I have 6 shirley tomatoe plants growing in my greenhouse using the
ring culture method. They are doing very well and are about 3 feet
tall.Some have 3 sets of flowers but one is just showing the first
truss.
Apart from this they have all abundance of thick lower leaves.
I normally grow in a mixture of John Innes number 3 and grow bag
compost. This year I decided to add a quantiry of well rotted manure.
I know that they should not be fed until the first truss has set.
Has this caused the abundance of leaves.?Can I cut them off at this
stage or should I wait until the first truss has set?
Peter.

On 31 May 2007 16:32:28 -0700, Peter C wrote:

I have 6 shirley tomatoe plants growing in my greenhouse using the
ring culture method. They are doing very well and are about 3 feet
tall.Some have 3 sets of flowers but one is just showing the first
truss.
Apart from this they have all abundance of thick lower leaves.
I normally grow in a mixture of John Innes number 3 and grow bag
compost. This year I decided to add a quantiry of well rotted manure.
I know that they should not be fed until the first truss has set.
Has this caused the abundance of leaves.?Can I cut them off at this
stage or should I wait until the first truss has set?
Peter.

There may be several schools of thought on this matter.
Personally, I think that leaves = flavour (via sugars, etc.), and I
would not be at all hasty with foliage removal.

Please dont remove the leaves, they are there for a purpose. The manure might have given a short burst of nitrogen hence the strong foliage. Keep going as normal.