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Old July 10, 2011   #1
z_willus_d
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Default Handling the Lone Truss

I have a specific question/topic that I haven't seen written about. The scenario is (as matches in my garden):
  • Tomato plants, vines trained upward (limited to four or less trunks, not that it matters)
  • Tomatoes took a beating early on in the season, so many of the lower (1-2') branches took disease and were removed.
  • On a few plants, their first truss managed to set one or two fruit(s)
  • In those cases, I skipped over the branches that surrounded the lower fruit(s) on first truss, whether diseased or not.
So, in the above situation, I am allowing potentially disease spreading lower branches to remain intact with the belief that they are somehow necessary to aid in the development of those adjacent fruits. Is that sound reasoning, or would it be better to remove the semi-diseased branches/leaves? Does fruit require branches in proximity to grow/ripen, or will the fruit be fine without nearby branches/leaves?

Appreciate any thoughts on the trade-offs of leaving the semi-diseased branches intact vs. removal, and what each option offers to affect those early, small fruits.

Thanks,
Naysen
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Old July 12, 2011   #2
dice
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Reasons to keep the diseased branches: more photosynthesis, less risk
of sunscald.

Reasons to remove the diseased branches: disease can spread to other
parts of the plant, to other plants.

Are they needed? Probably not. If the plant is still growing up above,
the diminishing contribution to total photosynthesis becomes of less
and less value as time passes, while the susceptibiity to disease
increases as time passes. You can shade the fruit themselves artificially
if it looks like sunscald is going to be a problem (wrap some shade cloth
or equivalent around the truss).
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Old July 12, 2011   #3
z_willus_d
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Dice-

Yes, those trade-offs were what I had in mind. But, what you didn't address directly was the proposition that a lone truss with one or two or more tomatoes will suffer if there are no branches/leaves in the locality of the truss. I've got plenty of other branches/leaves above for overall photosynthesis energy generation, but it's not clear to me if the lack of branches in the locality of that bottom truss will result in a minimizing of available nutrients/energy for the tomatoes on the isolated truss? Or, rather, does the truss branch draw from a communal pool of energy/nutrients of sorts, meaning distance to nearest branch/leaves does not matter, short of the previously mentioned shading/scalding concerns?

What do you think?

Thanks,
-naysen
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Old July 12, 2011   #4
dice
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Quote:
Yes, those trade-offs were what I had in mind. But, what you didn't address directly was the proposition that a lone truss with one or two or more tomatoes will suffer if there are no branches/leaves in the locality of the truss.
I have no information on that to cite. Carbohydrates and other
compounds manufactured using photosynthesis for energy do
travel to the roots, though (mycorrhizae and beneficial bacteria
use them, for example), so I would expect that they could also
reach fruit trusses lower down on the plant. The one thing that is
relatively immobile that I know of is calcium. It does not travel anywhere
once it has been used to create cells in the stems and leaves. It only
travels up from the roots into the rest of the plant.
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Old July 13, 2011   #5
b54red
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The largest tomato I grew last year had no leaves within two feet of it. I had removed them because of disease and shaded the lone tomato artificially and it developed very well. Usually if it is possible I will remove all of the diseased leaves below the truss and leave a few just above it for shade.
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Old July 13, 2011   #6
z_willus_d
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Huh, ok that makes me feel a bit better. Diseased leaves, watch out! Thanks for commenting on your experience.
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Old July 14, 2011   #7
dice
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Note that nutrient transport is one way in the xylem, from roots
to shoots, and two way in the phloem, where nutrients and
sugars can move upward or downward in the plant.

(warning: plant and soil rocket science; only useful for actual
chemists, biologists, or people who are adept at "geek skimming")
From http://www.uoguelph.ca/~mgoss/six/410_N07.html

Quote:
Mobility of mineral nutrients in the phloem

High mobility
K
Mg
P
S
amino-N (nitrogen compounds)
Cl
(Na)

Intermediate
Fe
Zn
Cu
B
Mo

Low Mobility
Ca
Mn
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Last edited by dice; July 14, 2011 at 12:07 PM. Reason: table format
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Old July 14, 2011   #8
z_willus_d
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Thanks for the background on plant biology/chemistry Dice. As I gather it, the xylem is one of two types of transport tissues in the tomato, and it only transports water and minerals (root->up). The phloem transports minerals and nutrients (mainly sugars) directly to where the plan can use it, so bidirectional. Presumably, both transports would benefit my lone truss fruits.
-naysen

Yes, I now know the absolute minimum on the topic thanks to wiki.
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Old July 14, 2011   #9
dice
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That would be right. Transpiration lifts nutrients up through the xylem
as water evaporates from the leaves. I assume that is how water gets
into the fruit when it rains whle fruit are developing, sometimes causing
split fruit. Downward movement in the phloegm uses "proton pumps"
and other chemical mechanisms.

I was wondering (for a long time) how calcium solutions would help
with BER since calcium does not move from the leaves down into
the fruit on demand. My guess is that if you saturate the leaves
with calcium via a foliar spray, more of the calcium pulled up from
the roots is available to developing fruit. That is only a guess, though,
not confirmed by any research that I know of.
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