SummaryIn a first experiment, six levels of leaf removal were imposed on January-sown tomatoes and de-leafing was continued so that the length of stem with leaves attached was constant for a given treatment. Flower opening on de-leafed plants was delayed but only significantly so in the most severe treatment. There was no effect on stem elongation. Yield decreased with severity of leaf removal but the rate of fruit ripening was enhanced. In a second experiment, three levels of de-leafing were used but treatment was delayed until the fruits began to ripen. The treatments were combined factorially with three planting densities and three contrasting cultivars. There were no effects of de-leafing on flower opening or stem elongation. Total yield was reduced by leaf removal in the most severe treatment but there was no effect on fruit numbers or quality. Large and significant effects of plant density were recorded but there were no interactions between density, leaf removal and cultivar. The effects of de-leafing and density were similar in all three cultivars. Crop yield was thus affected by both the severity of leaf removal and by the stage of plant development at which removal occurred. Losses in yield are attributed to a reduction in photosynthetic area and a decrease in the availability of mobile mineral elements which are present in the leaves. It is strongly recommended that de-leafing in commercial tomato crops should not exceed the level of ripening fruits.
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G. Slack (1986) studied this question.