A lot of people don’t prune at all and the ones that do prune different ways for their own reasons. If anybody tells you that you have to do something a certain way or civilization as we know it will cease to exist, especially if they don’t tell you why or give enough information so you can determine if that even applies to you, it’s often a good idea to get a second opinion.
So why do you want to prune your tomatoes? What kind of tomatoes are you growing, determinate or indeterminate? What system are you using to support them? Are you letting them sprawl, staking them, trellis them, or cage them? What is your climate like and how do you water them?
Most people recommend that you not prune determinates. They feel it cuts back on their production. But you supposedly can prone indeterminates all you want, they’ll just keep growing. I’m not sure I totally agree with that. Some of my indeterminates grow a lot more than others. Some of my indeterminates seem to put out more side shoots (suckers) than others and some of those are more vigorous.
Depending on how you support them, you may not have enough room on your stake, trellis, or cage for all the suckers to fit. You may have to prune just so all the suckers will fit.
If the tomato plants stay wet either from your climate or how you water them, they are susceptible to mold, mildew, or diseases. You may prune them to open them up so air can get in there and dry them out. If you have certain diseases in your soil, like blight, it can infect them if they are touching the ground or splash up when water hits bare ground. You may prune them pretty heavily to keep the plants form touching the ground, though mulching is a real good help in this too. Mulching helps keep the dirt from splashing up.
I grow indeterminates in cages and mulch heavily, not just in the row but a few feet to the sides. I prune back to two or three shoots the first couple of feet off the ground, not worrying about whether it is to the first flower cluster but just to get some shoots growing up inside my cage. Otherwise it gets real crowded in there. I try to keep the bottom fairly open so they will dry out when they get wet but don’t worry about that after they get off the ground and form a jungle inside my cage a couple of feet off the ground. If some branches grow in a way that I cannot tie them up into the cage or weave them through my cow panels I whack them off, even if they have flower clusters or small tomatoes forming. Well, sometimes I do that. Sometimes I just let them go and deal with the mess.
I generally water with a soaker hose, burying it under my mulch and leaving it there all season so it doesn’t spray up on my plants. Once the plants get going good, my climate cannot be described as wet so drying them off up inside a cage is not a high priority for me. My system works for me but others in different conditions or using different methods may have may have problems with it. Hopefully they will tell you what they do and why.
What is the difference between determinate and indeterminate?
