Tomatoes are very popular among gardeners and are grown on almost every plot of land. To obtain a high yield, not only timely watering and adequate fertilizing are required, but also... Many articles have been written about the need for stepsoning and do not raise any objections among summer residents. But whether it is necessary below the flower brush is a moot point. Novice amateur gardeners especially doubt this.
The procedure for removing leaves from tomato bushes equally applies to crops grown in a greenhouse and in open beds.
The health of the plants depends on the correct pruning of the leaves. Experienced vegetable growers recommend carrying out this procedure on a sunny day and in the morning, so that the wounds at the site of removal can dry out quickly and do not become a hotbed of pathogens of various diseases.
The leaf petiole is pressed up and torn off. If you pull it down, the petiole will come off with a long strip of skin, which will increase the surface of the damage and the risk of disease.
removing tomato leaves Immediately, without hesitation, they remove all parts of the plants that show signs of disease, be it foliage or even fruit. If only part of the leaf is affected, then you can cut off this area. The leaves perform the main functions of providing the fruits with food and air. Therefore, all leaves except the top are removed only when 7-8 clusters with fruits have formed.
If the leaf is healthy and young, it works for the development of the bush and its harvest, so there is no need to remove it. However, over time, the leaf weakens, dries out, becomes stained, and now it becomes a nuisance to the plant, a real breeding ground for diseases. That is why it should be eliminated.
Mandatory pruning is required for leaves shaded by other tomato bushes, or growing on the north side, as these leaves will bring little benefit to the plant.
Those parts that grow directly from the flower brush are also trimmed. This is observed in some varieties: if the main bush has not formed ovaries, then several inflorescences can be left on the shoots from the flower cluster.
Sometimes, when planting seedlings in a greenhouse or in a bed, you need to remove some leaves. But you should not tear them off when planting, so as not to provoke infection of the plants. It is better to remove all the leaves down to the flower cluster after a week in several stages. This will force the plant to devote all its energy to forming tomatoes.
There is an opinion among gardeners that pruning can be done by hand or with any sharp tool (knife, scissors, pruning shears). In fact, this is not important. Only in both cases it is necessary to take safety measures so as not to transfer pathogens from one bush to another. Therefore, when tearing off a leaf with your hands, you need to use gloves; when cutting with a tool, you need to disinfect it with a solution of potassium permanganate, moving from bush to bush.
It is advisable to remove 2-3 leaves from the bush twice a week. But this is approximately, you need to focus on the growth of tomato bushes.
In the first ten days of August, you should pinch the growing point of the bush so that all the ovaries can ripen. And remove all leaves except a few apical ones so that sap flow is not disturbed. This will serve as a good disease prevention.
As you can see, this is a necessary operation that has a beneficial effect on tomatoes. It increases productivity, improves the taste of fruits and serves as a disease prevention without the use of chemicals. It is important that bush pruning is done correctly.
Three main questions worry gardeners, especially beginners, all summer. How, why and when to pick leaves from tomatoes in a greenhouse. And what kind of leaves are they? Yes, for some beginners, caring for greenhouse tomatoes is a dark forest. And sometimes such a dark forest stands in greenhouses. For example, my neighbor literally crawls into hers on all fours, although she has a large six-meter polycarbonate greenhouse.
Some people feel sorry for plucking something unnecessary from a bush, or they are afraid that they will do something wrong. So the poor things stand in the dark thicket and the bushes turn out to be weak, and the harvest suffers, and so many diseases appear. After all, the most common fungal diseases of tomatoes just like it to be humid, not ventilated, and have a place to multiply. They choose, of course, the convenient lower leaves of the tomato. And then you worry about why the leaves started to turn yellow, black, and brown.
As you know, leaves of any plant have a very important function of photosynthesis. The leaf is a very important part of the plant; if, for the sake of an experiment, you peel off all the leaves on the bush, the plant will die. But gradually, as the bush grows, the very first lower leaves become old, usually they lie or touch the ground, become yellow or spotted.
These leaves provoke air stagnation in the greenhouse and the development of diseases. In fact, they have fulfilled their function and are no longer needed by the plant.
You can’t immediately rush mindlessly into the garden and cut off everything you see with armfuls. The plant is alive and it always experiences stress during any manipulation of its crown. Therefore, you cannot remove many leaves at one time.
When should you start pruning? Here look at the tomato bunches; if all the tomatoes above the leaves in the bunch have grown to more or less standard sizes, feel free to remove the leaves. Do not leave anything underneath such a brush.
Typically, experienced gardeners do pruning twice a week, just in time for fruit to set in the next higher clusters.
Breaking, deleting, trimming, everyone does it differently. It is better to choose the method that will harm the plant the least and is more convenient for you.
You cannot abruptly tear off the leaves by pulling them down; you get a very large wound on the tomato, in which bacteria can quickly grow.
Some break out the leaves and stepsons, turning them slightly clockwise, you can do this too. When I go to the greenhouse, I arm myself with scissors and a jar of hydrogen peroxide. Trimming with scissors is much faster and more convenient, and it is also easier to treat them with peroxide, so as not to spread diseases from bush to bush. With this method, the wound is very small and dries quickly.
This pruning should be done on a dry day, so that there is no fog or rain, and, preferably, before lunch, so that by the evening all the bushes have time to recover. Then pruning does not cause any discomfort to the plants.
Removal begins with the lowest leaves, which usually begin to turn yellow by the time the first cluster of fruit sets. It is not always possible to remove leaves gradually; if there are more yellowed leaves, then it is better to remove them all at once.
Leaves that are in the shade, in the middle of the bush, are also cut out; they are of little use, but they thicken the bush well.
As the fruit sets, we tear off the leaves higher and higher, just make sure that there are leaves left above the brush, where the tomatoes have not yet set, so that the flow of sap is not disturbed.
At the beginning of August, I already pinch off all the tops of the tomatoes to stop growth and give the plant the opportunity to grow the set fruits before the cold weather. At this time, all the brushes are already with the tomatoes and you can leave a few top leaves, gradually remove the rest, then the plant will stop giving energy to the green mass and the fruits will grow faster.
A.N. (Nikolaev)
The question is whether it is necessary to pick off the leaves on tomato bushes to make them feel better? And if necessary, when?
Healthy, green bushes that bear large, bright fruits are always pleasing to the eye.
But often, due to improper care, plants become covered with yellow leaves, on which spots and necrosis form, which serve as entry points for infections. It is better to remove such leaves in a timely manner.
There are no rules for removing tomato leaves; it is usually believed that the plant will withstand the removal of up to 3 leaves 2 times every 7 days. Sometimes a plant requires more global removal of leaves, especially when dangerous diseases develop.
Large-scale removal of tomato leaves does not affect the growth, development and ripening of the fruit.
Care must be taken to remove leaves above the brushes where they have not yet formed, especially above the top brush. It is necessary to leave a few leaves above the top flower cluster of tomatoes.
Tomato leaves do not need to be trimmed. – they break off easily, but you need to make sure that the tearing does not occur down the stem, otherwise a strip of the upper skin will come off the stem.
Leaves are plucked in warm, dry weather.
Tomatoes are loved and grown by many gardeners. After all, these vegetables can decorate or complement any dish. The culture is not difficult to grow, but it simply needs careful care. Why? This is the only way to get a rich and tasty harvest. The plant needs not only watering, fertilizing and hilling. It is also necessary to eliminate “extra” leaves on tomato bushes. The procedure must be carried out according to certain rules familiar to all professional gardeners.
There are several opinions regarding whether it is necessary to pick off the leaves of tomatoes and their seedlings. Experienced gardeners insist that the procedure is useful and therefore mandatory.
There are several reasons why tomato leaves need to be trimmed:
It is worth noting that yellow leaves with spots and necrosis must be immediately eliminated, because they are an ideal environment for the development of diseases. This reaction of the plant is caused by improper care of it.
First of all, and as often as possible in the future, it is necessary to eliminate old dry leaves located in the lower part of the bush. It is these plant organs that become covered with spots of various natures and colors.
You also need to trim the thickened tomato foliage located on the north side. It is worth removing “useless” organs of tomatoes for better ventilation of the bushes. In addition, it is necessary to trim the “fatifying” stems to increase yield.
To avoid diseases, you can treat tomatoes with products that contain copper. But such “treatment” has a bad effect on the fruits of the crop. Therefore, it is best to remove the lower leaves.
Why is it sometimes not enough to simply remove tomato leaves to achieve the desired effect? Because the procedure should be carried out correctly and at the right time.
If the leaf begins to partially dry out, then the affected part should be cut off and the healthy part should be left. After all, it is thanks to the green parts of the plant that the process of photosynthesis and nutrition of the crop occurs.
From time to time the vegetable needs clarification. To reach it, it is worth plucking off the foliage located on the north side and growing in the depths of the bush. It is in the shade and is not so important for photosynthesis.
Tomato leaves located below the inflorescence must be plucked off in stages. Sometimes after the flowers appear, the stem continues to grow, provoking the appearance of new inflorescences. But it is worth remembering that this is an additional burden for the vegetable, so it is better to trim them.
The leaves above the first inflorescence should be cut off gradually so as not to injure the tomatoes. If the main color has turned into a small amount of tomato fruit, you can leave a few ovaries on the newly grown shoot.
There are also a number of rules, following which you can easily get the maximum positive result:
The culture tolerates the removal of 3 shoots twice a week. But it is worth noting that sometimes this plant organ needs to be eliminated on a large scale: if there is a risk of developing diseases.
Multiple removal of foliage does not affect the further development of plants.
When the first tomatoes appear from the seedlings below, the leaves growing from the fruits are eliminated.
When August comes, in regions with a comfortable climate, the tops of tomatoes are picked. Why? It is generally accepted that new fruits will not be able to fully form due to weather conditions, and the crop itself no longer needs so many of its green parts. Only the top 4 sheets should be left. The pair of leaves above the top brush must be intact. Only then will the movement of juices through the plant be normal.
Sometimes determining when to eliminate tomato leaves is very simple. Observing the planted plants, you can notice how the leaves of the seedlings turn yellow and fall off. It goes without saying that such cultural organs should be removed. It’s time to dive when the bushes have grown sufficiently and individual organs of the seedlings have begun to “grow fat.”
Removing vegetable sheets in a greenhouse has its own characteristics. Why? Because growing a crop in greenhouse conditions is somewhat different from growing it in open soil.
After planting the seedlings in the greenhouse, the bushes begin to form through pinching. But the removal of the lower leaves of the bushes is most often caused by thickening. It is because of this that the air in the greenhouse does not circulate well and becomes excessively humid.
When the air humidity in the greenhouse is high, the leaves of the seedlings fall off. Such an environment also provokes the development of pathogens.
Tomatoes require careful care. Almost everyone can grow a vegetable from seedlings and use it productively, the main thing is to follow the rules and recommendations. Removing the lower shoots from tomato bushes has a positive effect: the fruits become larger, ripen faster, and the crop itself practically does not get sick.
Find out why you need to trim the lower leaves of tomatoes and how to do it correctly.
Every gardener has his own opinion on the topic: “ Do I need to remove leaves from tomato bushes and in what quantity?» Some people, after flowering and the formation of ovaries, tear off the tomato leaves almost to the top, others do not remove the leaves at all, believing that this procedure injures the plants.
Leaves are an important part of the plant and should not be removed for no reason. In healthy leaves, the process of photosynthesis occurs, due to the work of the leaves, the plant develops and the fruits fill; the leaves also protect the plant from heat, and the fruits from sunburn.
On the other hand, tomato leaves are susceptible to various diseases. and with the strong development of any disease, the plants weaken, stop blooming, forming ovaries, filling fruits, and sometimes the disease also affects the fruits. For example, when late blight appears, dark spots first appear on the leaves, and then the fruits begin to be affected, and brown spots form on them.
To prevent the appearance of diseases, many gardeners remove all the leaves up to the crown and claim that then the fruits ripen faster. Indeed, tomato fruits turn red quickly on a bush without leaves, but their taste is reduced, since it is in the leaves under the influence of the sun that sugars are formed, which turn into fruits and tomatoes on bushes with leaves ripen sweet. Also, on bushes without leaves, the risk of sunburn on the fruits increases - whitish spots or the fruits may simply bake in hot weather.
When and how much to remove leaves from tomato bushes:
The first time the tomato leaves are removed after planting the seedlings is 10-14 days.. As soon as the plants take root in the new location, remove the lowest leaves that touch the soil. Leaves touching the ground are the very first to become sick, since it is in the soil that spores and bacteria of diseases are stored.
After the first and second flower clusters have formed on the tomato bushes, on the first, the fruits will be filled to the stage of technical ripeness, and on the second they will already be quite large; all leaves are removed from the stem up to the second flower cluster. Typically this procedure is carried out in July - early August. Remove 2-3 leaves at a time; if more leaves need to be removed, repeat the foliage trimming after a week.
By August, the leaves below the first cluster and before the second are already beginning to age, turn yellow, the plant does not need them, their removal frees the trunk, while air circulation between the ground and the plant improves, which reduces the risk of disease.
It is no longer necessary to remove tomato leaves above the second brush, but if unfavorable conditions are created, due to rain, air humidity is increased or the first signs of disease appear, then begin to gradually remove the leaves at the top of the stem after the fifth flower cluster has formed. Remove no more than three leaves at a time and remember that at least 12 large healthy leaves should remain on the plant.
In early August, when the tops of the shoots are removed, above the last flower brush, leave two leaves, even small ones. The leaves will grow at the crown, nourish the last cluster of flowers and protect the fruits from sunburn.
How to properly remove tomato leaves:
Firstly, all procedures for forming tomato bushes should be carried out on a sunny day in the morning, then the wounds will have time to dry out during the day.
It is recommended to cut the leaves with a sharp knife or cutter from the bottom up, trying not to leave a long stump. If you break off the leaves of a tomato from top to bottom, a strip of skin from the stem comes off with the leaf; such a wound is dangerous for the plant.
When trimming leaves, be sure to treat the tool with alcohol or a solution of potassium permanganate.
