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Tomato questions - possibly stupid

B3B3 Posts: 27,505
in Fruit & veg
1. When you have enough fruit of a reasonable size, does the plant still need the leaves ? I
2 without leaves will the tomatoes stay the same size?
The reason I'm asking this is because I thought it might be a way of avoiding blight.
3. If they get blight, will the tomatoes be OK to eat?

I've been picking off leaflets that show any blemishes. They might well be innocent, but I don know.
In London. Keen but lazy.

Posts

  • diggersjodiggersjo Posts: 172
    Assuming cordon, have a look at this GW link. Personally I would NOT take off as many leaves, but would do so below the first truss (likely all but 1) and any others until mid-September. As said before I would have, or be looking to, stopping my plants now.
    Yorkshire, ex Italy and North East coast. Growing too old for it!
  • Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 2,933
    Remove all leaves up to one below the first truss of fruit.
    If you remove all leaves but continue to feed and water the fruit will continue to grow but not as well as if the leaves had been left on.
    All leaves can be removed much later in the season to allow the last fruit to ripen. The plants can also be lifted and hung  upside down in the greenhouse or conservatory while the fruit ripen. (I do not do picking green fruit and storing under the bed or in a drawer etc.) Each to their own.
    Removing the leaves will not stop blight, it will affect the stems and fruit.
    If the plants develop blight it will affect the fruit which if not used immediately will become inedible.
    If you end up with more fruit than you need, tomatoes freeze really well whole if cherry size, wash, dry and freeze on a flat baking sheet and then bagged, cooked down to a puree and frozen for cooking and soup.
  • war garden 572war garden 572 Posts: 664
    leave the plants alone. there is no need to remove leaves that are 
    not diseased or broken. 
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Old, spent or damaged leaves can be removed. I've always done it. Usually up to about the first truss, as @Lizzie27 says. By the time they're manky, the fruit is ripening, so their work is done.  
    Mine can get crowded as the growhouse I use is small. It just invites problems otherwise. The plants grow perfectly well.
     
    I don't know if it makes a difference when they're outside, and I assume yours are @B3? I can't grow them reliably outdoors here, although I've had a few plants in the last couple of years due to the horrible heat we had. This year has been more normal, and I have some which were grown from a supermarket plum tomato which are fine. I removed a few dead leaves yesterday. They'll probably have to come inside - there's no chance they'll fully ripen outside now. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I don't want a glut. Just some experimental supermarket tomatoes. Most probably vittoria.
    A few to eat fresh and a few to freeze. Lost my packet seed tomatoes to blight last year so I'm probably over vigilant but won't be devastated if they don't survive. They look like fat bunches of grapes going slightly yellow at the moment so things are looking promising.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Glasgowgardener777Glasgowgardener777 Posts: 41
    B3 said:
    I don't want a glut. Just some experimental supermarket tomatoes. Most probably vittoria.
    B3 said:
    I don't want a glut. Just some experimental supermarket tomatoes. Most probably vittoria.
    A few to eat fresh and a few to freeze. Lost my packet seed tomatoes to blight last year so I'm probably over vigilant but won't be devastated if they don't survive. They look like fat bunches of grapes going slightly yellow at the moment so things are looking promising.
    Once they start turning yellow you can take them off the plant, they'll ripen inside the house just the same as they do on the plant. Put them in a paper bag near a banana if possible.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I'm hoping they'll ripen on the plant before the weather makes that necessary😊 @Glasgowgardener777
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    You might be lucky with that ripening @B3. Highly unlikely here, as I said earlier.
    Mine will come into the house to get enough warmth to ripen them - probably in a few weeks.
    Good crop on them, but I stopped them a while ago as there's no chance of any new flowers making fruit that will start the ripening process quickly enough. They aren't any further on than the usual ones I grow. I just leave them on the sunniest windowsills. No problem with them if I do that. Some of the growhouse ones will probably need that too. 

    It always comes down to location/climate with them. You should get a decent wee crop though :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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