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sandy0225 · 05-19-2010, 05:51 AM

For our market garden, we prune to a single leader so that the tomatoes get bigger. If you mulch under your tomatoes with leaves, or straw or plastic or whatever, then you don't have to cut off the bottom leaves. That person on the tour is trying to keep diseases off the plants by picking off any leaves that would contact soil or get splash when it rains, lots of the diseases start by water splashing off the soil onto the bottom leaves, then it progresses upward. So if you see any kind of disease on the bottom leaves, you want to pick them off and use a fungicide asap on the rest of the plant.
Kellogg's Breakfast (orange), Omars Lebanese (pink-red), Delicious (red), and Pineapple (yellow with red streaks) Aunt Ruby's German Green are also some varieties that get huge. We had a pineapple tomato off an unpruned plant last year that weighed 1 lb 12 ounces. I saved seeds off that one and mixed it in my seeds for this year. We didn't pick any of the leaves or other blooms or even prune that plant because we were growing it mostly for seed. So they really have potential to get huge!

05-19-2010, 05:51 AM	#8 (permalink)
sandy0225 Northern Tropics sandy0225's Photo Gallery Location: Muncie, Indiana zone 5 Find me on the map! Zone: zone 5 Name: Sandy Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 1,718 BananaBucks : 453,583 Feedback: 31 / 97% Said "Thanks" 38 Times Was Thanked 1,801 Times in 682 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 9 Times	Re: B I G tomatoes? For our market garden, we prune to a single leader so that the tomatoes get bigger. If you mulch under your tomatoes with leaves, or straw or plastic or whatever, then you don't have to cut off the bottom leaves. That person on the tour is trying to keep diseases off the plants by picking off any leaves that would contact soil or get splash when it rains, lots of the diseases start by water splashing off the soil onto the bottom leaves, then it progresses upward. So if you see any kind of disease on the bottom leaves, you want to pick them off and use a fungicide asap on the rest of the plant. Kellogg's Breakfast (orange), Omars Lebanese (pink-red), Delicious (red), and Pineapple (yellow with red streaks) Aunt Ruby's German Green are also some varieties that get huge. We had a pineapple tomato off an unpruned plant last year that weighed 1 lb 12 ounces. I saved seeds off that one and mixed it in my seeds for this year. We didn't pick any of the leaves or other blooms or even prune that plant because we were growing it mostly for seed. So they really have potential to get huge! __________________ Sandy Burrell Northern Tropics Greenhouse 1501 East Fuson Road Muncie, IN 47302 www.northerntropics.com specializing in bananas, heirloom tomatoes and water gardening plants~ check out our new online store at our website!