Tomato Pruning: How to Prune Tomatoes and Remove Suckers

Prune indeterminate tomatoes by pinching off suckers, the side shoots in each crotch between a leaf branch and the main stem, while they are still small, and keep staked plants to 1 to 3 main stems. Determinate plants need light pruning or none: one guide removes suckers only up to the first flower cluster, and others say these types typically need no pruning.

Pruning is optional, and how much a plant needs depends on its growth habit and its support. Pruning can help in three ways: the plant puts more of its energy into flowers and fruit, light and air reach further into the leaves so disease has less to work with, and the plant stays a manageable size in a small bed. Where the six extension services behind this page disagree, it gives each view, and our arithmetic turns the topping rule into a calendar date at four airport weather stations. For planting, watering and harvest, see how to grow tomatoes.

Tomato pruning at a glance

What to remove	Suckers: side shoots in the angle between a leaf branch and the main stem
When	As they form, while still under a few inches long; weekly on staked plants
Staked plants	1 to 3 main stems; some guides keep 1 or 2
Caged plants	No pruning needed in one guide; if pruned, usually once, to 3 or 4 stems in another
Determinate plants	Suckers up to the first flower cluster only, or usually none (guides differ)
Lower leaves	The bottom 6 to 12 inches, or the lowest 3 to 4 leaf branches
Most to remove at once	One third of the foliage
Topping	Indeterminate plants only, about 4 to 6 weeks ahead of the average first fall frost
Tools	Fingers, or clean, sharp pruners, while suckers are small

What are tomato suckers?

A sucker is a small side shoot that starts in a leaf axil, the crotch where a leaf branch joins the main stem, and left alone it grows into another stem.

To find them:

1. Start at the base of the plant and pick out the main stem.
2. Follow that stem upward. A compound leaf grows out from each joint, or node.
3. Look in the crotch between that leaf and the stem. A new shoot growing there is a sucker.

Guides do not agree on what a sucker gives you if you leave it. One says these shoots will in time flower and set fruit. Another calls them mostly leafy growth that bears little, if any, fruit, so the plant spends energy on leaves it could put into fruit. The first guide's case for pruning anyway is that a moderate amount makes the fruit bigger, speeds ripening and keeps the plant more manageable.

Should you prune determinate or indeterminate tomatoes?

Prune indeterminate tomatoes through the whole season; prune determinate ones lightly or not at all. The difference is in how the plant grows. A tomato is determinate when it eventually forms a flower cluster at its growing tip, which stops its upward growth. An indeterminate tomato never sets a flower cluster at the tip, only along the sides, so it keeps getting taller: its vines go on growing until frost or disease kills them. Check the variety's description for the word, or watch the top of the plant.

Determinate plants. Here the guides split two ways. One takes suckers off only as far up as the first flower cluster and sees no need to go higher on the main stem. Another says determinate and semi-determinate types typically need no pruning, and a third says bush types need no pruning, staking or trellising. A determinate plant stays fairly small, though guides size it differently: one says bush types typically reach 24 to 30 inches, another that most modern determinates grow 3 to 4 feet tall.

Indeterminate plants. One guide keeps removing suckers along the main stem as they form, all season. Another says the large vines benefit from losing some side shoots, or from topping, so they do not grow too bushy and tall. These vines can reach at least 6 feet.

Sorting by earliness and use instead. One guide groups varieties as first-early, main-crop, small-fruited salad and dwarf container tomatoes, which are not growth habits, and on habit says only that some extreme dwarf types are determinate. By group, it calls the first-early varieties usually unsuited to pruning, the dwarf container types unsuited apart from the Husky hybrids, the small-fruited salad types usually suitable, and many main-crop varieties fit to prune and train to stakes.

Where the six guides differ on pruning

Point	What the guides say
Stems and suckers	Staked plants: 1 to 3 main stems, other suckers off weekly; on a single stake, one stem, or two if the lowest sucker grows on. Indeterminate plants: suckers off all season in one guide; some suckers, or topping, in another. One guide goes by variety group: many main-crop varieties suit pruning and staking.
Caged plants	No tying or pruning needed, in one guide; only enough shoots off for light and air, in another; if pruned, usually once, to 3 or 4 main stems, in a third; a fourth says pruning may still be needed to curb foliage.
Determinate plants	Suckers off up to the first flower cluster, in one guide; typically none, or none for bush types, in two others; one goes by variety group, not habit.
Lower leaves	The bottom 6 to 12 inches, or the lowest 3 to 4 leaf branches once fruit starts; a third guide prunes the bottom leaves against early blight.

Each row gives every view the six guides take on that point; a guide that says nothing on a point is left out. Two of the lower-leaf rules come from early blight pages.

How to prune indeterminate tomatoes to one or two stems

Choose the main stem, let one low sucker grow into a second stem if you want two, and remove all the other suckers once a week. On a stake, guides keep one or two main stems, or up to three, and pruned plants can be spaced closer. The guides that give those counts name no growth habit; applying them to indeterminate plants is our reading, since those are the plants whose suckers come off all season. A single-stake method keeps one stem, but stripping a plant down to it shrinks the leaf cover, which leaves the fruit more open to sunscald and blossom end rot. Letting the lowest sucker grow into a second stem adds leaves that should cut sunscald.

For a two-stem plant on a stake:

1. Drive the stake at planting, or within two weeks of it. A stake set later in the season can injure the roots.
2. Let the lowest sucker grow on as the second stem.
3. Tie both stems loosely to the stake as they grow, every 10 to about 12 inches of height.
4. Once a week, pinch off every new sucker on both stems.
5. Check the base of the plant each time and remove any sucker growing from it, which is especially important.
6. Leave some suckers if the plant starts to look bare; there is no need to take every one.

Spacing follows the pruning. Staked plants go 15 to 24 inches apart, and caged ones 2 to 3 feet.

Do not overdo it. Pruning stresses the plant in a way that may raise the rate of blossom end rot, and severe pruning increases cracking. Pruning is also among the causes of sunscald, because suddenly exposed fruit is most prone to burn. Leaf roll, where the lower leaves curl up and turn leathery, is most common on trained and pruned plants; it should not harm the crop.

How to remove suckers by hand

Pinch or snap each sucker off where it joins the stem while it is small, under a few inches long. Your fingers are enough: young shoots pinch off with little effort.

• Fingers or pruners. Snap small suckers off by hand or cut them out with sharp pruners, and make a clean break, with no ragged wound left on the stem.
• Clean hands and tools. Clean your hands and tools after each plant, or every few plants, to help keep disease from traveling down the row; smokers and tobacco users in particular should disinfect their hands.

Pruning lower leaves for airflow and disease

Remove the lowest leaves, especially any that touch the soil. One guide strips leaves and side shoots off the lowest 6 to 12 inches of stem and sets no start date; another waits until the plant is well established and starting to set fruit, then takes off 3 to 4 of the lowest leaf branches.

The reason is early blight, a leaf spot that usually starts on the lower leaves and spreads up the plant. The fungus spends the winter in soil and plant debris and is usually splashed onto the lower leaves by rain early in the season; lower leaves also get infected by touching contaminated soil. Pruning the bottom leaves can help keep those spores from splashing up onto them. Clearing the lower stem also cuts down on Septoria leaf spot; it can also make watering and picking easier. Early blight attacks potatoes too, one reason the nightshade family guide rotates the whole family together.

• Pick a dry day. Prune lower leaves on a dry day so the wounds heal fast.
• Cut close, carefully. Use clean, sharp pruners and cut near the main stem without nicking it.
• Take a third at most. Remove no more than one third of the foliage at a time, even from a diseased plant.
• Mulch underneath. Mulch around the base to cut down on soil splash.
• Keep checking. Keep removing yellowing or diseased leaves through the season.
• Clean the blade. Wash and sanitize pruning tools after they touch infected plants. For home gardeners, rubbing alcohol is preferred over most other methods: wipe or dip the blades, no soak needed. The bleach alternative is 1 part bleach to 9 parts water: pour the bleach into the water, not the reverse, keep it off skin and clothes, use the mix within two hours, soak the blades at least 10 minutes and rinse them in clean water.

When to stop pruning and top the plant

On indeterminate tomatoes, keep removing suckers all season, then top the plant about 4 to 6 weeks before your average first fall frost; in Iowa, that falls in late summer. Topping means cutting off the main stem's growing tip, just above a leaf or a fruit cluster, with clean, sharp pruners. With no tip to feed, the plant puts more of its energy into ripening the fruit it already has instead of making new stems, leaves and flowers. One guide also tops large vines, with a different aim: to stop them growing too bushy and tall.

Limits on topping:

• Do not top determinate plants at any stage. They grow to a set size and bear their fruit all at once, and topping cuts their crop sharply.
• Do not top early in the season, especially before the plant has flowers and fruit; topped too early, the plant can grow less overall.
• Skip plants already stressed by drought, disease or a nutrient shortage.
• Cut in dry weather, then keep watering and feeding as before.

The other late-season step is to pick off new flowers as they open, beginning roughly 4 weeks before fall's first frost, which also helps the late fruit ripen. The table turns both rules into dates.

When to top tomatoes at four airport weather stations

Station (1991-2020 normals)	Median first fall 32 F	Top plants (our count, about 4 to 6 weeks before)	Remove new flowers from (our count, about 4 weeks before)
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN	Oct 18	Sep 6 to Sep 20	Sep 20
Chicago O'Hare, IL	Oct 28	Sep 16 to Sep 30	Sep 30
Washington Reagan, VA	Nov 18	Oct 7 to Oct 21	Oct 21
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX	Nov 24	Oct 13 to Oct 27	Oct 27

The topping rule counts back from the "average first fall frost date." We read that as the median first 32 F date in the 1991-2020 climate normals: by that date, the season's first fall 32 F night stands a 50 percent chance of having come. The topping and flower columns are our arithmetic on the rule. Read the row for the station closest to your garden; a USDA hardiness zone gives a winter low, not a frost date.

Staking and caging pruned plants

A pruned plant with one to three stems needs a stake or a string weave to climb; a plant left bushy in a wire cage needs little or no pruning. Put supports in at planting, or soon after.

• Single stakes. Use a wood or steel stake 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide and 6 to 8 feet long, driven 1 to 2 feet deep and about 3 to 6 inches from the plant. Staked plants are less prone to disease because their leaves dry faster after rain or heavy dew.
• Ties. Tie the stem in a loose figure 8, stake in one loop and stem in the other, using stretch ties, strips of cloth or old nylon hose, or soft, biodegradable twine, and give the stem at least a half inch of slack to thicken.
• Wire cages. One guide's cage is 20 to 24 inches across and 4 to 5 feet tall, held steady with 1 or 2 stakes. Leave at least 6 inches between the wires, a mesh wide enough for a hand to reach in and pick. In one guide, plants in cages need no tying or pruning; tuck stray stems back inside. Another prunes to 3 or 4 stems, usually only once, and a third thins just enough shoots to let light and air through. Cages can also cut sunscald losses because the leaves shade the fruit.
• Cage height. Match the cage to the variety: 3 to 4 feet for most modern determinates, and taller for indeterminates, which reach at least 6 feet.
• The weave. Space plants in the row 18 to 24 inches apart, drive 6 to 7 foot wooden stakes a foot deep after every second plant, and start the first strings 8 to 10 inches up once the plants stand 12 to 14 inches tall, adding a new row every 6 to about 10 inches of height. This is also called the Florida weave. It leaves more leaf cover over the fruit than staking and makes picking easier than in a cage.

For determinate plants, one guide advises against a single stake and suggests a cage or a string weave instead. A plant with no support at all needs the most room: space sprawling tomatoes 3 to 4 feet apart; let them sprawl only where there is plenty of space and a thick mulch covers the ground.

Pruning tools and supplies

Most of tomato pruning needs only your fingers; the rest needs one pair of pruners. One pruning tool guide, written for trees and shrubs, generally prefers bypass hand pruners, whose curved blades pass each other like scissors and, when sharp, make close, clean cuts, over anvil pruners, which are more likely to crush a stem. Add rubbing alcohol for the blades, stakes 6 to 8 feet long or a sturdy cage for each plant, and soft twine or stretch ties.

What you'll need for pruning tomatoes

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

• 

  Felco 2 bypass pruner

  One pruning tool guide, written for trees and shrubs, generally prefers bypass hand pruners, whose curved blades pass each other like scissors and, when sharp, make close, clean cuts.

  Check price on Amazon
• 

  Gardener's Supply Company Titan Tall Tomato Cages

  Stakes 6 to 8 feet long or a sturdy cage for each plant.

  Check price on Amazon
• 

  Tenn Well Jute Garden Twine, 328 ft

  Soft twine or stretch ties.

  Check price on Amazon

Sources we used

The pages below supply every number here, and we saved a copy of each; the dates in the topping table are our arithmetic on Iowa State's rule and NOAA's normals. When two sources disagree, the page shows both.

• "Iowa State University Extension and Outreach: Pruning Tomatoes in the Home Garden" (last reviewed June 2026), with its "How to Train Tomatoes in the Home Garden", "Growing Tomatoes in the Home Garden", "Managing Tomato Diseases, Disorders, and Pests", "Guide to Pruning Equipment" and "How do I sanitize my pruning shears?"
• "University of Maryland Extension: Growing Tomatoes in a Home Garden" (updated November 11, 2025) and its "Early Blight of Tomatoes"
• "University of Missouri Extension, G6461: Growing Home Garden Tomatoes" (revised May 2022)
• "Clemson Cooperative Extension, HGIC 1323: Tomato" (revised March 2, 2022)
• "Illinois Extension, Home Vegetable Gardening: Tomato"
• "University of Minnesota Extension: Growing tomatoes in home gardens" and its "Early blight in tomato and potato"
• "NOAA NCEI: U.S. Climate Normals, 1991-2020": median first fall 32 F dates for Minneapolis-St. Paul, Chicago O'Hare, Washington Reagan and Dallas-Fort Worth airports

Related guides

• How to grow tomatoes, from seed starting to harvest.
• How to grow tomatoes in pots, from pot size to watering and feeding.
• Tomato cage buying guide, our pick of cage, weave stake or tie for each support job.
• How to grow peppers, picked green or left to ripen.
• How to grow cucumbers, trellised or left to sprawl.
• How to grow squash and pumpkins, with space, vines and trellising.
• How to grow melons, including small melons on a trellis.
• Nightshade family vegetables, for rotation and the diseases tomatoes share with their relatives.
• Companion planting chart, including its section on tomatoes.

Frequently asked questions

What are suckers on tomato plants?

A sucker is a side shoot growing from a leaf axil, the crotch between a leaf branch and the main stem, and each one can become another stem. Guides differ on its worth: one says suckers eventually flower and fruit, another calls them mostly leafy growth. Pinch them off while they are still a few inches long or less.

Should I remove tomato suckers?

Remove them on staked plants, and go lightly on caged or determinate ones. Keep a staked plant to one to three main stems, cleared weekly. A caged plant needs little: one guide prunes it, if at all, to three or four stems, usually in one pass. Stripping every sucker can invite sunscald.

Should you prune determinate tomatoes?

Only lightly, if at all. One guide removes suckers on determinate plants only up to the first flower cluster and leaves the rest; others say determinate types typically need no pruning, and bush types none. Do not top a determinate plant at any stage.

How do you prune indeterminate tomatoes?

Remove suckers as they form, all season long, while they are still small. On a staked plant, keep one to three main stems. About 4 to 6 weeks before your average first fall frost, top the main stem so the fruit already set can ripen.

Do you have to prune tomatoes?

No, you do not have to prune tomatoes, and caged plants need less pruning. One guide says plants in wire cages need no tying or pruning; another still breaks out enough shoots to let light and air move through the cage. Staked plants are the ones that need weekly sucker removal.

Should I cut the bottom leaves off my tomato plants?

Yes, remove the lowest leaves, especially any touching the soil, against early blight. One guide clears the bottom 6 to 12 inches; another, once the plant is well established and starting to fruit, takes 3 to 4 of the lowest leaf branches. Avoid removing more than a third of the foliage at once.

When should you top tomato plants?

Top indeterminate tomatoes about 4 to 6 weeks before your average first fall frost; in Iowa that is late summer. Snip the main stem off right above a leaf or fruit cluster. Chicago O'Hare's median first fall frost is October 28, so by our count its window runs September 16 to 30.

Do tomato suckers produce fruit?

Yes, suckers can flower and fruit, but guides differ on how much. One says suckers eventually produce flowers and fruit; another says they are mainly leafy and bear little if any fruit. Both still remove most suckers on staked plants, and doing so can open the plant to light and air.