If the plant is healthy and the branch was cut during the growing season (typically spring and summer), it is more likely that the plant will be able to regrow from the cut branch. In this case, the plant will form new shoots and leaves at the site of the cut, and it may even produce new fruit.
Being in Tampa, you might get some regrowth after cutting back, but tomato plants are bad to get root pest such as nematodes and viruses that can infect and kill the entire plant. If you do get any regrowth, you can cut a piece and root it to get a new plant that will be the exact same variety for the coming year.
Pruning, or selectively removing some of the tomato plant growth, can improve harvestable yields and prolong the harvest season. Further, keeping tomato plants off the ground reduces common fungal diseases like early blight, Septoria leaf spot, and anthracnose, and improves fruit quality.
Just prune off the tallest part of the plant. Tomatoes grow many ``suckers'' from the junction where a branch meets the stem it branches from. Each of these suckers is essentially a complete tomato plant that just happens to utilize the parent plant for nutrients instead of growing roots.
If an established, or larger plant becomes leggy, then they can often be saved by pruning them well and pinching the top off the plant. This encourages the plant to grow bushier and put its energy into something other than growing tall.
You may choose not to prune your tomatoes and still have an acceptable crop. Tomatoes require only sun, water, and nutrients to grow. Pruning enhances production – more tomatoes, bigger tomatoes, and more flavorful tomatoes. Pruning tomato plants helps them produce earlier in the season.
What to plant after tomatoes? Try beans. Legumes and then the cruciferous crops, including brassicas, are what to plant after tomatoes. Legumes are known to trap nitrogen in nodules that form on their roots, adding nitrogen to the soil.
To help improve airflow and cut down on the chance of disease, remove the leaves along the bottom 12 inches of the stems of indeterminate tomato plants.
Some gardeners recommend you “pinch off” the flowers on your tomato transplants during their first weeks of growth, claiming that removing early blossoms: Directs more energy into establishing a strong root system. Results in a larger, sturdier, and potentially healthier tomato plant.
The good news is that all is not lost. In the very least, a new central leader will emerge and become the new main stem. Tomatoes are notorious for producing lots of “sucker” stems throughout the season, so you can count on something taking over for the lost main stem.
Topping is a key strategy to getting all of those green tomatoes to ripen faster. Removing the growing tips sends a signal to the tomato plant that it's time to stop putting out new growth and instead, focus on ripening what's left.
Depending on how lucky you were with timing — when you rooted the suckers and whether frost was early or late in arriving — and where you live in the country, you could be harvesting your second crop of tomatoes as late as Thanksgiving or early December.
Tomato plants require approximately 1 inch of water per week. Plants may wilt badly when soils are dry, but will revive rapidly when they are watered. A thorough watering once a week during hot, dry weather should be sufficient.
Leave the sucker just below the first flower cluster (remove all other suckers below that one), and allow all suckers above the first flower cluster to grow. Indeterminate varieties will reach and exceed the top of the stakes.
Blood Meal (Nitrogen)
Nitrogen is definitely necessary for tomato plants so I add this every year. To supply the nitrogen the plant needs, in each planting hole I add 2 tablespoons of blood meal and mix it with the soil.
Tomatoes. One of the most popular crops in America, tomatoes—specifically cherry tomatoes—are incredibly high yield. "Lots of bang for the buck here," says Renee Pottle, creator of Seed to Pantry. "One cherry tomato plant will produce plenty of tomatoes for a summer full of salads.
So if you bought a tomato that says "bush", "patio", or "determinate", you don't really need to prune your plant at all.
Don't pick too many leaves from a plant at one time.It scares the plant and it does not like that. Far better is to prune 2 to 3 leaves regularly (like once a week).
Beefsteaks thrive most if planted deeper in the ground rather than being planted in containers. As the plant grows, you should prune it regularly. As side branches form on the main stem, pinch out "suckers" or new growth when they are young and only 1/2 inch long that form in the crotch of the stronger branches.
Not enough sun can cause growth to be spindly.
Cutting the tomato plants
The plants grow quite tall in summer and I often notice bunches of green tomatoes that I know won't ripen in time. That's when I cut the top off the tomato plants. This is a great way to keep the plant from growing even larger and instead ripening the fruits.
At the farm we like to trellis and train our indeterminate varieties (vining types) like heirlooms and slicers to produce fruit only off of the main stem. Pruning gives us greater yields, better fruit, and minimizes disease on our plants.