I haven't been able to transplant these seedlings yet. I just noticed one of the Cherokee purples is already developing flowers. Is it not too small for this this to be happening?
by LowNectarine7179
8 Comments
SpaghettiEntity
You could cut off the small flowering stem, this will help it develop a stronger root system. If you leave the flowers this early it can cause the plant not to focus on the roots as much, supposedly
MsLee24
How old are they? When do you think you will be able to transplant?
Charlotte4me
Should be in the ground
wolfansbrother
id pluck them, early flowers will often suffer blossom end rot from lack of calcium.
MissouriOzarker
The amount of discussion about removing flowers is really disproportionate to the importance of doing so.
It’s definitely true that early blooming is a sign that a plant is under stress, usually because it needs to be planted out or potted up. It’s also definitely true that early on it’s better for an indeterminate plant to be devoting resources to growing roots than to blooming.
All that said, in my experience the benefits of removing early blooms are small. A month after being planted out, I can’t tell the difference between my plants that bloomed in their pots and the plants that waited to bloom. I don’t bother to remove early flowers these days.
Davekinney0u812
In my area, the season is too short to waste a potential tomato!
False-Can-6608
I haven’t been removing early blooms for a couple of years now. Almost all of mine had blooms when planted 4/21-4/22. The brandywine bloom dried up and dropped off on its own after planting, as well as a couple of other plants. But then I have a few baby tomatoes growing on the ones that didn’t drop. Not sure if the plant drops them on their own or they just weren’t pollinated.
omnomvege
Leave them as is. The advice of removing early flowers comes from a list of reasons to do so – BUT, you’re fine just waiting to see if you run into any issues first. I was always told to remove them so the roots would have nutrients to spread out and produce more later… I haven’t found that to be true though.
The only time I prune early flowers, is if they’ve been pollinated and are producing tomatoes, and the plant is stressed for nutrients and turning yellow. Even then, usually just feeding more solves that issue.
Once they’re in the ground (or bed, or container), I monitor for a week or two. Then let them go wild, pruning the indeterminates as desired.
8 Comments
You could cut off the small flowering stem, this will help it develop a stronger root system. If you leave the flowers this early it can cause the plant not to focus on the roots as much, supposedly
How old are they? When do you think you will be able to transplant?
Should be in the ground
id pluck them, early flowers will often suffer blossom end rot from lack of calcium.
The amount of discussion about removing flowers is really disproportionate to the importance of doing so.
It’s definitely true that early blooming is a sign that a plant is under stress, usually because it needs to be planted out or potted up. It’s also definitely true that early on it’s better for an indeterminate plant to be devoting resources to growing roots than to blooming.
All that said, in my experience the benefits of removing early blooms are small. A month after being planted out, I can’t tell the difference between my plants that bloomed in their pots and the plants that waited to bloom. I don’t bother to remove early flowers these days.
In my area, the season is too short to waste a potential tomato!
I haven’t been removing early blooms for a couple of years now. Almost all of mine had blooms when planted 4/21-4/22. The brandywine bloom dried up and dropped off on its own after planting, as well as a couple of other plants. But then I have a few baby tomatoes growing on the ones that didn’t drop. Not sure if the plant drops them on their own or they just weren’t pollinated.
Leave them as is. The advice of removing early flowers comes from a list of reasons to do so – BUT, you’re fine just waiting to see if you run into any issues first. I was always told to remove them so the roots would have nutrients to spread out and produce more later… I haven’t found that to be true though.
The only time I prune early flowers, is if they’ve been pollinated and are producing tomatoes, and the plant is stressed for nutrients and turning yellow. Even then, usually just feeding more solves that issue.
Once they’re in the ground (or bed, or container), I monitor for a week or two. Then let them go wild, pruning the indeterminates as desired.