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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On Jun 27, 2008, at 8:41 PM, Roy Morgan wrote:

> 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.

Sounds like it. I've been doing it for decades. I have long pruned the  
bottom eighteen inches, to help protect from disease caused by rain  
splash from disease-bearing soil up to the leaves. In this year's  
tomato patch I am not pruning at all and they are lying on the ground.  
So far no disease in spite of excessive rainfall. That soil has a very  
high percentage of grass/leaf mulch and that might be why.