David Hare-Scott wrote:
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

With tomatoes I only take out blooms and foliage 2/3 up from the roots
and bury that 2/3's of the plant. I have a lot less watering to do
because of the deep roots. My peppers are always in bloom when
planted, but planted at the same level they were growing in the bed.
We've been eating both for a while now. :-)

Tom J
North of Atlanta