It’s always best to keep tomato plants off of the ground rather than letting them sprawl all over the place. Leaves and fruit in contact with the soil are more prone to disease problems. Tomatoes laying on the ground are often damaged by insects and slugs.
I usually use tomato cages but, most of the time, the plants grow so much that they topple the cages and end up on the ground anyway.
This year I’m going retro with my tomatoes by using old-fashioned staking and pruning. Pruning was very popular before tomato cages became the most prominent way of growing tomatoes. There are many gardeners who still prefer this method.
The objective to pruning tomatoes is to train the plant to grow a single main stem. You do that by pinching off any side shoots or “suckers” that develop in the joint of leaf stems. When left to grow, the suckers form side branches making a bushy tomato plant. Pruning eliminates all side branching.
Pinch off side shoots — or suckers — under four inches with your fingers. Larger shoots may have to removed with flowers snips or a small pruner.
You have to be diligent about your pruning or else the plant will tend revert back to it’s natural bushy growth habit. I think the main reason why pruning fell out of favor was the time involved.
Pruned tomatoes must be staked. And you need to tie each tomato vine to a stake at least four or five feet high since pruning stimulates so much upward growth. In late summer you can limit the height by pinching out the tops of the plants.
By staking, I’m saving a lot of space too. I’ve got my plants only two feet apart instead of my usual three or four feet apart.
One other side benefit is staked and pruned plants produce tomatoes up to two weeks earlier than non-pruned plants.
Bob