Tommy,

I'm not pruning plants but have been actively trimming leaves from the bottom up. Every couple of days I sit on my behind and move up and down between the rows (also a Florida Weave) and if I see a stem with leaves that are starting to turn yellow, they get cut off and but into a bucket (so I can dump them in a rain barrel turned into a compost bin!). They look semi-naked but I have to figure that parts of the plant that are going forward are getting the energy, not the ones on their last legs.

Mike

Interesting that you are crediting the increased production to the pruning rather than to them being in a tunnel. Given the many benefits of tunnel growing vs. exposed in-ground, I'd be far more likely to give the tunnel the credit.

Dave

Yes I have tried and no the production is poor in numbers but the fruit are larger. I've got 3-4 times the fruit from plants with the suckers left alone. Maybe what is used as fertilizer has something to do with this?? Plants that are somewhat starved may do better with 2 stems but mine get enough to supply the suckers JMO. I also pluck all yellowing leaves.

I think I SHOULD have pruned my tomato plants...they are all plant and few tomatoes !!! These are heirloom tomatoes that I grew from seed. When I planted them I used 10-10-10 fertilzer. Never again !!! I think I overfertilzed or at the wrong time or something.
Do you think it's too late to prune now ??? I live in the deep south and it has been really HOT !!!

digdirt:

Yes, the high tunnel is probably a factor, plus the tomato plants we used were started far earlier than the field grown ones. However, the fieldgrown ones have really taken off and do have lots of tomatoes, but not in the "clusters" and/or size of the high-tunnel ones. We've always grown tomatoes without much pruning and they turn into walls of green with so much foliage the tomatoes are hard to spot.

But with the pruning to 2 stems the tomatoes are in clusters of 5-6, large with the plants covered in tomatoes from top-to-bottom and highly visible. (no sun scald so far)

I agree the tunnel is a factor but I think pruning is paying off for us.

We'll probably do more high-tunnel growing of tomatoes but our tunnel is only 12x20. We have two rows of tomatoes and 1 row of cukes/squash.

"Clusters" of fruit depends on the variety. Many larger fruit varieties will never develop a "cluster of fruit" regardless of the growing conditions.

But being inside a tunnel allows, even encourages, for more fruit set on a blooming truss and the protection provided reduces the amount of fruit abortion one finds outside.

Don't get me wrong. I'm glad it is working for you - whatever the cause. But it is important to recognize the true cause. Ample studies have been done - both formal and informal as Taz said - on production with pruned vs. unpruned plants. While size of individual fruit may increase, overall production in #lbs. produced by each plant is consistently reduced when the plants are grown outside. The only studies I'm aware of that show an marginal increase in #lbs. of production are when the plants are grown in a sheltered environment like tunnels or greenhouses.

Dave

Yes, I regularly prune to control the number of leaders I allow. I grow on stakes, 3 ft between rows, and 2 feet between plants in the rows. I also prune away distorted or catfaced fruits, doing this when they are very small so the energy they would have used goes to other regularly shaped fruits. I vary the number of leaders allowed depending on type and variety of plants but typically I try for 2 or 3 leaders and get angry with myself when 4 or 5 develop due to negligence. Yes, my experience confirms that depending on fertilization methods and the amount and style of pruning done one can either maximize the plant volume produced or the usable fruit volume!

I think the soil, weather environment, nutrients available,
sun intensity and hours available have a lot to do with what
will work best in a particular location. I have been at this for over 50 years, but all my experience is in Zone 6;
several locations in zone 6 spread from Liberty, Mo to as far east as Tabor, New Jersey. I've tried cages, Italian
string supports, trellis support, letting them ramble without any support, tee pees, whatever and find what I do now as above described gets me the most nice sized tomatoes
that are also attractively shaped.

I kind of perfected the system, at least to my satisfaction,
roughly 10 years ago when I was growing commercially and
was supplying several restaurants. Sorting and washing the damn cherry tomatoes which they also bought in large quantity about drove me nuts!

A few minor details: I grow on black plastic, use mushroom manure supplemented with small amounts of fertilizer at planting and periodic follier sprays, use a 7 ft x ~2x2
stake, tie with torn strips of rag, trim off lower branches
quickly to about 16" up, and have in last few years used Actinovate as both a soil drench and spray material, mixed
in an alternating fashion with Daconil or Potassium Bicarbonate. I am experimenting now with several other
desease control methods and they too are proving effective.
I also rap my stakes sharply almost every day to shake the blossoms and help the pollen do it's thing. This is particularly important to get a good early set of fruits.

What I do just serves me well in terms of the number of plants I grow, what I want from them, and the time I can
make available to do the work. There are many many ways to
deal with tomatoes, and God bless them, the seem to respond well to attention and love!

digdirt:

Our method for growing both in the high tunnel and outside is using raised beds, soakers hoses, and black plastic . . . however, no black plastic in the tunnel. We use composted manure and organic fertilizer/amendments. Once the soil has warmed up and plants are well growing in the tunnel we mulch with straw and grass clippings heavily on the sides of the raised beds and lightly on top of the beds.

Here in NH as of July 28 we have been harvesting tomatoes from the tunnel (both slicers & cherry) for two weeks . . . way ahead of the normal August ripening and beyond and it looks like the production will get even better as the summer goes on.

We're still waiting for the "outdoor" tomatoes to ripen (did get a few cherry types, but no slicers)

I'm convinced the high-tunnels are playing a huge factor, but the pruning also plays a part in the size and production.