Do you have rabbits in the area? Pinching seedlings back when they are 4 to 6 inches tall to force new growth works for any tomato plant. Cut a 6-inch section from the top of a tall, healthy tomato plant, using pruning shears. Will spray with copper in the morning. As for spanking the plants, it works. The top will straighten itself up and grow up. To prune off the damaged part of the tomato plant, first clean garden clippers or a sharp knife with household disinfectant to protect the injured plant from possible infection or pests. It is unlikely that damage to the upper stalk of a mature tomato plant will be fatal. For indeterminate tomato plants grown using stakes, they will be fine planted 1.5 to 2 feet (45-60cm) apart and if you’re using tomato cages, keep the distance about 2.5-3 feet (75-90cm) apart. Granny was a widow, so she had to garden just to have enough to eat. LOL. Tomatoes are pretty tough and can come back from a lot of damage but they're going to be spending a lot of energy mending and recovering so will be set back for a bit. I would agree the tomatoes most likely aborted from the plants because of the stress of losing so much foliage. Now, don't you go abusing those plants just because they haven't set fruit. Although there are no guarantees, planting the bottom portion of the tomato plant in the soil often results in a surge of foliage from the stem and ultimately produces a healthy plant. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is a common, annual garden plant that can become damaged for many reasons. Isn't it too early for time to be running out? I have a Tess's Land Race Currant that is in an 8' tall cage and it already has climbed out of the top and has branches that are cascading back down. Cut the broken part of the plant between the break and the next leaf node on the undamaged part of the plant. I don't think there's necessarily a right or wrong way to deal with hail-damaged plants....sort of six of one, half a dozen of another. And both produced an ample crop of tomatoes before the season was over! Maintain a watering schedule whenever . Every day that passes they are one day closer to setting fruit.....unless you are looking at their DTM and your first average frost date and thinking that time is running out. For me, pole beans produce better in fall and bush beans produce well in spring/early to mid-summer or in fall. Paint the the siding (including the horizontal boards where the panels of siding meet), the floor of the porch ,the lattice under the porch, and the garage door the darkest color. Sure don't want to lose it. Top Of Tomato Plant Broke Off popular mainstream gardening publications like National Gardening and Organic Gardening have helped to bring this important cultivation technology to their millions of readers. Determine which stems are the strongest stems. I noticed it when it was half broken (the stem being vertical, it has a horizontal crack into the middle of the stem). In May I would have said that the garden was doomed and wouldn't do anything at all this year and I would have been so wrong. I normally read and read the threads. I spent a few summers with her in Abilene Tx. Maintain a watering schedule whenever . They were very stocky and healthy, much more than potted because they had been grown in actual soil and had good root systems - not stifled in a less than 2” pot in a mix of bark, peat, and perlite. Yes they were fertilized, but got manures, and compost made from alfalfa hay, and dry raw type fertilizers that took a little more to break down so the plants could take it up over time and they knew to make sure pH and soil health was right.