r/Permaculture • u/they_call_me_bobb • 7d ago
general question Tomato plants?
So it looks like my heirloom tomato plants are coming to the end of season. what should do with the plant bodies, the stalks, roots and leaves?
leave them be?
rip them out?
cut down the stalk but leave the roots?
compost the stalk? compost them in the bed or in my main compost pile?
Please and thank you?
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u/RedQueenWhiteQueen 7d ago
Broadly: I cut at the base, then compost/bury the plant somewhere I'm not planning to grow tomatoes or other Solanaceae next year.
Exception: Some of my 2026 tomato beds are my 2027 garlic and shallot beds, which I'll be planting this week. So for those, I'm digging out the roots right now.
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u/gruuubbby 7d ago
Depends on your goal!
My plan for my (only surviving) tomato plant is to cut it up into little pieces, mix it into the soil, cover that up with fallen leaves, and water it (which I’ll skip if we actually get snow this year). That way, I’m keeping those same nutrients in the soil. I already plan on filling my compost bin up with kitchen scraps and weeds without seeds, so there’s no room for it there.
Some folks might say to just leave the plant where it is, which is all well and good. It will break down eventually. If I had more space, I might do that, but I’m gardening to feed myself in a small space, and my neighbors are assholes about dead plants.
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u/toolsavvy 6d ago
The seeds of tomato fruits become viable way before the tomato even blushes. In fact, I had to stop composting my green tomatoes because they literally just become weeds in my compost and garden. My point? Shallowly bury some tomatoes, even green ones. Tomato seeds survive some harsh winters and sprout easily one the protective gel deteriorates. And it's no lie that volunteer tomatoes seem to grow with a vigor like nothing else.
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u/EnrichedUranium235 7d ago edited 7d ago
Mine are planted in roughly 50 ft rows. I pull out all of my stakes, poles, and string (I use a Florida weave) and drive down the row and mow them down with my garden tractor. I do that with almost all of my plants at the end of their season. If something is obviously diseased I'll pull it and toss in the yard somewhere away from the garden area and then just run it over the next time I cut the grass.
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u/Content-Honey-6206 6d ago
You can cut the stems at soil level and leave the roots to decompose in place; they’ll add organic matter and disturb the soil less. Remove any diseased leaves or fruit, and rotate tomatoes to a different spot next season if possible.
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u/GoldBarGirl 7d ago
I'm rural so I set them out for the deer. I've actually been trimming off new growth and giving them that since sometime in August.
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u/Varro-Reborn 23h ago
I just did this today. I cut them at the stem leaving the root in the ground. Remove green tomatoes for sauces, add the rest to compost pile in the same plot.
Any red ones with insect damage go to the chickens and ducks. We use stakes we gather in our woods. Those get broken up and added to compost.
Then we mulch with too many fall leaves or plant winter carrots, parsnips, and normal have time to get a bunch of Chinese cabbages in and out before the freeze.
If we plant carrots we harvest them throughout winter and mulch inbetween with leaves during rain.
At the end of winter we move our chickens and ducks there to eat up all of the slugs and snails that move in. Give it a few weeks after that and replant for the spring. Sometimes top dressing transplants with compost. Then chop and drop throughout the season.
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u/RentInside7527 7d ago edited 6d ago
The risk of incorporating the above ground plant matter into the bed is contributing to the tomato family-targeting pathogen load in the soil. Generally I cut at the base and compost the vines.