Should I Remove Tomato Blossoms?

10 years ago

I started my tomato plants pretty early this year and needed to plant them very deep in my raised bed. They have only been planted for about 2 weeks and they are starting to form a lot of blossoms. The plants are all growing very well, probably about 2.5 feet right now with thick stems. Should I pull off the blossoms and let the plants establish solid roots and foliage or just let the blossoms bloom and fruit?

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Comments (9)

mambooman
10 years ago
I actually have the exact same decision to make. Mine have been in the ground 2 weeks as well. I think I have decided to leave them. However, if someone here has compelling evidence to the contrary, I am still certainly willing to change my mind.
lolauren
10 years ago
I don't think there is any reason to remove them. Now, I'm not certified in Tomato-ology, but I've never read that advice with regard to tomatoes (yes to blueberries, strawberries, etc.....not to tomatoes.) I've grown many happy plants with planting deeply, consistent watering, lots of sunshine and some support... :)
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Bill, You're welcome. I love SESE. Dr. Jeff McCormick, who has since sold SESE to someone else, brought a lot of heirlooms into the market that grow well in southern states, and I appreciate that because so many heirlooms seem to have come out of the northeastern states and often don't produce well in our heat. Nematodes. Oh, no! You have my sympathy. For all that I whine about having heavy-as-a-brick red clay, at least I don't have nematodes since they prefer sandy soil. I do have one small band of sandy soil on the southwestern edge of the garden, but I use it for plants that like sandy soil....like sweet potatoes. I have a gardening friend who lives 2 miles away and he has finally given up on growing tomatoes because of the nematodes. (But that's OK. I grow extra tomatoes to share with him and his kids and grandkids.) What do you do to control the nematodes? I have some ideas if you want to hear them. Broadleaf weedkiller contamination is a horrible problem for us as well, since we are in a very rural area, but I have only had damage to my tomatoes from herbicide drift two different years. I like to plant a border of tall plants on all 4 sides of my garden. First of all, the garden has a fence. I grow annual vines on the fence....morning glories, black-eyed-susan vine, hyacinth bean vine, and sometimes gourds and mini-pumpkins as well. Secondly, I plant tall plants in the flower border and I plant them close together. I especially like using tall sunflowers, amaranths, lion's tail, hollyhocks, ornamental corn and broomcorn. Sometimes the border plants get hit by 2-4-d, but they usually stop the stuff before it gets to the tomatoes. If one of my neighbors tells me in advance that he is going to have his pastures sprayed, I run out to the barn where I keep a roll of thick plastic and a bucket of clothespins. I pin the plastic to the garden's woven wire fencing in the hope it will stop any drift that the taller plants don't stop. It is not a huge issue most years, because we have wooded areas on three sides of us. I have more trouble from the local electricity co-op spraying under the power lines than from neighboring ranches or farms....but the co-op always tells us ahead of time so I can cover stuff up. I HAVE to have my heirlooms as I couldn't live without all their tasty and unique flavors. Actually, this year I am growing a LOT more hybrids than usual. Some years I have hardly any hybrids at all. I keep trying to find that perfect balance of heirlooms and hybrids. Every year I say I will plant fewer plants and not as many varieties...but saying it is easy, doing it is hard. Are you growing tomatoes for your own comsumption or to sell? I grow tomatoes for our family, and everyone we know, and everyone who is driving up the road and stops to say "Hey, nice garden!" (laughing) Oh, and I grow 'em for the turtles, birds, etc. who inhabit the land here with us. One nice thing about homegrown tomatoes is that you never really have too many of them. If I am tired of canning, freezing or drying them, I just give them away. There aren't many people who turn down fresh tomatoes. Dawn
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Bets
10 years ago
If the plants have been in their final location for two weeks and are starting to make blossoms, I think you should leave them. It is usually recommended that blooms that are on the plant at the time of transplanting be removed so that the plant can put its energy into forming a root system that will support the growth of blossoms and fruit. Your plants have done that and they are now ready to make tomatoes. I say let them.

Betsy
gelatodave
Original Author
10 years ago
Great! I'm leaving them. Thanks
seysonn
10 years ago
Don't we all want tomatoes, so bad ? LOL
Why then nip the flowers on a healthy, growing plant ?
Most of my plants are roughly in the same condition; Some have flowers others are in bud state. I am, instead, nipping the so-called SUCKERS so that they can send energy to flowers and ultimately fruits.
carolyn137
10 years ago
From way back in time it used to be thought that suckers "sucked" energy from the plant. But they don't, they just increase the number of fruits one can get off a plant.

Which is why I've never removed suckers. There are places where it does make sense to me and that's when growing to two main stems, for whatever reasons and also growing in hot humid areas with plants too closely planted to allow for more air circulation to help prevent foliage diseases.

The major energy for plants is ATP and GTP produced by photosynthesis so the more foliage the greater the energy produced.

Carolyn
seysonn
10 years ago
Carolyn,
I nip the so-called suckers much early on. It is true that there is a colaboration between the foliage and the root system. But Until a SUCKER reaches to a state of flowering the plant will invest a lot of energy to grow it. So when I nip it and direct the energy to the buds and flowers that exist.

It make sense to have many branches if :
1) you have a long warm season.
2) i above plus you have a lot of space between plants.

But right now, I do not have either (1) or (2). So I think that I am optimizing my resources. I don not want to have a great big lush tomato plant toward the end of season with a ton of green tomatoes on it.
sleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)
10 years ago
I'm a 'sucker plucker' but it is my climate that requires it. I've never touched the blossoms but rarely get them early. A few years ago i was out of town for work most of the summer and came home to a giant hedge without much fruit, (short season, NorthEast altitude). If i miss some suckers i let it go. Personal decision if they are longer than a pencil...so i suppose in am pinching about 65%.
daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
10 years ago
It depends on whether the tomato is determinate or indeterminate. If the latter, pluck away. On my indeterminate cherries, I don't let a flower stay until the plants are 3-4 feet tall. For my determinates, each flower I pluck off is, I have to imagine, a tomato I won't get. That's probably just my imagination though. Hopefully, a determinate isn't dumb enough to start flowering when the plant isn't mature.

Should I Remove Tomato Blossoms?

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Should I Remove Tomato Blossoms?

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