Heavy foliage delays ripening: T or F ?

rhines81 · January 20, 2017

Interesting ...

Since a tomato doesn't even need to be on the plant to finish the ripening process, I would think that foliage would be beneficial:

1. As previously mentioned, to prevent the tomato from baking in the sun
2. To slow the escape of ethylene gases around the tomato which is beneficial to ripening.

If the plant still has flowers, buds and new tomatoes forming, then the energy could be better spent on developing that, so pruning leaves and suckers would be in order in that case.

January 20, 2017	#16
rhines81 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Zone 5A, Poconos Posts: 959	Interesting ... Since a tomato doesn't even need to be on the plant to finish the ripening process, I would think that foliage would be beneficial: 1. As previously mentioned, to prevent the tomato from baking in the sun 2. To slow the escape of ethylene gases around the tomato which is beneficial to ripening. If the plant still has flowers, buds and new tomatoes forming, then the energy could be better spent on developing that, so pruning leaves and suckers would be in order in that case.