I have the same question! Our tomatoes were buried up to the first set of true leaves when planted (at about 8" tall) & now are about a foot tall above the ground. Many of them have blossoms...should we leave these on or pick them off? Does anyone know what causes this? I still have a few tomatoes in 8 oz. cups & noticed today that one of them has a blossom.

Oh yes, thanks for mentioning the planting depth bitsya. I forgot to mention that I planted mine quite deep too, like you did. Down to the first set of true leaves.

I would just leave them alone.
The reason for this early fruiting may be that comercial growers really push them.
I also bought and planted a few, that have buds and one has flower.
This is also may be due to the fact that it has heen unseasonably warm.
I don't mind tasting my first ripe tomato in May.
Wow!

Ok thanks. I'm letting them grow. I wish they had some mates to grow up with. :-)

Can you include your growing zone in your personal information? It makes quite a difference in the advice people give you. For instance, if you're in zone 10, having baby tomatoes on your plants is fine. In zone 5, you need to remove them!

Hi Anney, looks like I am in the same zone as you & Cyrus.

We have about 100 tomatoes planted; I'm considering removing the flowers from maybe half of them...we've never had them flower THIS early (when the plants are still so small.)

I guess, as Cyrus said upthread, the unseasonable warmth we have had has affected them.

I'm in zone 8 as well.

I had a CP set fruit before Easter this year. They were planted out the first week of March (yes, I like to live dangerously!). I left it because I can't wait to eat it. I also plan on saving seed from it as well. So far, it's my only plant to set fruit. The tomato is about the size of two golf balls or a toddler's fist.

bitsya

Okay, the zone is very helpful!

It HAS been an early spring this year. In this area, we haven't had frost for more than 30 days, and I suspect that was it for this spring. Maybe it's balancing out for last spring when it was so cold and wet.

I don't have any tomatoes on my plants but I do have some blossoms about ready to open on three of the eleven I've set out. None of the plants are a mature size. And I still have eight more to plant when they're larger, plus a sucker for a second Goose Creek plant when it develops.

Maybe those of us who planted early in this area have been lucky with the weather. At any rate, as you intend to do, I suppose I'd remove some of those babies and leave some to see if it makes a difference in the plant health.

Below is a link to a discussion last year about what triggers tomato plants to start blossoming. It's just going to happen when we start them early and they grow at normal rates.

Here is a link that might be useful: What triggers blossoming on tomato plants?

Anney,

Thanks for the link to the blossom triggering thread.

Here is my zone info:

U:7B A:9 S:33

I'm USDA hardiness zone 7B, AHS heat zone 9, and Sunset climate zone 33.

Or maybe I am U:8A instead of 7B.

I'm not sure, that's why I don't usually post it.

I live just north of Dallas, in southern Denton County, Texas.

http://www.ahs.org/pdfs/05_heat_map.pdf
http://www.ahs.org/publications/heat_zone_finder.htm
http://www.sunset.com/sunset/garden/article/1,20633,845218,00.html

To my way of thinking one tomato early in the season is worth two at the height of production. I would count any early tomatoes a blessing, and leave them on the plant.

I'm thinking the same way californian. And now I've got four tomatoes growing. Three Better Boy, and one Super Fantastic. I'm letting them grow, and looking forward to my first taste.

All 7 tomatoes I have planted have at least one tom and the black krim has 4-5 complete sets. I'm also looking for an early tomato to eat. I didn't get plants into the ground until July last year and didn't get any tomatoes until November and had to ripen them indoors. Darn Arizona heat!