Tomato plants- what should I remove?

Community Community General Gardening Vegetables Tomato plants- what should I remove?

This topic contains 1 reply, has 2 voices, and was last updated by  charles 11 years, 9 months ago.

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  • #21386

    dragonette
    Member

    Hello

    There seems to be a debate on whether you should remove the bottom leaves of tomato plants (to get some air in the plant). Some people say don’t bother, other say remove 2 leaves at the time, other say go for it.

    I’m also unsure if I should pinch the top of the plant once it is big enough…

    many thanks

    Ness

    #23250

    charles
    Moderator

     Yes it is an ongoing debate. I have just removed (cut off) all leaves below the bottom truss – which is not many leaves in fact. It does help ventilation and enables watering without wetting leaves. Then after the first truss has ripened all its fruit (this year, goodness knows when) I cut the stem off and remove another batch of leaves up to the second truss. Always keep leaves above, for photosynthesis and fruit flavour.

    Pinching out tops is to prevent growth of fruits which will not have time to ripen before winter. I have found the first week of August to be about right, even though it feels too early. Last year the result was that pretty well every tomato ripened by early October.

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