I am a rookie gardener who intents to support my tomato plants on stakes. Everything I have read indicates it is best to prune staked plants to a single stem. Something about cutting off suckers that form at a leaf axil, whatever that is.
If you're as ignorant as I am, and few are, perhaps you will find this article, WITH PICTURES very handy.
https://www.finegardening.com/how-to/articles/pruning-tomatoes.aspx
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gardenbean
- Senior Member
- Posts: 251
- Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:47 pm
- Location: Westminster Colorado
When I grew my first tomatoes, I had no idea what "pruning" meant. But, I took a stab at any way and later learned how to prune the toms.
It is the suckers and you will see them quite easily if you watch (and pinch them out) every day. I've had some already this year that made me ponder a bit over which was the main stem.
And it is OK to keep the suckers - they become stems as well and generally produce a lot tomatoes. It is really about controlling the size of the plant. I like to let some suckers grow but not too many. It is a personal choice. Many people don't remove them at all.
It is the suckers and you will see them quite easily if you watch (and pinch them out) every day. I've had some already this year that made me ponder a bit over which was the main stem.
And it is OK to keep the suckers - they become stems as well and generally produce a lot tomatoes. It is really about controlling the size of the plant. I like to let some suckers grow but not too many. It is a personal choice. Many people don't remove them at all.
Pruning tomatoes, IMHO, is one of those practices that is Just Too Much, on top of everything else. If you want to do it for its own sake, sure, go ahead! 
But in trying to give my plants everything they need and keep the permanent landscape here from falling into total decay, plus other normal responsibilities, I decided not to drive myself nuts with pruning my tomatoes. I'll take every single tomato my plants want to give me, whether the plants are in the raised beds or in the 10-gallon planting pots.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
But in trying to give my plants everything they need and keep the permanent landscape here from falling into total decay, plus other normal responsibilities, I decided not to drive myself nuts with pruning my tomatoes. I'll take every single tomato my plants want to give me, whether the plants are in the raised beds or in the 10-gallon planting pots.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9