On Sun, 02 Aug 2015 22:42:26 -0400, Nancy Young
> wrote:

>On 8/2/2015 11:56 AM, Janet B wrote:
>
>> there was another raid last night. It is young raccoons getting into
>> the tomatoes. They are indiscriminate. Last night was large green
>> tomatoes half eaten. Everything is fenced and caged. I wish they
>> would go after the cucumbers -- it's amazing what four plants can put
>> out..
>
>I have one plant and it must have put out 35 cucumbers already.
>I think I'm under-estimating how many, to be honest. I had them
>stacked on my counter like a demented green Jenga game. One day
>soon it will stop just like that and I'll be sorry to see them go.
>
>The tomatoes are really coming in strong now. I have a mortgage
>lifter that the rabbit didn't manage to kill. Some Rutgers type
>of tomato and some tomatoes that are round and smaller than grape
>tomatoes. Those tiny ones have the flavor of three big tomatoes
>condensed, very strong.
>
>My question is this, do you all prune your tomato vines? I just
>put square wire cages around them and let them go. I've heard
>of people pruning them so they grow more tomatoes on more linear
>vines.
>
>nancy
a long, long time ago I pruned everything except the central vine. It
is an almost daily task. You need to take care that the producing
area of each segment is turned away from the post (so the tomato can
develop freely) and in my climate, I needed to have at least one leaf
shoot to provide shade for the developing fruit cluster. Another time
I tried thinning out the tomato shoots. Again, I thought it was a lot
of busy work. Currently I use round cages made of concrete
reinforcing wire. My husband made them and they are probably at least
20 years old and still going strong. The cages are the easiest way to
go.
Janet US