I haven't formed a concrete opinion on which I think is better yet on which I think is better as far as fruit production, flavor, etc, goes yet, but I prune according to the situation or more accordingly, how much room I have for whichever particular plant.

Usually I prune pretty diligently in the beginning until fruit production starts, then once that takes off and the suckers start to have flowers an them almost as soon as they shoot out, I leave the first flower cluster, but pinch off the growing tip so that I don't get too much sprawl.

Because I'm me, I also always have to have experiments going on, so I usually have a few plants where I'm trying some new pruning technique that I've read about.
So far all I've really learned from these experiments is that if I prune I get smaller more manageable plants as a trade off for less fruit - when I don't prune I get bigger plants, more fruit and more work (which I find pretty enjoyable, so if I have the room I don't mind). So far I haven't learned any earth shattering secret to it all - but as soon as I do I'll be sure to post it! :)

No, I do not prune. I will remove leaf branches up to just below the first bloom cluster and that is it. Pruners, knives, scissors, etc. never touch my plant again unless something breaks off.

Proof: (but I think you have seen this one before)

{{gwi:10965}}

Have you read through all the previous discussions here on pruning, Sumilea? There are tons of them on yes, no, maybe, how-to, how-not-to, when, how much, etc. ;) So if you are looking for a definitive answer you won't get one (other than the standard of "try it several different ways in your own garden and see what works best for you").

Dave

I don't. But feel it is a personal preference. It matters a lot on what extent also. My opinion is in the end you will end up with about the same pound wise. Pruning they can be bigger but fewer numbers. And with 80 plants I usually have way more than I can eat and give them away so if there were a few pounds less I guess it doesn't matter. Now if raising for size it helps. Another practice where there is no right or wrong answer. JD

I also prune everything up to the first flower cluster, then I prune for air flow. All for disease and pest control. In containers I prune for air flow but additionally to try to maintain plant to root balance if the container is smallish.

I try not to prune anything until the first cluster shows itself and will even leave some very close to the mulch (not soil) when they are young.

It doesn't matter to me what pruning does or does not do to the plants or the fruits if you can't keep them healty or a plant becomes unmanagibly large for its space.

Charles Wilber grew for yield, allowed the lowest six suckers to remain and split once. The next 2 to remain and split 3 times. All else was pruned. The plants were heavily trained in their cages.

I don't prune and I am very happy with the results. Got better things to do...:)

I always prune indeterminates, some vines more heavily than others. Generally, I only prune the very lowest foliage off determinates. But I also prune any useless, diseased or distressed foliage or anything that interferes with care and maintenance of the plants whether determinate or indeterminate. I also prune to size the plants to the support system I happen to be using for the particular plant. Generally I stop pruning late in the season and let everything go to hell. But if I really want those last few good fruit to ripen more quicky, I give the vine one last pruning by topping it.

I prune, but I prune because I have more vertical space [the entire sky] than I do square feet of surface area.

The point of pruning is to train the plant to grow upwards. Since you're not letting them sprawl, you need to increase the plant count in order to get the yield to equal what a sprawler would. Its a way to maximize yield per square foot by growing upwards instead of outwards.

Pruned tomato plants grow less fruit obviously than one that isn't pruned, but those fruit will generally be larger for it.

Train 'em to a single stem and pack 'em in together. I use 12" spacing quite successfully.

If I wasn't training to a single stem to grow vertically in a forest of tomato plants, then I wouldn't prune. I'd be on the 48" spacing like everyone else and letting them sprawl.

*pruning takes discipline* - you defeat the purpose if you're just going to get bored and forget about it 2/3 of the way through the growing season. If you choose to prune, you have to keep pruning the whole season. All in, or all out. There's no middle ground.

but thats just one eccentric person's opinion :)

Shelby, I agree with your concept, but my spacing is a bit farther apart ... 24 - 30" for indeterminates I intend to prune and same for determinates I intend to short-stake (or Florida-weave this year). And as far as diligence ... well, after Labor Day, I tend to lose a bit of interest except for seed saving, fried green tomatoes and chow chow.

This year I'm thinking of trying cattle panels as a trellis for some of the indeterminates and training a few of the side shoots like grape vines.

Pruning, and keeping up with it, has proven beneficial as it gets the gardener out there checking on the plants for any other problems. If you don't go out there daily then a vast assortment of woes can sneak up on you, like our friend the tomato horn worm, or early blight, aphids, whiteflies, squirrels, drought, etc. Every sucker will attempt to produce more tomatoes, a good thing if you're into numbers. I prune because I like nice large fruits for the famous 'eat over the kitchen sink' tomato sandwich.

I only prune for safety reasons. I have a jungle by mid-season and stray or unruly canes are a tripping hazzard--out they go. Years back I pruned a humongous Yellow Pear tomato with electric hedge clippers, it was unfazed and in a few days it was just as monstrous as before.

~~~ training a few of the side shoots like grape vines. ~~~

I had a natural occaision to do this last year. I had a few large varieties in containers just outside of the deck and used the deck posts and rails as the stakes and trellis.

For me, it worked like this, I had to let em get a little long so they would be more flexible. It took copius amounts of green plant tape and looked pretty ratty at the end but while in prime, it looked nice and guests enjoyed seeing the plants spread out so neatly and tomatoes of size in such a handy location.

Also, as my site is on the shady side with lots of squirrel/deer risk, any technique that keeps them close and maximizing sun exposure is a good thing.

Dave, I haven't done this horizontal support of lateral branches yet. What do you think about binding them to the horizontal wires of the cattle panels by winding jute cord around the stems in a loose spiral like you do when supporting vertical shoots with drop cords? Bill

I dont want to add anything further to this post, as I have already said what I think about pruning,-

I can only draw your attention to a web address that I posted ealier- http://www.avrdc.org/lc/tomato/publications.html which is the world vegetable association, and see what they say about it. scroll down the page to cultural practices, and then click on -pruning and staking tomatoes in (PDF)

There you will find what the world expert view is from many countries including the USA,on pruning side shoots and what actually happens to the plant if you dont etc,

Bill,

Haven't done that yet but with a cattle panel, I'd think it would be very easy to just lace train them through the holes with no need for much binding unless it got away from you or a stem was too stiff.

I'll be trying to spread em out some in a fl. weave this yr but with just a 3' spacing, I doubt it will have much impact except very early.