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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

In researching appropriate soil depth for vegetable roots, I came  
across this most informative site at the Soil and Health Library,  
which is worth much attention. Here is the chapter on tomatoes:

http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010137veg.roots/010137ch26.html

Something about which I was apparently mistaken is the matter of  
pruning. Here is the graph on that subject:

  Pruning.--Pruning the vines, i.e., pinching out all or nearly all  
of the lateral branches as soon as they appear and thus confining the  
growth to one or a few stems and training these remaining stems is a  
practice used by some growers especially in the South. 145 It has been  
suggested that any benefit thus derived may be due to a lessening of  
foliage diseases, which are more severe in the South, since trained  
plants are thus benefitted by better exposure to wind and sun. 157 In  
the North it has been largely discontinued since it has been found  
unprofitable. In general the yield decreases in proportion to the  
severity of pruning. 176, 120 For example, at Urbana, Ill., plants  
pruned to a single stem gave a yield of 6.5 pounds of marketable  
fruit; those pruned to 2 stems yielded 10.5 pounds; those with three  
stems 12.1 pounds; but plants not pruned gave a yield of 19.6 pounds.  
95 Indeed, hundreds of pruning experiments have been done without  
reference to the effect upon the root system. There is a close  
correlation between root and shoot development and the maintenance of  
a proper balance between them is of very great importance. If either  
is too limited or too great in extent, the other will not thrive.  
Unpublished studies at Cornell University show that the root system of  
a pruned tomato plant is reduced in about the same proportion as the  
top. "Hence it seems probable that pruned plants suffer more from  
drought than unpruned plants because the former cannot get as much of  
the available moisture as the latter." 157 This is further indicated  
by the fact that blossom-end rot is nearly always more severe on  
trained and pruned than on unpruned plants.
> From k1lky AT earthlink.net  Fri Jun 27 21:41:24 2008
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On Jun 27, 2008, at 9:24 PM, Gene GeRue wrote:/\...
> http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010137veg.roots/010137ch26.html
...
>   Pruning.--Pruning the vines, i.e., pinching out all or nearly all
> of the lateral branches as soon as they appear ... In general the  
> yield decreases in proportion to the
> severity of pruning.

My parents, who learned their garden ways in the 1930's and 40's,  
pinched out all the "suckers" that sprouted between any other two  
branches of the stem.

Maybe it was a strongly held bad idea.

Roy

Roy Morgan
k1lky AT earthlink.net
Lovettsville, VA 20180