Tomato Tip

A timely tip for growing green house tomatoes. Growth is vigorous now and has been for some time, as anyone who grows toms knows. Light levels are also beginning to fall, sad but true. I always think it is a good idea to pull off many of the tomato leaves. They get big and shade the fruit, slowing down ripening. Tomatoes need the sun and by removing some of the leaves (most eventually) it will hasten ripening. It seems brutal to a beginner but really is good for them.

Another tomato tip: They are fantastic with fresh basil.

 

Agree wholeheartedly on the fresh basil! Delish

Thanks for that tip Redwing - I have loads of tomatoes on my plants, but haven't had any ripen yet - I think I shall be thinning out some leaves tomorrow (but....just in case......I will only do half of them! - and hopefully follow suit with the rest of them as I see your tip come to fruition!)

 

I tend to trim the the leaf stalks in half, that way there is still some left for the plant to use but still lets the light in.

 

If tomatoes need sun to ripen, how come they ripen in the dark? As JWK says, the leaves supply the energy to feed the plant. If you remove the leaves you starve the plant. Tomatoes need warmth to ripen on the vine, not just light.

 

I maintain that this de-nuding of Tomato plants is a really bad idea. As Terrier says, its tosh that they need sun on the fruits to make them ripen.

They do need air circulating around to prevent disease, which may make it worthwhile removing the lower leaves, but personally I only remove leaves that look manky - and this year that isn't any, as yet.

 

Sorry, didn't mean to imply most of the leaves should be removed, only some . Should have made that clearer.

Of course plants need sun. What I said that having the sun on the fruits hastens ripening. It warms them up and they ripen quicker. I still maintain that removing some of the leaves will help in this process..

 

I disagree that you should remove "many" of the leaves. Sorry if I've got the wrong end of what you meant, but I take that to mean the majority, rather than just a few at the bottom.

Its the severe pruning, as per this thread, that I disagree with

http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/showthread.php/tomatoes-23121.html?t=23121

particularly this early in the season.

 

I always find it's a race against time to get outdoor tomatoes ripening before the dreaded blight strikes. Several years ago (10+) in a blight-free year I had super Romas still on the plant way into the autumn, picking them as they ripened, but blight seems perennial now.

This year I am being stricter at stopping my upright plants at 4 trusses, because I have read that having young green tomatoes on the plant late in the year can hold back the ripening of otherwise mature fruit.

Anyone agree/disagree with this? I haven't formed an opinion yet.

I have also tried defoliating the plants to hurry up ripening, and I do think it may have helped a bit, but I would say it's much too early for that at the moment. The leaves are still very meaty, and a dark healthy green, so presumably still busily making the sugars that will end up in the toms. I say feed them with Tomorite for a while yet. Come the end of August when it's all going over a bit, and the tomato leaves are looking tired, I may change my tune.

 

I'll agree with that, Manteur, sounds like sense. Once the plants reach the end of their natural life the leaves start to wilt anyway so then is the time to stop watering. A pro grower advised me to cut the stem at the base once the weather gets colder and take the toms, still on the vine, into a warm, dark dry atmosphere and they will all ripen. I do that every year now and they do all ripen.

 

I put all my green toms in the window last year and they all turned red quite quickly.

 

At the end of last season I cut down the whole vine and hung it upside down in the garage, and we picked Tomatoes off it for a month or two after that. Bit early to be contemplating that just yet, I need some sunshine before then!