The removal of small suckers is to keep the plant open for more sun and air flow as well as to encourage larger fruit. In your case, I'd leave the larger sucker as long as you can tie it so it does not interfere with sun and air flow. Indeterminate plants will continue to grow and bear fruit until the first frost. Be sure to pick tomatoes when they first start to turn pink and let them ripen on a countertop (NOT in the frig). Their taste will be the same as vine ripened tomatoes but without the issues of wildlife/insect damage, disease, etc.

Len

Len:

Thanks for your advice Len.

I will leave the huge sucker attached.

Hey - last year a deer chewed off the top of a beautiful Indeterminate tomato plant in the middle of the night.

As a result the plant would not grow any more and the only tomatoes I harvested were from the blossoms below - bummer.

I already saw deer tracks yesterday by my tomato plants, but it hasn't chomped them yet.

How can I prevent the deer damage, other than putting up a fence?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Best Regards,

Steve Hanyok

There are really only two options: Spray with a non-toxic deer repellent (which I do NOT recommend) or fencing. The easiest now would be to cover the entire plant(s) with bird/deer netting, being sure to hold it on the ground. It's a pain in the butt but does work!

You can use 2 TALL stakes on each end of a row, use wire between the stakes (on the top) and attach the netting to the top wire (can use clothes pins) and bricks/rocks on the ground.

Len