Potting up, Take off bottom leaves or leave them?

[gixxerific]

I have a bunch of tomatoes and they have have bee re-potted. Some of them are growing rather quickly and I want to repot them again today. They all have the cotyledon (baby leaves) on them still. Should you remove these or let them fall off. They were all planted as deep as to the cotyledon's but the soil has settled a bit in some. Just wondering should I take them off and plant them even deeper still.

[TZ -OH6]

It is better for the plants if you leave the cotyledon leaves on because they are acting as leaves gathering light energy. They are also indictors of nutrient limitation. If your cotyledon leaves fall off while the plants are still quite small it is a good indicator that they need fertilizer. Well fed plants often keep their cotyledon leaves until they are big enough to plant out.

[garden5]

Since they are what is currently feeding the plant (I'm just assuming this; you didn't say if you were or were not), I'd leave them until the plant uses up their nutrients.

However, I'll admit that I'm far from an expert on this subject.

[gixxerific]

I just gave them their first VERY VERY light seaweed fertilizer. But these plants are pretty big as compared to seedlings. They all have quite a few leaves. So they are not baby's. If that makes a difference.

[jal_ut]

I would put them deep enough to cover the cotyledons. The plant will send out new roots on that newly buried portion of the stem to further enhance the root system.

So now you have a variety of opinions, do as you please. I don't think there is a wrong answer here. The most important thing is a bigger pot.

[gixxerific]

I know about the bigger pot I just re-potted a few more today they were growing pretty quick.

Just kinda wondering if it was bad to bury the leaves on the stem or if you should take them off and bury that low.

[jal_ut]

I don't think it matters if you bury the leaves. You can take them off if you want. I have never worried about it.

[tn_veggie_gardner]

I always leave them on & usually end up burying them when transplanting the tomato plant to its final home, still leaving them on. Later on in life, they tend to sometimes naturally fall off the plants anyways. Like jal says though, I don't think it matters.

- Steve

[gixxerific]

Cool it's just one of those things. Didn't know if them rotting below would cause problems or not. I always plant deep just about everything but that might have been wrong I guess it isn't.

I'm good, just carry on as usual.

Thanks for all the replies too.

Dono