On the tomato ripening chart, IIRC it takes roughly 45 days from the tiniest bud to a ripe tomato, so even if a big beefsteak fruit was just blushing, it could be picked and ripened inside. I think you could probably wait until at least the end of August before doing anything drastic and I never can tell if the plant puts just as much energy into establishing new shoots as it would into continuing on with what it had pre-pruning....

Linda

" Anyway when should I top off the plants to that the smallest tomato can grow full size with the plant focusing on it instead of growing?

Not sure where you got the impression that works but there is no research that supports that is what happens. Just the opposite in fact. "Topping" or pruning older plants triggers them into new leaf and stem growth not the development of fruit already on the vine. Fruit already on the vine develop and ripen with time - the time from when the fruit set as Linda said.

Topping a plant is nothing more than an option some growers choose to try to control plant size and has little to do with development of fruit already on the plant.

Dave

If your concern is just trying to get the tomatoes that are already set to ripen 'better', then as Dave and Linda point out, topping isn't effective, but you could count back from your approx. first frost (adding a couple of days for the lower sun inclination,) and instead of topping, begin to cull fruit trusses. That may help the plant to not 'waste' energy on fruit that won't have as much chance at ripening, but there's a good amount of guess work, and some people enjoy fried green tomatoes, or chow chow relish.

Its not about "ripening better" as it is for the fruits to grow bigger, faster.

Does not fruit growing bigger, faster qualify as 'better'?

Unless, of course, you prefer fruits to grow smaller and slower, then that might be 'better'. :-)

"Its not about "ripening better" as it is for the fruits to grow bigger, faster."

Sadly, that is a common misconception, some would call it an "old wives tale". Fruit already on the vine will not grow bigger or faster from topping the plant. Don't think we can say it any plainer. ;-)

Culling fruit sometimes has a marginal increase effect on size but not ripening. Root pruning sometimes has a marginal effect on ripening rate but the end quality is often poor in flavor.

Topping the plant accomplishes neither.

Dave

Does not fruit growing bigger, faster qualify as 'better'?

It wasn't to [i]ripen better[/I] as you said, meaning that it will taste better. Bigger, faster, does not mean "better" (they each have different meanings, semantics), such as bigger, faster doesn't mean it'll taste better.

Anyway if it doesn't work then I won't do it.

Who said anything about taste?

You wanted the plants to 'focus on' "the smallest tomato." After it was explained that topping doesn't work - as indeterminate plants do not stop growing - I simply offered you a method that would help the plant do exactly what you asked... focus on ripening the fruit which it will have already set.

I put the word 'better' in single quotes - a commonly accepted method of expressing individual perspective on definition and shade of meaning.

If you don't wish to cull fruit trusses, then that is up to you, but your replies sometimes make it seem that you don't really appreciate the help offered. Perhaps this is not your intent...

Besides... grandma had a saying about running out of good words. Done.

Wow rgreen, you're taking this too personally.

"If your concern is just trying to get the tomatoes that are already set to ripen 'better'"

In your words you said I want the fruits to ripen better, which does not make sense to me. How does a fruit "ripen better" other than sweeter? "Ripen better" and "grow better" are two different things to me. Grow better would !mean faster and bigger which is what I was trying to achieve.

"I put the word 'better' in single quotes - a commonly accepted method of expressing individual perspective on definition and shade of meaning."

This is exactly what I meant by semantics. To me you interpreted what I wanted in a different way from what I meant.

I'm not sure what makes you think I wasn't taking anyone's advice. I have limited time to be online and I use a tablet that acts up and I can't type well on so I don't have much of a choice than to be quick and precise with what I say, sometimes forgetting to reply to another person.

I'm also not sure what you mean by "culling the trusses".

Ok, just when I thought I was out...

I did not say you aren't taking advice. I said that "your replies sometimes make it seem that you don't really appreciate the help offered."

I didn't interpret the word 'better'. When a word is put into single quotes, as in my usage there, it is being left to the reader (not the writer) to interpret the meaning for themselves. The reason it's a common practice is because writing is not like a real-life conversation - yet even in conversations people use air quotes in the same way. It is a vehicle for allowing individual, and varied interpretation. In this case, you've already been told that there's not much you can do to affect the ripening of fruit. It happens when it happens, and there are many variables involved that are singular to variety, environment, conditions, etc... Interpret 'better' however you wish. Culling trusses, or flowers, or fruits - at the proper time - is really the only potentially effective means of getting a plant to concentrate all its energies in ripening fruits that have already been set on the vine within that window of time before a killing frost.

Lastly, and please, if you aren't sure what I am saying, please... just ask... culling trusses means exactly what it means lol.

Culling is a technique that refers to removing - usually unwanted - items.

Trusses are the specialized branches on a tomato plant on which flowers, and eventually fruit, are found.

To be very specific - if not overly so - you have your leaves... which are responsible for collecting sunlight, and for respiration. You have your branches... which are divisions and continuations of stems, and you have your trusses. It's not uncommon for people new to tomatoes to get these confused. However, like yourself, after a few seasons one becomes familiar with the growth habits, if not the nomenclature.

Culling trusses means that you remove the fruit bearing branches (and only the fruit bearing branches - not leaves, and not stem branches) which are holding the flowers/ripening fruit.

If this culling is done early in the season, one looses potential fruit. There are some people who do cull trusses throughout the season, but it's avoided by those who are hoping to maximize yields.

If done late in the season, as in the choices you are facing, the plant will not need to divide its energies on fruit that, because of weather, will not make it far enough along to be considered 'vine ripe' (and that phrase was recently parsed on another thread - I'm not getting into it.)

As Dave mentioned though, the only real advantage of culling is potentially larger, fruit. However, and again... since individual conditions apply... it is not guaranteed. The point is that it is basically the only option that I know of that holds out a possibility of helping your plants focus on already-set fruit before a freeze ends the life of the plant. Most of us just find delicious uses for green fruit.