Query: Suckering Tomatoes

Dear gardeners,

Do you sucker your tomatoes?

One disadvantage of the sucker (some people say) is that it diverts too much
of the plant's energy into growing a whole new set of leaves, and thus you
will tend to get many, but smaller, tomatoes.  Sometimes suckers grow so far
past the tomato cage laterally that they flop down to the ground, tipping
(or even bending) the tomato cage from the weight.

So some people sternly pinch off (or snap off) all the suckers so the plant
conforms more to a simple main-stem-and-branches form, rather than a huge
sprawly bushy viney tomato-producing giant which mugs nearby basil and
pepper plants, and then sets out to go mano-a-mano with the kudzu.

(I live in Eastern Tennessee, USDA zone 6b, quite near the Unaka Mountains
which are officially Temperate Rain Forest.  We *know* kudzu.)

On the other hand, I have heard of some people clipping off and rooting the
suckers, and starting a whole new batch of plants that way.

And (on the OTHER other hand) some people say that the physical damage of
snapping of all the suckers causes wounds in the plants which invites
insects, blights, wilts, etc.

I have some fine vigorous Amish Brandywines here.  I don't want to ruin
them.  What would you do?

Juli(Unaka)anne
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