Should I prune these suckers and which, they look equal, servey says...

See screenshot. They are at the top, they seem to V equally. I know 3 other gardeners... 2-1, don't remove it is current winner.

Hi Will! Welcome to Permies!

You posed a great question. Are your tomatoes determinate or indeterminate? (meaning that they sprawl and keep producing)

My dad grew a one acre garden in the 1970’s and he taught me to sucker or prune the tomatoes for a stronger plant, less diseases because the leaves did not touch the ground, and a higher yield, because the plant grew more fruit…not more leaves.

Here is a link to an informative video about pruning/suckering tomatoes by James Prigioni, who is a permaculture gardener.

Best to you!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iH0uegIOoK4&pp=ygUdSmFtZXMgcHJpZ2lvbmkgcHJ1bmUgdG9tYXRvZXM%3D

If you want a tomato plant with double leaders, keep them and remove subsequent suckers, which appear one node under a flower cluster. Remove them when young so no energy is wasted growing multiple suckers. Some market growers like to keep two leaders and and top them when each has 3-4 clusters of fruits (big slicing tomato type). Since tomato plant puts out one flower cluster every three leaves, I this way the plant has a manageable height with lots of fruits to mature before the season ends.

If you cut off one branch and keep up with suckering, it will turn out to be a single leader and will grow out of the cage quickly and be very tall, depending on how long the growing season is.

Besides, the two branches are different if you look closely, the main one will produce flower earlier than the sucker.

Thanks guys. Still a tough call on this one. Maybe ill let the sucker grow and then top the sucker when it's a good size to stop the grow and focus back on the main. I thought about doing this on the bottom to replace yellowing leaves, but couldn't find anyone talking about the approach... seems your the first, but seems best option... get something out of the growth I wasted without letting it just go forever.

These are Indeterminate mortgage lifter... I suspect they will get huge.

Few other related questions.
- once you cut off ripe tomatoes, how/where do they grow back... I hear Indeterminate sprout all year, I just want to make sure I don't  ut the wrong thing during early harvest to prevent that.
- any tips for dealing with the massive green carpet of wheat grass now growing in my 50 container garden due to hay mulch? I might rip it all up and put down coconut coir. So stupid, never using hay or even straw again. Was better with nothing.

I've been exploring your question for the past few years myself. I have come to the conclusion: it depends. I live in the southeast US and I had never heard of removing suckers from tomatoes until I saw some videos on youtube. Here, tomatoes have traditionally been grown in cages made from woven wire fencing about 2'-2.5' in diameter. By harvest, they will often be a tangled mass of branches that make it difficult to pick the tomatoes, even to see them sometimes. I saw the videos about improving the yield by removing suckers so they can "make fruit, not leaves." I've yet to see it pay off, though. The plants look much nicer, but have much less fruit. I thought that it may make them less susceptible to disease, but I see virtually no difference. A lot of plants in this area are simply going to succumb to some disease, generally at the peak of summer, and it's simply a race to get some produce before it happens. I haven't seen anyone around here find a way around it.

The flowers grow at regular intervals on the plant. A sucker doesn't have to get very big before it will have flowers. As long as there are some suckers on the plant, or the initial leading  tip of the plant hasn't been removed, the plant will continue growing and fruiting.

Appreciated. Yeah, I see there are real tradoffs, ill see more after my first vegetable garden in 30 years is complete. I'll let these guys grow more, and watch out for top heaviness, trim them if the get heavy... I should have used bamboo for the cages, 6ft.

Shouldn't have used wheat grass... tearing that shit up now, trying to kill as many seedlings as I can and laying down pine Park, should take the day.

I think one of the main problems with the theorizing around whether to prune tomatoes or not is the terminology used. There is no such thing as a 'sucker' on a tomato. Every leaf is photosynthesizing and creating energy for the plant, not one single branch, stem, or leaf is taking energy from the plant. The arguments for pruning to increase airflow and stay away from the ground are valid and can improve disease resistance through physical means. Pruning NEVER increases fruit harvest per plant, it improves manageability. Reducing leaf area reduces vigor in an otherwise healthy plant.