Pruning Tomatos

[lungslicer]

I was just wondering if anyone has any info as far as pruning tomatos during that late summer. My neighbor says that I should pinch the tops off my plants in order to send more nutrients to the fruit. Does anyone have any recommendations?

[nofishfisherman]

I just try to prune the non fruit producing leafy shoots that come off the main trunk of the plant. I don't want the plant wasting time growing leaves and extra branches that won't produce fruit.

I start this pruning right away with the plant and continue doing it as the plant grows. The main trunk of my plants are pretty much clean up at least a 2 feet from the ground. Although a few plants did produce fruit that low that I left.

[lungslicer]

Thank you for the info. Do you think that I should prune any of the tops off of them as we get closer to fall?

[nofishfisherman]

I've never pruned anything off the top and never had a problem with fruit production. What I would do if your plants are big and bushy is to look at the entire plant and see what branches are not going to produce fruit and then trim them flush with the main trunk. YOu probably don't want to prune it all of but thinning it out would probably be good.