Pruning general rules

[swordy]

I will place a question here and I apologize if this matter is discussed in other thread or fits better in other topic.
I know basic pruning techniques for tomatoes.
I also know that regarding where you live, this may differ: the souther the less leaf pruning is suggested for protection of the fruit from the sun.
I also know that regarding the variety (even only for indeterminate types) pruning may differ again.
Lastly, regarding your climate and the diseases traditionally hit your garden, pruning may be more or less.
My question is this: On general, more leaves let the plant produce more food for itself? Is that a common rule, taking into account the photosynthesis procedure that is valid in every single plant?
Would that mean that tiping some tops of suckers, but not completely removing the whole sucker would let the plant produce more food and focus on its fruit and not its growth?
What I do is I never cut the leaves of a plant unless I see signs of disease. And as I explained above, I also let some suckers grow till the point of producing buds, but I cut that top along with the buds, only leaving the leaves of this still young sucker.
Is that reasonable? Does anyone else do this? Thank you for your time!

[Sue_CT]

Why would you remove good buds that could give you more fruit? Unless you are pruning for the largest possible fruit instead of overall fruit production, I don't really see the point. But I have found that the fullest plants with the most buds give me the most fruit. So I am sure you will find some that do almost any pruning practice and have their own reasons for it, but unless you have a particular reason for doing it I would just stop. I do know some in high disease pressure areas or who use certain types of support prune to one or two stems. But that only makes sense to me for those that also have a particular reason for doing so. JMHO. You will get as many opinions on pruning as you have people and answers.

[karstopography]

https://greatbigplants.com/wp-content/u ... matoes.pdf

I believe @swordy is describing Missouri pruning. Yes, I too will prune in the ways described in the link, including Missouri pruning.

[karstopography]

https://ronpaulgardencentre.com/wp-cont ... matoes.pdf

Another link to reasons for and how to prune.

[Sue_CT]

I mentioned those that prune to one or two stems. I have found mine do much worse with more pruning. I get disease every year. I have seen vines of people on here with almost no leaves left after removing all the diseased leaves well into the season. I can remove my diseased leaves as the season goes along and still have plenty of leaves to provide shade to fruit and photosynthesis and nutrients to the plant without uneven ripening or sun scald. I don't think anyone else is wrong for how they prune their plants, most do what they do for specific reasons. But I am a big proponent of trying more than one way and seeing what works best for you. Since I use Texas Tomato cages, which are fairly large, they also provide much better support with larger, fuller plants. I get less disease with fuller plants that are better supported also. So I say, try a couple plants a different way in the same year and compare how they do for you. Anyway you have a reason for pruning your plants that works for you is great. I just don't believe there is only one right way. Pruning the way you want to for a real reason makes more sense to me than doing it because someone else does it that way. I also live in a very different climate from some of you, and they may or may not make a difference.

[bower]

I do the same as you Swordy, with indeterminates. But I like determinates even better because I don't have to prune at all, except for any disease or for air circulation if it's overcrowded.
The architecture of tomato plants is really interesting. They put up a strong sucker to support the fruit above. They even use leaves to support fruit if there isn't a sucker to do the job. You can remove all the suckers and excess leaves, and then tie up the fruit to support them, and it also is fine, and works well for crowded single stem production. But the plants are designed to support and shade the fruit themselves, if they have the time and space.

Some plants will stop producing fruit or may not grow what they set, if they have too many suckers in a crowded or shaded space. So pruning off the buds on the suckers is a way of reminding them to grow up their fruit on the main stem. Sometimes I let the suckers make a cluster or two before the pruning, if the plant is making lots of fruit anyway. But I sometimes have to remove suckers and top the plant as well, to get the stubborn ones to make fruit. That is all about crowding and shade.

[swordy]

https://greatbigplants.com/wp-content/u ... matoes.pdf

I believe @swordy is describing Missouri pruning. Yes, I too will prune in the ways described in the link, including Missouri pruning.

Thank you @karstopography for the pdf file you linked to. It was very informative. And yes, it seems this is what I was referring to… my method of pruning was the Missouri pruning!