Suckers...

Orange Blossom before

 In an effort to take my tomato plants to the "next level" I am going to try to improve both yield and size. One thing that might help would be pruning the plant--getting rid of the "suckers" that take up nutrients and prevent the fruit from growing big. So I have tried some initial pruning.

I didn't really know about "suckers" or anything about pruning tomato plants before a friend of mine mentioned it. My concern was that if too many leaves were pruned they would not produce the necessary sugars through photosynthesis. Walter Reeves confirmed my suspicion here and gave some basic tips on pruning. First, it is important to recognize that suckers are young leaves that exist between the plant stem and the mature leaves. They "suck" up the nutrients that would otherwise go to the mature leaves, so it is good to prune them back. However, it also reduces photosynthesis, so one must be careful not to overdo it.

Orange Blossom after

In general, pruning will produce bigger fruit, but less fruit. The more vines and arms, the more fruit, but the fruit will necessarily be smaller. I did a little trimming of the lower leaves just to think it out and encourage more growth.