Been reading a lot about how to prune tomato plants and there definitely appears to be a consensus that you should prune most of the suckers that appear between the stem and leaf branches. And that it should be done by pinching them with your fingers or with a sterilized razor blade if they are really large. The more suckers you let grow the more tomatoes you have but you sacrifice size. So with less suckers you have fewer tomatoes but they will tend to grow larger and healthier. Makes sense. Strike the best balance between number of fruits and size of fruits.
What I'm not really clear about is the pruning of leaf branches. Since the leaves harness the suns power and turns it into sugar it would make sense to leave a lot of leaves on the plant to not only help with photosynthesis but to also help shade the fruits from too much direct sun.
Most of the articles I've read indicate that most tomato diseases and fungus' results from the leafs being too close to the ground and picking up soil born spores by rain or sprinkler splash. Many articles recommend not having any leafs within 12" of the ground and sometimes 24" in some cases. Looking at my tomato plants I'd obviously have to prune several of the low hanging leaf branches along with the suckers that I overlooked early on.
Obviously I don't want to cut any flowering branches as these are where the actual tomatoes will be growing. But can I safely just snip off the lower lying branches without any repercussion to the plant down the road?
I really know very little in terms of pruning anything whether it be a tomato plant or an azalea. But I'm trying to learn. Some of the you-tube videos I've watched directly contradict each other. One in particular from a master gardener recommended cutting all leaf branches away in order to direct all of the plants sugar to the fruits. This doesn't seem logical to me. Others make it sound like you have to be really careful about what you snip or ealse you can kill the plant.
So in the end, what tips do you guys have about pruning tomato plants? From what I gathered I think I should cut most suckers out and work with 1 main stem. And also cut any leaf branches off the lower part of the plant that contains low hanging leaves.
What I'm not really clear about is the pruning of leaf branches. Since the leaves harness the suns power and turns it into sugar it would make sense to leave a lot of leaves on the plant to not only help with photosynthesis but to also help shade the fruits from too much direct sun.
Most of the articles I've read indicate that most tomato diseases and fungus' results from the leafs being too close to the ground and picking up soil born spores by rain or sprinkler splash. Many articles recommend not having any leafs within 12" of the ground and sometimes 24" in some cases. Looking at my tomato plants I'd obviously have to prune several of the low hanging leaf branches along with the suckers that I overlooked early on.
Obviously I don't want to cut any flowering branches as these are where the actual tomatoes will be growing. But can I safely just snip off the lower lying branches without any repercussion to the plant down the road?
I really know very little in terms of pruning anything whether it be a tomato plant or an azalea. But I'm trying to learn. Some of the you-tube videos I've watched directly contradict each other. One in particular from a master gardener recommended cutting all leaf branches away in order to direct all of the plants sugar to the fruits. This doesn't seem logical to me. Others make it sound like you have to be really careful about what you snip or ealse you can kill the plant.
So in the end, what tips do you guys have about pruning tomato plants? From what I gathered I think I should cut most suckers out and work with 1 main stem. And also cut any leaf branches off the lower part of the plant that contains low hanging leaves.