Strip away ALL of the leaves?

[Leeds_lad]

Hello, was catching up with gardeners world (missed it a few weeks in a row) and he mentioned stripping ALL the leaves from Tomato plants to speed up fruit development. Is this right, and is this safe to do?

Also, pepper/chilli plants, does the trick of removing power leaves from these also speed up development of the goodies?

[Snadger]

Not a great fan of this modern idea myself. Did it last year and I finished up with a lot of green toms. Haven't done it this year and all my toms have ripened on the vine.
To me the plants just look so sorry for themselves when you do it...........it just doesn't seem 'right'.

[Two_Sheds]

I did take off all the tomato leaves below each truss as it began to ripen. It helped improve airflow and my ability to see where I was going with the watering can too (it was a jungle otherwise).
I've had tons of ripe fruit.

Chillies: no, I haven't stripped off any leaves - there aren't that many anyway. Quite a few go yellow and drop of their own accord lower down the stem.

[VirginVegGrower]

I did it too and had loads of tomatoes.

[Aberdeenplotter]

taking off the leaves below the trusses does help airflow and ripening but it is best to make sure there are still leaves at the top of the plant to pull the sap up through the plant and continue to supply nourishment to the ripening fruits

[Maccabee]

I tried it this year, granted i only had two plants and that can hardly be called a proper experiment, but i found the fruit of the control plant (the one whose leaves i left on) ripened quicker than the plant that was defoliated.

[Arthur Pounder]

I have been positively cruel this year after Botrytis last year.

Plants went into the ground instead of buckets, (apart from a couple of Gardeners Delight), I had far fewer plants, (gave a lot of plants away to make sure), my watering bordered on neglect.

With the leaves, I removed the lower sets as the first trusses set, then when they started to ripen I scalped them to about two thirds of the plant.

Everything is ripening well with a typical glut, even the orphans that I can't bear to compost and park outside and leave to the elements, they have all done fine too.

nb. These are all cherry tomatoes and would probably ripen in a coal bunker but I am claiming the victory regardless.

[Nordmead]

Also, pepper/chilli plants, does the trick of removing power leaves from these also speed up development of the goodies?

i'd only defoliate/cut back if you're planning to overwinter really, if you are, then --> this <-- thread may be helpful

[Alison]

I only take off what is diseased or blocking air flow and rarely end up with many green tomatoes. Even the truss I accidently broke off my yellow plum ones is ripening up nicely in a cold conservatory and it's not even attached to the plant.

[northepaul]

I do remove SOME of the leaves, particularly on the lower parts to aid air circulation.

[Leeds_lad]

thank you for all the replies =). I knew about stripping leaves off below fruiting trusses but stripping off all the leaves like he said did seem a bit excessive

[zazen999]

I did a little test - 2 days ago I stripped off a load of leaves that I hadn't stripped off before and this morning I have a ridiculous amount of red toms to harvest from those plants. Just before I stripped them, I picked all the red or reddish toms on them. In 2 days I have more than I bargained for.

I'm not doing it again, I want my harvest longer not shorter!