Before this season, I didn’t know what suckers were on plants, and now I’m obsessed with searching for them. As the tomato plants grow, they produce side stems or suckers which, if left alone, will grow just like the main stem. They’re the shoots which grow directly in the angle of two other shoots, cutting a 90° angle into two 45°s. They’re fine in theory, but they take energy away from the main stem, causing smaller tomatoes that take longer to grow. Can you spot the two suckers in the above photo?
At the beginning of the season, I was more vigilant about pinching these off so that my fledgling plants would have all the energy they needed to produce plenty of fruit. Maybe I could slack a little now, since they’re already well established, but it’s become habit.
So, I’ve taken to pinching the suckers off while I’m playing search and destroy with the hornworms (who have grown to OBSCENE sizes, by the way, and are responsible for the bare stems in the first photo)…
I don’t even know what to do with these, outside of squeal and point. They’re terrifying, really well camouflaged, and can decimate a plant in a day. Bastards.
Eating the Garden 
Holy Moly!!! That worm is huge! I’m still squeamish about squishing so I bring out bowl of water mixed with some insecticide soap or insecticide oil. But, you may need a deep bucket ’cause that bad boy might be able to just stand up in a bowl and fling himself out.
Most of my tomatoes are done. A couple plants never really fruited 😦 But I’m kinda relieved to not be taking care of them anymore.