Quote:
Originally Posted by b54red
Most of my tomatoes are grown in a single stem pruning method and the lean and lower support system. It works good down here with the high humidity and extreme heat. The plants are much easier to spray and once you get everything set up and running they are much easier to maintain. As the fruit gets picked I remove all the leaves and stems below the next batch of ripening fruit. This keeps old leaves to a minimum and reduces disease problems while at the same time keeping air flow better.
I do have a half dozen plants on a trellis and can never keep them to few enough stems and right now they are getting pretty messy and I'm already having far more leaf diseases on those six plants than all my others. I should have kept them to no more than three stems but most of them have at least five and one has as many as eight.
I try to remove everything below the first blooms very early after setting them out to reduce early leaf diseases. I also spray with Daconil and alternate with a copper spray. I also remove any diseased leaves as soon as I spot them even if it leaves some fruit unprotected because the more diseased leaves on the plant the faster the diseases seem to spread.
Bill
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How far apart do you plant?