Talk to me about pruning...

[pjhootch]

I have been growing tomatoes for a long time- but have only become focused in the last few years. Simultaneously, I moved to a home with very little sunny area. So I have three or four tomatoes in the ground/raised bed up against the southeast side of the house, and am growing in an ever expanding selection of containers, pots and large planters in a sunny part of the back patio. I grow tomato, a few peppers, and as much eggplant as we can eat and freeze (usually about 4 plants in pots) along with herbs in small pots and shallow planters.

As I moved from all hybrid to mostly heirloom I had to start learning about diseases and insect vulnerability I never researched before. 25 years ago I planted stunted plants purchased cheap from walmart when it was 90 degrees out and they lived or died- and we ate what the birds left me when I had time to go check them. 😂

So now I need to learn to prune proactively instead of as a reaction to a diseased plant. I use large, heavy duty square tomato cages in planters that are about 25 gallons, and smaller round cages in planters that are 15-20 gallons. We get a lot of rain here at times and high humidity is possible and unpredictable.

So when to start? What is the best way to keep them maintained instead of trying to fix them when they get too thick?

I realize people have different views about this so would like some suggestions about how to handle this as I learn new tips.