Removing Tomato Leaves

[Jay-ell]

Now that it’s the time we’re planting out our tomatoes and looking forwards to harvesting plentiful love apples I find that a certain question arises in my mind - do you remove the lower leaves to your tomato plants?

I’ve heard it told that this is to stop them using up the nutrients - but surely all healthy leaves use up the nutrients when they are photosynthesising so removing the leaves would be removing some of the sugar factories available to the plant.

Then there’s the point of view that it’s to prevent disease splashing up from the soil. Which diseases? Late Blight doesn’t live in the soil and needs a living host, other virus and bacterial diseases such as wilt enter at the roots so leaf removal won’t matter either. In addition to this the majority of growers in the UK will have their tomatoes growing in a polytunnel or greenhouse which means that they don’t have to worry about rain splashing the soil and they can be more precise with the watering so they don’t cause splash back either.

I’ve also heard from some that it’s to prevent then using up the sugars as when they are shaded they can’t photosynthesise as effectively and use up more sugar than they produce.

Or that it’s to allow air to flow through the plant so that they don’t get mould.

Surely adequate plant spacing would resolve the shading and air flow issues?

So the first question is

• Do you remove the lower leaves of your tomato plants?

If yes then the supplementary questions are

• Why do you remove them?
• When do you remove them?
• How many do you remove?

[Penellype]

I don't remove the lower leaves until they go yellow and are clearly of no further use to the plant, by which time they come off easily anyway. My experience of cutting things off tomato plants, particularly indoors, is that it creates a wound that lets in disease such as grey mould.

[Small pumpkin]

I'd like to say I do the same as Penellype. That's what I always intended to do. In reality I'm not very good with tomatoes . For a start I always grow one more than I intended to ( very weak willed ). Then once the tomatoes get to a certain size ( getting close to that point now ) they start to confuse me. I'm not sure what are armpits for removing and what aren't ( ridiculous I know ).
So what normally happens is late August/ early September I'm fighting my way into the tunnel with a machete!

[annie8]

I don’t remove any leaves at this stage of the year. Towards the end of the season I would start taking a few of the lower ones off in the greenhouse under the first truss just to focus the plant and also as it starts to get a bit jungle like in there, so I think it helps to ensure the fruit are getting plenty air and light. I’m trying tomatoes outside for the first time and not sure what I’ll do with those. Will see what people on this thread say.

[mysteryduck]

Last year I let them do their own thing. Mostly because I was clueless in my first year. I grew a determinate and indeterminate variety and they both flourished outside, exposed to the elements. Turns out last year’s weather was unusual though.

This year I was feeling confident about my tomato skills, so instead of growing about 3 plants each of 2 varieties, I’m growing 2 plants each of about 8. I don’t have enough room for these plants I do have a tiny greenhouse now (6x4) and I intend to put 3 plants in there, everything else will be outside, so I’m crossing my fingers for the weather. This year I’ve been nipping out shoots from the armpits. And I’ve started to remove the lower stems, mostly because people on YouTube say it avoids splash back and improves airflow in the plant. I intend to leave a few inches clear, with no leaves touching the ground, and I like it because it makes them look tidy

[Jay-ell]

Indeterminate varieties need to have the suckers removed but determinate (aka Bush or dwarf) don't as they don't grow as long (2-4 feet).

[Stan79]

Only reason I take leaves off is to let sunlight reach the tomatoes to help them ripen. I leave the lower ones unless they start to yellow and remove them so they look tidy rather than any scientific reason!

[annie8]

Sorry yes should have said I always nip out the ‘armpit shoots.

[MarkPelican]

I have seen it suggested that one should remove all leaves that are not immediately above or below a truss of fruit. The reasoning was that only those leaves contributed sugar to the fruit. I tried it one year and it didn't seem to make any difference.

But then, I don't remove the sideshoots until I've decided the plant has set "enough" trusses.

[Bren In Pots]

I only remove leaves towards the end of the season to make the most of any sunshine and hopefully that will help with ripening.

[Snadger]

I do remove leaves from below the first truss, but only when three or four trusses have formed. I grow tomatoes fairly close together so I believe this promotes air flow around the base of the plant.

[bramble]

I remove the leaves below the truss when they have formed and well on the way to ripening.
I also thin out the leaves if they are too dense to allow sunshine and air flow.
My late father worked as greenhouse manager where they experimented with getting the best results from tomato crops.
Almost all the leaves were stripped from the plants as soon as the tomatoes started to ripen.

[Snoop Puss]

I only remove leaves when they're yellow, brown or so badly damaged by hail that they're a front for disease to take hold.

I don't remove leaves to allow sun in to the tomatoes to avoid sun burn. I'm surprised that people with plants in greenhouses don't suffer more from this. Peppers in particular seem to be badly affected.
https://extension.illinois.edu/vegproblems/sunburn.cfm

[Bacchus]

I'll always pinch off the lower leaves for a number of reasons.

1. They nearly always go brown / yellow and don't add anything to the plant. I also don't want them to be havens for fungal growth when they do start to colour.
2. They make it difficult to see where to water. Although I normally have a soaker hose under weed suppressant fabric I do top up weekly with tomato feed from a roseless watering can. There's isn't that much space around the stem of the plant to aim at.
3. So I can see new sucker growth early and pinch it off too. Everyone knows to nip out the armpit growth's but you often get that type of growth coming from the base of the plant that needs nipped out ASAP.
4. It probably does help air circulate. All my plants are in the central bed of a large tunnel (two rows of 14 plants each I think) and I don't open both sets of doors every day (it might be cold or more likely it might be too windy.)

[bikermike]

I remove all armpits, and yellow leaves.

Last year, I cropped ends of leaves quite vigorously to improve air/light access and to stop the plant putting resources into growing them. not sure it worked or not as it was too hot and watering suffered. This year, I am re-arranging to improve things (growing in troughs not growbags to improve watering and space use) and re-arranging to make better use of light.