Tomato plants?

Ihave people say to keep the suckers pulled off of your plants and they will produce more,bigger and early tomatoes. how do you identify these suckers??

Tomato plants?
Pinching off suckers has benefits and costs.





Staked Culture Systems - The two systems in widespread use are: stake and weave, and cage culture. A third system, more common in small gardens than in field-scale production, is the trellis system.


Stake and Weave—Stake is driven between every other plant and twine woven between and around stakes 4-6 times. All suckers but one below the first fruit cluster are removed. No other suckers are removed above the first cluster. Labor intensive and slightly less productive of large fruit than trellising.





Trellis—Posts support No. 10 wire. Strings are dropped from wire and tied to base of plant. Plants are twined around string. The main stem and one sucker are allowed to develop and all other suckers are removed as they develop. More prone to fruit cracking but produces large early fruit, also easiest for pest control. Labor intensive.





For cages; 2 foot tall wire cage 14 inches in diameter made from No. 10 mesh on 6"x6" spacing. If tomato plants in wire cages are pruned at all, once is enough; prune to three or four main stems. Wire-cage tomatoes develop a heavy foliage cover, reducing sunscald on fruits and giving more leeway when bottom leaves become blighted and have to be removed. Many staked plants are nearly naked by late summer. Caged plants are less prone to the spread of disease from plant handling, since they do not have open wounds and must be handled less frequently than staked plants. However, it helps to space the plants somewhat further apart (three feet is good) to allow good air circulation between plants; humidity is higher because of the foliage density, and diseases such as late blight spread rapidly in humid situations. If well-nourished and cared for, caged tomatoes can make up for the extra space with high production. This type of culture is especially suited to indeterminate varieties.
Reply:Hi ford man, a sucker will grow right above a branch on the main stem. By pinching off this sucker you are limiting the # of branches on the tomato plant. That way the plant spends more time producing tomatoes than growing more branches.


Hope this has helped.
Reply:These are the little leaves that develop in the joint of two branches. They won’t bear fruit and will take energy away from the rest of the plant. While you can thin out leaves to allow the sun to reach the ripening fruit, don't go crazy and pinch off too many because it’s the leaves that photosynthesize and develop sugars to flavor the fruit. Do be sure to pinch the leaves closest to the ground as your plant matures because this is where fungus and rot can develop.
Reply:They grow between the limbs of the tomato plant.....Keeping the suckers pruned off does make the tomato plant produce more........Good luck and happy gardening!!!!!!!!!!!