The Sunday Gardeners compare tomatoes by groups this year and come up with some interesting results and advice.
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Question by SJW: What should I do with my grape tomato plants?
We had several weeks of temps over 100 degrees in Missouri. I tried to keep the garden watered. Now the leaves on my grape tomato plants have dried up on the bottom to about half way up. But, the tops are still green and bearing fruit. Should I remove the dried up leaves? Do I need to prune the plants? I have them tied up to bamboo sticks and the vines have grown 3- 6 foot long. Suggestions?
Best answer:
Answer by sciencegravy
Yes, you can cut off the dried leaves. Or not. Either way, if the top of the plant is still growing and producing, it’s all good.
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This is the way a determinate tomato plant grows. They start to die from the ground up. Enjoy the fruit until the whole plant dies.
You don’t have to do anything to your plants other than what you have been doing. Those dried leaves will fall off by themselves when they are ready and if the plants have already lost half of their leaves you don’t want to prune any more off. Those leaves are the little factories that manufacture the food for the rest of the plant.
I would leave them as is – the dried leaves are helping to shade the ground and reduce the water loss. I also recommend mulching the plants (pull any mulch back from the stem at least an inch) to keep the soil cooler.