This is an important consideration when looking into tomato companion planting. If you are short on space in your vegetable garden, pruning tomato plants will help to keep them under control, creating more space for other plants. Stake your tomato plant about every 8 inches or so, up the entire length of the main trunk. Garden twine, strips of fabric, or even pieces of pantyhose are excellent materials to use as ties for your stake. In addition, removing leaves allows better air flow around the plant, so reducing the chance of diseases developing when leaves remain wet, and also allows more sunlight to reach the ripening tomatoes. Begin tying your tomato plant to the stake after it reaches a height of 10 to 12 inches. 'You may have fewer fruit on a pruned plant, but they will be bigger,' explains Amy Enfield. Pruning – or pinching out side shoots – should result in the tomato plants producing larger fruit and earlier in the season. Clipping, pruning, or deadheading wet plants, fruit, or flowers can encourage the spread of harmful bacteria or fungi that might hurt or even kill your tomato plants. Pruning tomato plants helps them to put their energy into producing fruits rather than producing more foliage. Pruning Wet Plants If your tomatoes are wet from rain or sprinklers, wait until the foliage is dry before pruning them. 'When I first started growing tomatoes, I largely left them to their own devices, occasionally tying them to their supporting canes, not realizing that the cordon varieties need pinching out in order to thrive,' says keen grower and Period Living editor Melanie Griffiths. Indeterminate tomato plants do benefit from being pruned for a number of reasons. (Image credit: Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash) Do tomato plants need to be pruned?
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