How to Train and Prune Leaders, Stems and Suckers on Tomatoes

Pinch leaves and suckers off the bottom third of the young tomato plant's stem prior to planting.

Plant the tomato plant in the soil so its lowest remaining leaves are just above the soil surface. If the transplant is leggy, with a long section of bare stem, plant the root mass and lower stem in a small trench at about a 30-degree angle. The tomato plant will develop roots along the buried section of stem.

Place one or more stakes securely in the ground 4 to 6 inches from the tomato stem or install a cage or trellis around the tomatoes if they have an indeterminate growth habit. Use pieces of soft cloth or similar material to loosely tie the tomato stem to the stake every 12 inches or so as the stem grows. Determinate tomatoes do not need the same amount of support as indeterminate types, but placing a cage around the plant or staking it makes possible denser spacing of plants and makes it easier to move around the garden.

Remove all but one to three main stems if the tomato plant has multiple stems. If the tomato plant only has one stem, you can remove any new stems as they appear or leave one or two in place to grow.

Remove any suckers that emerge from leaf axils -- the point at which a leaf meets the stem -- before they can grow more than 4 inches tall. Hold a sucker between your thumb and index finger and bend it gently to the side until it snaps off.

Inspect the tomato plant's foliage regularly throughout the growing season. Remove leaves that are touching or near the soil surface, as they are particularly exposed to splashing water. Also, prune and dispose of any foliage affected by leaf spot diseases or infested with slow-moving or attached pests.

Cut off all but one to two fruits developing nearest the tomato stem in each cluster of fruit if you are growing tomatoes for size. This encourages the remaining fruit to develop vigorously and minimizes the potential for stem breakage.

Cut off the top 4 inches of the stem of indeterminate specimens about a month before you anticipate frost or at the end of the growing season to limit further vegetative growth and encourage the ripening of developing fruits.