If I did my arithmetic correctly, you have less than 3' of trellis to support the 'Maters.' 18" in the ground, and 18" above the ground to the bottom of the Earthbox. That's barely enough for the smallest dwarf determinate varieties. Can you use the tops of the conduit, and stick something taller into them, with horizontals for rigidity and to tie the plants to? Then use twine, and strips of old panty hose to tie the plants. For indeterminate Tomatoes, you need at least 6' above the ground, and better 8'. With determinates and dwarf varieties, you can get by with 4-5' above the ground. Another option, if you have the ground space, is to erect a structure from conduit or bamboo, which allows them to sprawl horizontally, but be held off the ground. A simple lattice-like structure will work just fine. The big box home repair stores sell lattice in 2' x 8' pieces, which are perfect for this. Tom's grown sprawling can do better than uprights, because they get more sun.

Talking abt. Spinosad, Dr. Manners @ FSC posted info. abt. it becoming less effective w/use, and he says it needs to be rotated w/other insecticides, to combat chilli-thrips... this is mainly for roses, but does apply to food crops also...he recommends IMIDACLOPRID,which comes in many forms---- it is a systemic, and foliar spray works best.... Merit 75, merit 2F, premise, bonide, dominion 2L..... orthene, tristar, safari, conserve & precise, avid, Bayer advanced 3-in-1 rose & flower, ortho & orthenex.... I swore off all these 3 years ago but am reconsidering that what with these chili-thrips decimating my roses.... and reading abt. them on Google, there are some are recommended for food-crops.... yikes.... some are spinosad, some are imidacloprid based... but it sounds like the key is, to rotate them..... sally

OK Catalina Grey, I have to know about those tomato walls. Are they boxes? My neighbor made these boxes that he put over the tomato. They are made with a very wide metal...arg cant find the word for it. They remind me of the tomato cages but they are square and not round and 10 times thicker and sturdier. The squares are big enough to put your hand it and pick the fruit and I dont think he even ties them up. Is this what you did or did you just have a trellis with yours? I am envious!!!

You can remove as many or as few suckers as you want when trellising, just depends on how strong a structure you have. Most of my growing now is on cattle panels, but before that I grew many years on 2x4's (or 1x2's for shorter beds) wired to tall heavy duty metal posts. I only pruned near the bottom to keep paths free for easy walking. I used baling string to tie the first leader up to the overhead board, and added new strings from above as I needed them for large side suckers. By the time you have from 3-5 strings per plant, you can usually weave the rest of the suckers in among the already supported ones. I like to call my method a suspended sprawl. I do tie off each string below a sturdy branch elbow when first adding a string, after that it's all weaving. I have a wide open NE and E exposure to wind in thunderstorms and never had any collapses of structure or vines. The main problem is if you are gone for a week, your new suckers will be snaking out and trying to go back to the ground. Late in the season, if I get sick of weaving, I may remove suckers that won't develop ripe fruit anyway if they get in my way. There is really no right or wrong way to do this. Whatever works for you, depending on your visual aesthetics and patience for maintenance. I feel that not pruning gives me better protection from sun scald of fruit, and if disease hits, I have more leaves as back up for the plant. If you live in a very humid region, pruning might make sense for better airflow, or maybe you just prefer the tidy look of heavily pruned tomatoes.