Starting from now you can prune any newly formed shoots/suckers that don't have flowers since those would take the longest to produce. Keep the pruning going till the end of the season in October.

And if you haven't already, give them weak shots of fertilizer weekly, preferably something that has a lower nitrogen number (NPK) since excess nitrogen can cause flower drop. You can continue this till the 1st or 2nd week of September i suppose.

The rest will depend on how long the warm weather holds up. The average is slow to moderate growth through September, then the finale in October. Personally i'm hoping that this odd el nino weather pattern will give us a warm autumn and extended growing season this year, as we had in 2011. Otherwise i store all of my leftover green tomatoes in a storage bin on the basement floor, some will ripen whereas the others will be sliced, breaded and fried green ;)

Good luck.

Steve

Just as a ball park figure, it taks from 30 days to 45 days from blossoms to ripe fruits; This partly depends on VARIETY, SIZE and CLIMATE.

Lets say your FFD (first frost date) is around mid October. Then any blossoms forming on/about September 15th (maybe even earlier ) will have no chance to become a fruit with some color on it.

As Steve just mentioned any branches/suckers with no flowers on them by then will serve no purpose to be around. JMO

SEY

If the plants are a good size I would prune NEW shoots/branches, as growing them may be a waste of the plant's energy. However all branches/"suckers", including with no fruit, serve the purpose of providing energy for photosynthesis - especially important in the waning days of Fall. There is no point to cut off a healthy piece of the plant... it won't make anything ripen any faster. JMO.

The end of the season is the first frost, end of October typically. But the plants are going to be fading and ripening slowly by then. September is looking to be another good month.

Just like everything discussed on here, you listen to what people say then do what appears right to you. And (look who I'm talking to with this next sentence), don't be afraid to experiment. :-P Try one method on one plant, try a different method on another.

I think there are good points in all the comments above, and as Sey mentions, work back your average last frost date. Then, if I decided to prune, it wouldn't be growth, it would just be flowers, or maybe the unset trusses.

In the last week, due to disease and natural die back, I have had to trim off a lot of leaves. Where earlier my plants were lush and green, now the main healthy photosynthesizers are top growth.

So, pruning growth can be detrimental, but clipping off flowers or trusses which have no real chance to finish is just practical. However, if you like green tomatoes, start your flower trimming a bit later if you wish.

rgreen48 wrote: > So, pruning growth can be detrimental, but clipping off flowers or
trusses which have no real chance to finish is just practical.

Agree !

There is also the Missouri pruning - which is a pretty interesting concept, imho.

I have a good analogy for suckers and any new growth:

They are like children born to a farmer family (in old time) who can use extra hands helping in farming. BUT then the children have to be provided for , fed, and cared for ... for a while before they can help the farmer in the field.

That is how suckers are : Initially and for a good while they will just use plants resources to grow to maturity and then start making some contribution, while at the same time using some of the resources. And that is just in photosynthesis. I believe there is a limit as how many square foot of leaf surface that a plant needs. It is like having a solar hot water panel. How much hot water a family needs and how many solar panels should be installed ?

Definitely with more than 8 hours of direct sun ( plus more indirect ) , plants cannot use more than all of that in long hot summer days. Some leaves that never get direct sun, make very little or no contribution to photosynthesis. If you don't prune them the plant will abort them one by one. Why not do it sooner yourself ?

Sey

It's not so much I want them to ripen sooner but to focus on growing the small ones faster. I pruned my black krim. I'll prune the others in September. Thanks for all the input.

are there any flowers now? i'd pick them now. this year is hotter and my plants don't seem to want to produce another harvest, i got about 30 tomatoes from each plant already. i seen the same flowers for at least 3 weeks with no tom, so i trimmed them back beginning august.

My plants stagnated too, about a week or so ago. The Paul Robeson seems to be doing ok though. I read it can do well in chilly weather, so maybe that one I'll leave alone. The others I'll wait another week or two, then prune them.