Before you buy the tomato cages I would do a little research on their ability to support large tomato plants like Super Sweet 100. There are also less expensive and more secure ways to trellis the tomatoes. We use a blend of the Florida Weave and cattle panels. Are you worried that the actual fruit will get scalded? If that is the case, what I usually do is wait for the first fruit to set and I prune all the leaves/suckers off the plant below where that fruit is set. I also try to prune my tomatoes to 1 main stem with 2 leading off, so it looks like a Y. About 1 month before the first frost date I top my tomatoes (removing all the new flowers) so that the plant puts energy into getting the green fruit ripe as opposed to setting new fruit that will never make it.

Pruning any plant is a hot button topic. Tons of discussions about it over on the Growing Tomatoes forum you can read if you wish. Long as you understand that it isn't required, just an option, then it is your choice.

Matts Wild Cherry doesn't need much, if any, support. Sweet 100 are huge plants in the garden and need 6' CRW cages or more. But in a container - depending on its size - it won't get nearly as big as normal. The more you prune it the taller it will get so keep that in mind.

Ditto what GivingGarden said. I (like most gardeners) find the 3-4 ring cone things to be a waste of time. Suggest some reading on the Tomato forum of just a few of the discussions on 'supporting tomato plants'.

Dave

Yes, understand that the SuperSweet vines will head up eight feet or more. The ringed cone will end up being useless for that height. A good trellis is a must.

Not sure where you are, but I have to say that your tomatoes may be really small if you're in a high heat-zone part of zone 8 (as am I). I planted mine out months ago, than they are now 6-7 feet tall and fruiting. If your plants don't mature before the heat gets fierce, they won't fruit at all once it does. It's not about scalding, but that fertilization shuts off when temps are very high.

I'm no expert, but I do grow tomatoes and have a really short growing season so I need to know all the tricks to push plants to produce before first frost.

For like hybrid determinate varieties, I only prune from the very bottom up on the main stalk when the plant is at least at 75% of its potential size and pushing out clusters of flowers, some with pea-sized fruit sets on them. At that point, I can tell who's taking up energy on the way to the fruit, and who needs to stay. Older looking, woody looking stocky branches growing off the main stem with only leaves and no new growth at the bottom of the plant go at that point. Also, if I'm seeing the season peaking and moving downhill towards fall which hits like a freight train here, I'll start pruning the small branches before the first cluster of flowers to direct energy to fruit production, but be careful not to clip off fruit producing branches. Determinate's (meaning they push out all their fruit at once, then die) only have one shot to make tomatoes, so a cut flower is a lost tomato.

For like indeterminate heirlooms or something of that nature, I'll be more comfortable performing the same kind of pruning as mentioned above, because the plant will just keep growing until it gets too cold and it dies. However there are a few things to consider with indeterminate tomatoes (meaning they produce till frost comes. They'll just keep growing and growing) 1. If you clip off only from the bottom and remove suckers from the middle, it will grow up and likely get very tall. Think about supports. 2. If you clip from the top, it will grow out from the middle and get really wide and stocky. 3. Indeterminate tomatoes will keep pushing out flowers and babies for as long as you let them, potentially taking energy away from other developing fruit. It's up to you to take the chance, or clip new blossoms off. Some consider this nothing less than sacrilegious. I just say they're your plants, do what you want with them, especially if you start getting nervous as fall approaches. Remember that leaves are like (well they are) solar panels. The energy they collect gets distributed to the nearest parts of the plant on that stalk. So if there's a big healthy branch near a cluster of fruit, leave it so the fruit can collect the good stuff from the sun that branch is getting.

Other reasons you should prune:

Signs of disease like blight or any kind of fungus

Branches that inhibit free air flow and promote fungus growth

Branches that touch the soil should really be pruned off when the plant is a good size, but that's up to you.

I can't think of anything else. I'm no expert, but I like answers that close the loop and don't leave loose ends.

I don't prune at all. I pruned and did not one year = more tomatoes on the unpruned ones. Not just a few more but twice as much or so. I think the pruning thing is a holdover from Victorian and later (but still long ago) who wanted 'show' tomatoes. These old methods are constantly being dug up and touted as fact. I find that these old methods are also part of the ethos of that time when leisure gardening (for you or your help) was abundant. You may get larger and more perfect tomatoes with pruning, but as far as actual numbers I'm not convinced. That being said, it may be my climate, which is hot and sunny (really really sunny) all day - the whole summer with nearly no rain (irrigation is necessary). So here lots of leaf cover may be what is needed. In more cloudy areas with more moderate temps and higher humidity (it's really dry here too), pruning may be effective. Staking is also not very effective here (I think this method does not allow for enough leaf cover here) - whereas cages are really productive. Cages, those 3-4 ring types are OK but really best for smaller tomatoes (determinates mostly). I use no-climb wire (a fencing with 4 inch grid spacing) and put on row on each side of the tomato to make a long 'cage' - and it's about 4.5 feet tall. This is usually OK here. Oh, and Matt's Wild does need a cage - at least for me - it's a huge plant. But I think there are several versions of this one. I prefer Ciudad Victoria for a red currant = better flavor and more tender skin. White currant is even better flavor but it's light yellow. For me pruning is just more work and a waste of time. Oh - one more thing, I suspect, but really have no proof, that some varieties do better with pruning - or may need it to really produce well - again to produce those perfect show tomatoes. I don't usually grow these - or not for long...

^^and there we have the great pruning debate! :)...

also I should mention that the OP had cherry tomatoes and super sweet 100's. These are both indeterminate plants. So those rules apply as stated above.

Oh geeze, you know this is always the problem with online forums. There are a few people who've been here a while and act like patrol dogs of the site, barking at you to shut up when you say something they disagree with. Sorry if I stepped on your well-seasoned toes, I'm not establishing rules, I used the word rules so sue me, I clearly told the guy do what YOU WANT with your plants. Try being nice and not like some pushy high school kid who doesn't like the new kid in town, beating them down with semantics. That's just ridiculous.

There are NO RULES. DO WHAT YOU WANT WITH YOUR PLANTS. the end.

As previous comments mentioned there are no rules. However, if you leave suckers on the indeterminate tomato plant, it will grow out of control. The plant will become heavy and hard to manage, it will fall down or can even snap.

More detailed explanation in our article: www.justpuregardening.com/pruning-tomatoes/