamentally, we don't really know who a poster is, so a poster can call him/herself an expert or an authority, but we have no reason to believe that just because they say it. The only thing we have are words. Such words are helpful to puzzle out the reliability and credibility of the advice being given. Thoughtful and well reasoned words, with recognized and appropriate caveats, are what have impact.

As a MG (master gardener) that is what we are supposed to do: point the people in the right direction for information, let them research it and come to their own conclusions.

We are allowed to share what has, hasn't worked for us, be we are not here to impart prowess, we are here to teach, share and inform.

Now some MGs specialize, and I defer to those that do.

We start toms every spring for a one-day sale at the local FM … and they are all sold. This helps raise funds for what we do every year. If it can buy a truckload of mulch, we be happy campers. BTW, we have a lot of repeat buyers every year, so they must be having good luck with what we sell. Black Krim always sells out first.

Too many seeds, not enough seasons …

dave

That sounds sensible. I am put off when people start out by saying that "I know ALL about this, and I have gobs of training, so listen up", and then come up with an insipid and thin explanation. Teaching me to understand how to get the answer is better than just telling me your answer. If something you do works for you, that's good information, and helps me understand.

sey...I have to say, I loved your analogy of leaves and workers! That made a lot of sense to me...and it was also funny. hehe

the only people i know who top there tomato plants are in UK and the only reason they do it is there plant grow tall enough to reach top of there green house.