Tomato Q's

hey everyone, i heard of some different sides to growing tomatoes the right way. i will tell you the 2 different methods and i just want your opinion on what you think.

1.) i heard that too many leaves is bad for a tomato plant. They say that 3 leaves is all it needs to survive and thrive. Too many can result in leaves taking away from your overall grow for the fruit,and that usually the average grower has around 60-80 leaves too many.

2.)i heard that leaves are fine and that leaves should only be taken off when necessary such as color or any deforming.

to be honnest purpz.

if nature intended only three leaves, tomato plants would only grow with three set leaf.

personaly i let nature take its course. i do sometimes suppliment lighting so plants ( veg) recieves thier full 8hrs full sun and give them the very best in garden compost and rain water ( when it rains enought too fill bucket)

so for me it is 100% number 2

I would say #2 also. I have tomatos growing like crazy right now and i have not plucked one leaf off

a bit more info for you

2 control grows made on tomato's showed no real change in yield, if plant was leaf stripped or not. But however there was a change in yields when plants had been spaced out more and did not have to fight each other for food and other supplys. it was shown yields was a little better but dependant on a soil type, nuetriant content, light,heat but too name a few on both stripped leaf and none stripped leaf plants.

i want too give my tomatos the very best in space so decided 1 or 2 plants max in a grobag and each plant in ground a good 2-4ft space between each plant ( growing only 6 plants 3 in soil 3 in bags)

ok thanks peeps i appreciate your knowledge

"The Nature's Goal" & our goal is not the same. Nature's goal is to reproduce. One tomato, with 100 seeds will meet that goal. Our goal is to get a lot of tomates, then let the plant die. I have grown tomatoes since 68, & never heard of leaf stripping until I seen a book advertized in the Mother Earth News on-line site. It's wierd, but it makes since that leaf stripping puts more energy into the fruits. A grow with the exact same strain & soil will tell the tale. The dirt doctor's library site has good info.

I pluck off the "suckers" i think they call them. anyway, when there is new growth b/w the stalk and a branch, I pluck it out. These leaves waste more energy then they provide.