Suzanne D. wrote:
I bought a bunch of tomato and pepper plants yesterday, and some of
them have flowers and/or fruit on them already. I asked the people
at the stores if I should pinch them off when planting in order to
put more energy toward root-building, and three different people said
I didn't have to. I'd LOVE for this to be true, but I could swear I
heard somewhere that you are supposed to pinch off the flowers and
fruit when you plant. Can anyone enlighten me once and for all?
--S.

There are many practices passed around between gardeners. Most are given
the recommendation of being age-old. Some are useful and some are not.
Some work in some situations but not in others. For a pursuit that seems to
be built on a large collection of "rules" there are many exceptions. It
looks simple but it isn't.

I have never bothered with this pinching out of fruits and flowers and my
transplants work just fine. This is not conclusive because it is possible
that if I did it they would do even better. I couldn't be bothered going to
the trouble of testing it as I work on the concept that if it ain't broke
don't fix it. My feeling is that having your transplants in the right
situation at the right time in well prepared soil (or not) is likely to
swamp any effect of pinching (or not).

For those who claim that this practice is important please show your
evidence, note that some kind of comparison is required, saying that you do
it and it works for you isn't conclusive either.

David