7/11/2008Growing Wisdom:Pruning Tomatoes Pruning tomatoes is one of the easiest and most beneficial things you can do to increase fruit size and help lessen the chances of disease. First, lets talk about which tomatoes to prune. Indeterminate (climbing) tomatoes should be staked, trellised, or caged, and pruned for best results. Determinate (bush) tomatoes do not need pruning and may be grown with or without support. Now what is the difference? The fruit of determinate tomatoes ripens within a concentrated time period. The fruit of indeterminate tomato varieties ripens over an extended period, and will continue to grow until they are affected by the first hard frost. For example, you may have purchased a container tomato plant for your patio. Typically, the tomatoes commercially available in containers are determinate and do not need pruning. However, you still should give it some support. On the other hand, the cherry tomato plant in your garden is most likely an ...