Grow Your Own Magazine

I want to thin the leaves off my tomatoes think I left some side shoots in etc, do you just pick some leaves or can you break some branches.

thanks


marion

cut them at the base with a sharpe knife if you have one. i do break them and havent had any probs but im sure your not supposed to.

I believe it is better to snap suitable plants whenever possible as it finds a natural fissure between cells and does not transfer disease (most particularly botrytis later in the season) on the blade. With vines this is generally easy at any node. However, with the missed sideshoots on cordon toms, they definately get to a point of no return and cannot be snapped at the base without wrecking the main stem.

Regarding defoliating: It seems very early in the season. They are the plants energy generators and unless diseased should be left. Towards the end of the season it helps to allow better air circulation around the ripening fruit and concentrate the plants energies.

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Paul

You need to decide whether your plants are cordon or bush types. If they are cordon (grown supported by a pole or string on a single stem), then you pinch out the side shoots which grow in the leaf joints. Only remove the lower leaves if they go yellow or are seriously shading the developing fruit. Bush plants you really shouldn't need to do anything with apart from removing any leaves that go yellow or mouldy.

Oh... am I supposed to remove yellow leaves? I noticed today that some of my tomato plants have yellow leaves at the bottom and I thought it was a calcium deficiency or something and gave them a calcium/nitrogen feed.... thinking (rather naiively) that perhaps the yellow leaves would turn green again. /

iv taken some leaves off already. ones at the bottom and ones that were covering the fully developed toms. with this "summer" we are having they need all the light they can get. i started my toms off in jan and have only had 3 ripe cherrys so far..not getting anywhere!