I don't prune. Nice tomato jungle!

Thanks for the comments:)

I'm not gonna prune them.

Which leaves should I trim of? The lowest ones?

I wouldn't prune the top.

But I'd prune where is too bushy.

Most important: DIRECT THE VINES HORIZONTALLY TO THE LEFT (OF THE LAST PICTURE)

If you can go VERTICAL you can improvise a trellis. Not that difficult.

How do you mean direct them to the left?

In your picture bellow, I see your tomatoes grow VERTICAL.

My suggestion is instead of vertical, make them grow HORIZONTAL - to cover that wood fence on the left of the picture.

i would only prune top growth if it's late in the season and many of the top flowers would likely not develop in time to fruit.. pruning like two months before frost would help boost the growth of the lower fruit and those that are already max size would ripen faster.

How would you suggest to make them grow horizontally?

I think the point Daniel is making is that the tops are going to lay over naturally. That is what they do. It is up to you to control which way they go and how they are supported when that happens. They appear to already be leaning to the left.

As i said above, when using first class tomato cages most just let them drape back down the outside of the cage. But since you have that fence there to the left of the plants you could use it as a sort of trellis support - make the trellis out of whatever you have handy - and then tie the tops of the plants to the trellis. Just Google 'tomato trellis images' for pics hundreds of different ways to trellis tomatoes. All it takes is a bit of imagination once you see the pics.

As for the thinning of foliage, no we aren't talking about just removing the lowest branches although some of them could easily be removed. We are talking about turning the area from an overgrown wild jungle into a slightly manicured set of plants by giving it a haircut.

As i said above you need to thin out between the plants and do it all the way up each side. You can cut leaf branches back 1/2 way if that is enough or you can remove every 3rd leaf branch and snip it back to approx. 1/4" from the main stem it is growing off. We are talking leaf branches only. You do not remove bloom clusters or the main stems, just leaves.

Right now there is no way to tell how many plants there are growing there as they were planted too close together apparently. So when you are done you should be able to clearly see how many different plants are growing in that area, ok?

Dave

Some of mine already are cascading after about 7 ft.

Heck , I am not going to to hold them up any more than that. Let them drape.

That is why I love determinants and dwarfs.

If I had wide spacing, I would cut the main after 4, 5, 6 ..side shoots and make them grow bushy, like dets. Still, if you have lots of side/lateral branches , you can chop the top.

Sey

ibraarsla, when my tomatoes grew over the frame's height (on the right frame)...

and draped over...

I directed the top of the plants horizontally - to the LEFT...

I hope this time I was clearer.

Daniel, as I look at the first picture above, your tomatoes (2014) look like ground cover to me. hehe

Did you mention the you do some trimming ? where ?

Sey

That "ground cover" is actually small plants from the straw seeds.

They are not tomatoes.

I always trim to at least 1 ft. from the ground.