taking care of tomatoes plants trimming

[shodan44]

:?: does any one know or tell me how to trim tomatoes plants. I have big green tomatoes and the plant is real bushy in cages and some are top heavy. I live in ohio and like to know if somebody can tell me how to trim them i dont want to shock the plant while trimming it or kill the plant so can somebody help me here .worry bob.

[dragonfly]

If you have tomatoes still forming and growing, I would leave enough vine and leaves to provide some shade and protection for them, but I'm in a hotter climate than you, so it may not make any difference. If I'm not concerned about having tomatoes that need shade, I just cut the plants back to the cage.

[sandih]

I wouldn't trim them if they are producing well. I would just put up some type of support around them and then secure them to the support structure with strips of pantyhose. I have some plants that are over 7ft tall.

Here's how we support ours

http://photobucket.com/albums/v199/sandih/tomato%20scaffolding/

[sandih]

by the way, the tomatoes in the photos are now at the tops of the 7ft tall posts.

[Gar]

Awesome pictures. You must have some pretty fertile soil there. Those pictures are postive proof what being organic will do for your garden.
My mothers tomatoe plants are the same. This year she got tired of cutting off the stems when they reached the top of the cages. She just them grow. Every tomatoe she picked has been over one pound. Yes her garden is very fertile. The first 5 years I would till in a truck full of home made compost, in the fall. Now after after 15 years she has a no till garden that started out as hard black clay. Each year, after planting, she puts down newspaper and mulch on top. She has very few wids that come up threw the mulch.