Could I remove some branches from my tomatoe plant?

[VJay]

My Alicante plant is about 20" tall, the 2nd flowering truss is starting to show. Could I remove some of the foliage below and between the flowering trusses.

Would it be wise to do this or could I potentially make the plant vulnerable to disease?

[chengjing]

They look very nice to me. I can't see why would you want to do that for the moment.

[Bigmallly]

Nope, looking good & not a sideshoot in sight.........that's not easy to say with your teeth out.

[Tomatoking]

Well you could only remove the first leaf, as it looks a little damaged. As a rule of thumb, just take the leaves off below the picked fruit.

Nice balanced plant, are you going to get it in a larger pot, its a tad small, and the roots will soon fill it and make watering a problem.

[VJay]

Thanks for all the comments folks. Learning on the job, so to speak!

TK, i'll take the lower leaf off, it doesn't look great, bought the plant as a transplant.

Would you suggest only taking the lower leaves off when the fruit starts to develope?, then work up the plant in stages?

As for replanting, is width more important than depth. Not much headroom in my lean-to

[Flobalob]

I would'nt be too concerned about removing perfectly good leafs at this stage..Most stages for that matter. Plant looks as if it will need some support when replanted.
I would say height is just as important as width..Bigger pot the better.

[Tomatoking]

Thanks for all the comments folks. Learning on the job, so to speak!

TK, i'll take the lower leaf off, it doesn't look great, bought the plant as a transplant.

Would you suggest only taking the lower leaves off when the fruit starts to develope?, then work up the plant in stages?

As for replanting, is width more important than depth. Not much headroom in my lean-to

I always take of most the old leaves, working up the plant as I pick off the fruit.
I do later in the season take a few other leaves off to give good air circulation.
If you stuck for height go to a wider pot.

Mr TK

[VJay]

Thanks for the info folks. Hope the weather remains good

[bramble]

Hi Vjay, I wouldn't take any of the leaves off until you start picking the fruit, then you can start removing the leaves from the bottom up.
Your plant looks really healthy but you would need to stake it up and re pot it.
Good luck.