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Post by grindle on Jul 26, 2012 6:46:50 GMT
I was wondering if it is ok to cut the bottom leaves off up to the first truss, and whether it would help the rest of the plant, they are still only mostly at the flower stage???
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Post by Cherry on Jul 26, 2012 8:09:07 GMT
I would be interested in the answer too Grindle, because I took the very bottom leaves off, but then heard another 'school of thought' saying that the plants need these. I have also heard that it is the heat that ripens them, but others say it is the sunshine which is why we take them off.
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Post by Lou78W on Jul 26, 2012 8:19:02 GMT
This is a very good question Grindle ;D
The way I see it is......while the toms are at flower stage, they need the leaves...they are the lungs....and take goodness to the emerging fruit.
Stripping off leaves when the fruit is ripening allows more airflow round the toms to stop rotting....etc.,
The toms need heat to ripen...(.a bit of sunshine helps too) ;D
I've taken off all the lower leaves on my plants in the tunnel.
In the past I've seen pics of our Steve's toms stripped bare of leaves...but only at the ripening stage.....is that right Steve?
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Post by scrumpy on Jul 26, 2012 10:08:26 GMT
I always remove leaves up to the first truss, to improve air circulation, what bit there is, and ease of watering.
The rest of the leaves are left on as the more the merrier for production of the chemicals that cause ripening.
Warmth ripens tomatoes but excess heat...above 80'f for long periods can stop the ripening process.
Too much sunlight can also be bad as it can affect how fruits ripen....hence why they recommend shading. And the leaves offer some protection too.
Fertilisers are useful to help develop the trusses, give a bit of flavour, and help the foliage.
The reason the shop bought toms taste so aweful is that they don't fertilise, they remove the leaves, and they pump in ethylene gas to do the ripening.
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Post by sweetpea on Jul 26, 2012 11:30:37 GMT
if indoors (g'house / polytunnel) I would remove much as scrumpy says but if outdoors they get left to do their own thing apart from removal of sideshoots. Only removing dried leaves.
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Post by steve on Jul 26, 2012 11:35:07 GMT
If they have plenty of leaves above where you want to remove some then that's fine, they do need leaves but there's no harm in thinning the lower ones out if there are plenty above, late in the season to get the last few ones ripening I do give them a more drastic haircut ;D
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Post by jrae on Jul 26, 2012 13:38:55 GMT
For my organic toms (grown outside in compost bed) I take off most of the lower leaves grindle so mud doesn't get splashed on the leaves when it rains. For my hydro toms (greenhouse) I let them go as leafy as they want, no problems there.
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Post by grindle on Jul 26, 2012 14:35:26 GMT
thanks for all your answers, it seems that it is best then to leave them on until they start producing tomatoes, so I will let them stay for a while ;D
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Post by Cherry on Jul 27, 2012 8:14:33 GMT
My husband was at a meeting in Oxfordshire yesterday, and saw a greenhouse where the door was never opened, even in these extremely high temperatures, except for watering, and a person just could not move in there as the tomato and cucumber plants were so close. This is what he read, so he treats the tomatoes to a great heat. However, they were not yet ripening. This is not my idea though. The cat and I like to sit in the greenhouse to enjoy some peace and quiet.
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Post by scrumpy on Jul 27, 2012 8:52:57 GMT
Well he must be watering all day long  Every textbook in the world says tomatoes exposed to constant temperatures above 30'c will not ripen or produce fruit correctly. |
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Post by jrae on Jul 27, 2012 15:18:32 GMT
But scrumpy I live in the tropics and my toms outside get battered by rain 8 months in a year and get sunburned the other 4 months with temps up to 40sC and they're doing just fine. My hydro toms are in the hothouse too with the cucumbers, gourds, eggplants and peppers.
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Post by scrumpy on Jul 27, 2012 15:43:17 GMT
Then all the text books must be wrong Does that mean you can grow tomatoes all year round? Or is there a season when they grow best? |
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Post by jrae on Jul 27, 2012 16:57:48 GMT
Yes we do grow them year round, we plant during the wet season tho so they develop large root systems before summer starts for the outdoors toms but in the hothouse anything goes. Most of our seed heirlooms and hybrids are locally sourced so they're used to the climate. I've observed that tomatoes hate being fertilized with anything high in nitrogen like other plants you end up getting all leaves and no flowers. I did a lil experiment long time ago, I watered a tom well on it's way to fruiting with a high nitrogen feed and it dropped all the flowers and tiny toms next day. We've picked the almost ripe ones today as we go over all of them daily but here's the ones left on the vines. temps is 31C but we've got nasty rainy weather for a month now.  |
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Post by Cherry on Jul 28, 2012 6:50:57 GMT
Different variety I think Jrae. Australian tomatoes are completely different to those we have here.
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