Pruning Tomato Plants

 Tomato plants........to prune or not.......that is the question. My answer is no, and here is why;

• do you know the difference between a fruiting and non-fruiting stem?
• removing excess leaves can expose tomato butts in the sun, burning them (technically referred to as sunscald)
• the leaves are the food making source for the plant (photosynthesis) remove the leaves, remove the food source
• a plant under stress will pull resources from the extra leaves to continue the process of fruit development (like a person with frostbite, our body keeps the 'core' warm first, we can live w/o our fingers)
• a plants only purpose is to produce seed, so all resources are channeled there, save the leaves!
• it would be helpful to prune out yellowed or diseased leaves, but that is a different matter

Above is a corn plant, the side shoots are called tillers. Years ago, 'some' farmers used to prune these off too, thinking they drew energy off the plant. Several years ago I read a study that showed the opposite was true. Corn with the tillers (aka 'suckers') out performed the pruned corn by about 20% in total harvest weight. Really, the same principles would apply, more leaves = more available nutrients & water.