Low branches - to trim or not to trim?

jflournoy · June 5, 2014

I've got a lot of branches on my plants - both determinate and indeterminate - that have their tips resting on the ground or will be soon. Some are actually growing almost straight down. Will those extremely low branches even produce any fruit, and if not, should I just go ahead and snip them off, for the reasons of being non-productive and also for staving off disease as much as possible?

b54red · June 5, 2014

I clip off everything below the first flower cluster as soon as possible to prevent disease and improve air flow but then I live in an area with tremendous disease pressure and the leaves would have to be removed any way due to diseases so I just get a head start and it does help a lot with disease prevention.

Bill

feldon30 · June 5, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by jflournoy

I've got a lot of branches on my plants - both determinate and indeterminate - that have their tips resting on the ground or will be soon. Some are actually growing almost straight down. Will those extremely low branches even produce any fruit, and if not, should I just go ahead and snip them off, for the reasons of being non-productive and also for staving off disease as much as possible?

Remove them once the plants are near 2 feet tall.

Lindalana · June 5, 2014

They are producing good things for the plant so I would question if practice of ¨just remove the stuff¨ is all that healthy. But then there is some soil borne problems you want to try to prevent too. I have seen some successful practices of growing tomatoes in similar way some do potatoes dig deep pocket and plant tomato inside of it where seedling comes just flush with the soil... did not notice increase in disease problems too... am still learning

creister · June 5, 2014

I would trim them. Too many diseases and it also gives bugs that you don't want more places to hide.

beeman · June 5, 2014

How about container growing in the greenhouse? Don't the plants need all the leaves for photosynthesis? There shouldn't be any soil infection problems?

JLJ_ · June 5, 2014

What b54red said is something you should consider -- he lives where there is tremendous disease pressure.

It appears to me that more of those in southern/hotter/wetter areas find trimming beneficial.

FWIW, I almost never trim tomatoes, unless I see some sign of problems with the leaves, or if there are branches that are right at ground level. The latter is mostly because of not wanting to give cover to vile voles -- but because I grow tomato plants in collars made of 3 liter clear water bottles with tops and bottoms removed, and I mostly water with soaker hoses, and it is too cold here for tomato diseases to be very happy, the issue usually doesn't arise.

My view is that unless there is a specific problem you are correcting by trimming, the more leaves the plant has, the more sunlight it can convert into good tomato flavor.

And when Carolyn was growing large numbers of tomatoes in upstate New York, I believe that she always let them 'sprawl' -- just run around on the ground without being trimmed or tied up at all. Of course, they probably knew they were Carolyn's tomatoes and were expected to behave themselves.

My grandmother grew tomatoes for decades in central and southern Illinois and never trimmed a tomato plant unless it showed some specific problem and always had great tomatoes. Of course her tomatoes were always Marglobes, so one would expect great performance without much fussing over them.

In Ohio, your environment may be in between the "what works well in the northern areas" and the "what works well in the southern areas" so you may have to experiment to decide what approach works best for you. There is probably no one right answer to 'to trim or not to trim'.

ScottinAtlanta · June 5, 2014

In Georgia, anything below 12-18 inches is gone as soon as the first fruit appear. I want a clean air flow and rapid drying - if not, the yellow appears almost instantly and the branch is gone anyway. Bill taught me that!

jflournoy · June 5, 2014

It's pretty warm and humid here, not so much as in Alabama, of course, and not so cold and dry as in Wyoming, definitely. I've noticed in past years that the lower leaves are always the first ones to get "spots" and start yellowing up, so I guess my question is whether they are just a doorway for disease since they are right by the soil, or are they doing more harm than good by feeding the plant via photosynthesis? No right answer, obviously. Most of my plants are anywhere from a foot tall to 2+ feet, and have tons of other limbs and leaves. They've been in the ground about 2 1/2 weeks and most have doubled or even tripled in size.

kath · June 5, 2014

Mine have been in the ground for about 4 weeks and are flowering and/or setting fruit and are a bit taller than yours. So far, I've only removed leaves or branches that are actually touching the ground, which is more conservative than I've been in the past. But I've just begun noticing the beginning of trouble on the lower leaves in the past week. Some of the plants are already showing signs of Early Blight, which is earlier than normal. We get heavy dew here every night, so the leaves are wet regularly even though we haven't had lots of rainy weather and I've only sprayed with Actinovate and Excel LG twice. Now I wish I'd taken more off sooner.

I wouldn't be afraid to take off some of the lower ones in hopes of delaying the onset of the inevitable spotting and yellowing that's sure to come.

creister · June 5, 2014

If you remove lower leaves, the top should compensate for extra photosynthesis by producing more growth higher up. Not sure on the exact biology, but I don't know if the plants can increase/decrease their photosynthesis rate based on nutritional needs. I'm sure some of the others would have a more definite answer on that. Plants will make up the nutrition, but once the disease starts, trouble will be present the whole season.

June 5, 2014	#1
jflournoy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Ohio Posts: 118	Low branches - to trim or not to trim? I've got a lot of branches on my plants - both determinate and indeterminate - that have their tips resting on the ground or will be soon. Some are actually growing almost straight down. Will those extremely low branches even produce any fruit, and if not, should I just go ahead and snip them off, for the reasons of being non-productive and also for staving off disease as much as possible?

June 5, 2014	#2
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	I clip off everything below the first flower cluster as soon as possible to prevent disease and improve air flow but then I live in an area with tremendous disease pressure and the leaves would have to be removed any way due to diseases so I just get a head start and it does help a lot with disease prevention. Bill

June 5, 2014	#4
Lindalana Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Chicago IL Posts: 857	They are producing good things for the plant so I would question if practice of ¨just remove the stuff¨ is all that healthy. But then there is some soil borne problems you want to try to prevent too. I have seen some successful practices of growing tomatoes in similar way some do potatoes dig deep pocket and plant tomato inside of it where seedling comes just flush with the soil... did not notice increase in disease problems too... am still learning

June 5, 2014	#5
creister Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Abilene, TX zone 7 Posts: 1,478	I would trim them. Too many diseases and it also gives bugs that you don't want more places to hide.

June 5, 2014	#6
beeman Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 692	How about container growing in the greenhouse? Don't the plants need all the leaves for photosynthesis? There shouldn't be any soil infection problems?

June 5, 2014	#7
JLJ_ Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Wyoming Posts: 759	What b54red said is something you should consider -- he lives where there is tremendous disease pressure. It appears to me that more of those in southern/hotter/wetter areas find trimming beneficial. FWIW, I almost never trim tomatoes, unless I see some sign of problems with the leaves, or if there are branches that are right at ground level. The latter is mostly because of not wanting to give cover to vile voles -- but because I grow tomato plants in collars made of 3 liter clear water bottles with tops and bottoms removed, and I mostly water with soaker hoses, and it is too cold here for tomato diseases to be very happy, the issue usually doesn't arise. My view is that unless there is a specific problem you are correcting by trimming, the more leaves the plant has, the more sunlight it can convert into good tomato flavor. And when Carolyn was growing large numbers of tomatoes in upstate New York, I believe that she always let them 'sprawl' -- just run around on the ground without being trimmed or tied up at all. Of course, they probably knew they were Carolyn's tomatoes and were expected to behave themselves. My grandmother grew tomatoes for decades in central and southern Illinois and never trimmed a tomato plant unless it showed some specific problem and always had great tomatoes. Of course her tomatoes were always Marglobes, so one would expect great performance without much fussing over them. In Ohio, your environment may be in between the "what works well in the northern areas" and the "what works well in the southern areas" so you may have to experiment to decide what approach works best for you. There is probably no one right answer to 'to trim or not to trim'.

June 5, 2014	#8
ScottinAtlanta Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Atlanta, Georgia Posts: 2,593	In Georgia, anything below 12-18 inches is gone as soon as the first fruit appear. I want a clean air flow and rapid drying - if not, the yellow appears almost instantly and the branch is gone anyway. Bill taught me that!

June 5, 2014	#10
kath Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: zone 6b, PA Posts: 5,664	Mine have been in the ground for about 4 weeks and are flowering and/or setting fruit and are a bit taller than yours. So far, I've only removed leaves or branches that are actually touching the ground, which is more conservative than I've been in the past. But I've just begun noticing the beginning of trouble on the lower leaves in the past week. Some of the plants are already showing signs of Early Blight, which is earlier than normal. We get heavy dew here every night, so the leaves are wet regularly even though we haven't had lots of rainy weather and I've only sprayed with Actinovate and Excel LG twice. Now I wish I'd taken more off sooner. I wouldn't be afraid to take off some of the lower ones in hopes of delaying the onset of the inevitable spotting and yellowing that's sure to come.