pruning tomatoes for fruit ripening

[otorongo]

I've read somewhere that it's good to remove the leaves that cast shade on the ripening fruit to give the fruit more sun so it ripens more quickly. But the same article also said something along the lines of "don't prune too much because its' the leaves that photosynthesize". So I'm a bit confused. If it's the leaves that photosynthesize, why does the fruit need the sun? Is that for the heat only? Or does it photosynthesize too, at least in its early stages when it's green?

Regardless of my confusion, I understand that it's generally good to clear a little bit the area around the trusses to allow some sun onto the flowers/fruit, and leave alone the leaves away from the trusses, so the fruit gets as much sun as it can get, and there are enough leaves for photosynthesis.

Can somebody please confirm or clarify it more?

[zazen999]

Some people do, some don't. There is no right and wrong answer.

[taff]

If you fancy a lengthy read about photsynthesis of tomatoes, here you go
http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/conten.../1173.full.pdf
In essence though, all parts of the tomato plant photsynthesise but fruit contributes little to it's own ripening. The whole plant needs the sun.

[Two_Sheds]

Once the first truss (the lowest) has set with fruit, I remove the leaves below it. And so on, up the stem. The lower leaves tend to go yellow anyway with age, and are begging to be nipped off

[Feral007]

We have the problem of sunburn on tomatoes as well. So you need some to protect the plant from the really harsh sun. We don't use shade houses so much here.

[Maccabee]

Tried both last year and found removing the leaves if anything hindered ripening, to be fair though i don't think one plant of each counts as a proper scientific study. As Taff said, the plant needs the leaves to photosynthesize and ripen the fruit. If left alone the plant will dispose of old leaves of it's own accord.

[singleseeder]

A few years ago at the Gateshead Flower Show I spoke to an exhibitor who had tomato plants with strings of ripe tomatoes. This was the last week in July. When I quizzed her about how she had got them so far on she said that she gave the plant very little water and took off a lot of the leaves to put the plant under stress. Well it got the desired result for the show, but what would this do for the size of the crop from the plant?

Any views?

[DGoulston]

I took most of the leaves off my Tomato plants at the end of the season last year and un-scientificly it seemed to speed up the ripening.

[Poolcue]

I took most of the leaves off my Tomato plants at the end of the season last year and un-scientificly it seemed to speed up the ripening.

It's fine later on in the year but I don't think it should be done now

[DGoulston]

It's fine later on in the year but I don't think it should be done now

Agreed, at the moment, I only pluck the new growth in-between existing branches. but will not thin out until very much later!

[Bigmallly]

Ditto TS, I remove the lower leaves once the fruit is set. Then work my way up the plant.

[otorongo]

Thanks for the replies. My tomato has set some fruit already and has countless flowers on its 4 trusses. So I'm not worried about getting enough flowers/fruits (I suspect it's the high potassium fertilizer I'm using that's responsible for this outburst of flowers), but rather getting the ones that have set (or will have set) to ripen.

I think I will try and restrain my leaf pruning, but the lowest leaves are curling and looking a bit sick (spots, etc.) and I don't think they're very efficient like that, so I might just remove those.