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.

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

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

In article ,
"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.

I planted a Stupice with 3 small fruit on it in late April. Stupice is
supposed to get to be 4' to 6' tall. Mine presently is 4' and growing,
and we had our first tomato last saturday. Two more should be ready by
this week-end. If I'd pinched them off, I'd still be waiting for my
first tomato. Oh, it had tomato flavor without the store-bought acidity
that my sweety doesn't like.

Two days of 90°F and the garden is rockin'. The peppers put on 2"-4" in
height, the summer squash all expanded by about a foot, and the melon
has started cranking out flowers.

A parsnip from last year, that was overlooked, due to a rampaging
raccoon, who also took out the majority of the carrots, is 5 feet tall,
1 foot shorter than my tallest sunflower. Is this normal? Is there any
chance that the parsnip is still edible? I'm presuming that it's past
its "best used by" date and I'm waiting to see its floral side.
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html

Billy wrote:

A parsnip from last year, that was overlooked, due to a rampaging
raccoon, who also took out the majority of the carrots, is 5 feet
tall, 1 foot shorter than my tallest sunflower. Is this normal?

It's pretty big, mostly they are about 3-4ft tall at flowering here. OTOH
sunflowers can reach 8ft

Is
there any chance that the parsnip is still edible?

It will be big and probably too tough to eat boiled as a vegetable but some
grated will flavour a stew or soup.


I'm presuming that
it's past its "best used by" date and I'm waiting to see its floral
side.

The flower is not spectacular but the seed heads are interesting with many
"winged" seeds. Leaving a few parsnips to seed is good because it is a
plant whose seed doesn't stay viable very long so the fresh self-sown seeds
are often a better bet than those saved for years. The volunteers you don't
want are easy to pull out when small.

David

In article ,
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:

Billy wrote:

A parsnip from last year, that was overlooked, due to a rampaging
raccoon, who also took out the majority of the carrots, is 5 feet
tall, 1 foot shorter than my tallest sunflower. Is this normal?

It's pretty big, mostly they are about 3-4ft tall at flowering here. OTOH
sunflowers can reach 8ft

I double checked this afternoon, and the parsnip is at least 5'6"
(1.7M). The sunflower is at least 6'6" (1.98M) and towering over the
potatoes at 5' (1.5M).

I think I'll wait for its florescence. The other parsnips That have
survived are in the 3'-4' range, maybe 7 in total.

Thank you.
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html

"David Hare-Scott" wrote in message
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.

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.

:-)) Well Peter Cundall always says to treat tomatoes badly so they think
they are going to die and thus flower early. I assume his reasoning for
that is to get crops from them. Whatever Pete says is good enough for me as
his advice has always been woth following so I'd never think of deflowering
at planting.

In article , ask@itshall
says...

:-)) Well Peter Cundall always says to treat tomatoes badly so they think
they are going to die and thus flower early. I assume his reasoning for
that is to get crops from them. Whatever Pete says is good enough for me as
his advice has always been woth following so I'd never think of deflowering
at planting.

LOL

But isn't deflowering considered one of the rites of spring ...along
with the maypole, Beltane blazes ...and ...and (whispering) Morris
dancing.

phorbin wrote:
In article ,
ask@itshall says...

:-)) Well Peter Cundall always says to treat tomatoes badly so they
think they are going to die and thus flower early. I assume his
reasoning for that is to get crops from them. Whatever Pete says is
good enough for me as his advice has always been woth following so
I'd never think of deflowering at planting.

LOL

But isn't deflowering considered one of the rites of spring ...along
with the maypole, Beltane blazes ...and ...and (whispering) Morris
dancing.

When I was seventeen
It was a very good year
It was a very good year for small town girls
And soft summer nights
We'd hide from the lights
On the village green
When I was seventeen


D

"phorbin" wrote in message
...
In article , ask@itshall
says...

:-)) Well Peter Cundall always says to treat tomatoes badly so they
think
they are going to die and thus flower early. I assume his reasoning for
that is to get crops from them. Whatever Pete says is good enough for me
as
his advice has always been woth following so I'd never think of
deflowering
at planting.

LOL

But isn't deflowering considered one of the rites of spring ...along
with the maypole, Beltane blazes ...and ...and (whispering) Morris
dancing.

Peter Cundall is now in his 80s so I think his days of deflowering would be
behind him. But when it comes to gardening advice, he's always been worth
listening to.

On Jun 15, 3:39*pm, "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.

If you pinch off the flowers the plant will grower larger but will
yield fruit later (total yield will be greater)

If you leave the flowers the energy will go toward making the fruit,
the plant will be smaller, the overall yield will be less, but you
will get earlier fruit.

basically if you have more tomato plants then you really need, don't
cut off the flowers, your yield will be lower but who cares

you can prove this to yourself by pinching one plant and not the
other, that is what I did, the pinched plant will be much larger then
the other, try it.


speaking of experiments I also did the "plant the tomato plant really
really deep method" and one not, there was no difference in yield, the
really deep one grew roots mostly just near the top of the stem, not
all along the stem.

you can prove this to yourself by planing one deep and the other
shallow, at the end of the season carfully remove them and look at the
root mass

to really increase yields you need to have very large plants set out
early, there is no other method that makes much difference, at least
that I know of, various fertilizers don't make much difference

fsadfa wrote:
On Jun 15, 3:39 pm, "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.

If you pinch off the flowers the plant will grower larger but will
yield fruit later (total yield will be greater)

If you leave the flowers the energy will go toward making the fruit,
the plant will be smaller, the overall yield will be less, but you
will get earlier fruit.

basically if you have more tomato plants then you really need, don't
cut off the flowers, your yield will be lower but who cares

you can prove this to yourself by pinching one plant and not the
other, that is what I did, the pinched plant will be much larger
then
the other, try it.


speaking of experiments I also did the "plant the tomato plant
really
really deep method" and one not, there was no difference in yield,
the
really deep one grew roots mostly just near the top of the stem, not
all along the stem.

you can prove this to yourself by planing one deep and the other
shallow, at the end of the season carfully remove them and look at
the
root mass

You may be correct in areas with shallow soil, but I have a loam soil
that is about 14 inches deep. The tomatoes planted deep in that soil
require 1/2 the watering as those plated to the level they came out of
the greenhouse and produce way more tomatoes. They do have roots all
along the stem that was below ground as well as the original roots.
Compacted soil will force all roots to near the surface. Just my
experience over the years in going from all red Georgia clay to the
current loam.

BTW, my lawn with the deep loam soil stays green during the heat of
summer when most lawns in this area trun brown and suffer from the
need of water. The neighbors call it "the grass". We have water
restrictions!! ;-(
Tom J

On Jun 18, 1:42*pm, "Tom J" wrote:
fsadfa wrote:
On Jun 15, 3:39 pm, "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.

If you pinch off the flowers the plant will grower larger but will
yield fruit later (total yield will be greater)

If you leave the flowers the energy will go toward making the fruit,
the plant will be smaller, the overall yield will be less, but you
will get earlier fruit.

basically if you have more tomato plants then you really need, don't
cut off the flowers, your yield will be lower but who cares

you can prove this to yourself by pinching one plant and not the
other, that is what I did, the pinched plant will be much larger
then
the other, try it.

speaking of experiments I also did the "plant the tomato plant
really
really deep method" and one not, there was no difference in yield,
the
really deep one grew roots mostly just near the top of the stem, not
all along the stem.

you can prove this to yourself by planing one deep and the other
shallow, at the end of the season carfully remove them and look at
the
root mass

You may be correct in areas with shallow soil, but I have a loam soil
that is about 14 inches deep. The tomatoes planted deep in that soil
require 1/2 the watering as those plated to the level they came out of
the greenhouse and produce way more tomatoes. They do have roots all
along the stem that was below ground as well as the original roots.


my soil is over 2 feet deep, I never water though, heavy mulch, guess
the afternoon summer rains never make it down far enough

Hi Suzanne,

If you ask 3 different experts, you'll get 3 different answers. Why? They give advise based on their experience, and this exp is a case to case basis when it comes to gardening, it only gives you only an idea of what might be the result when you follow someone's advise. And that might not be the same result as you do. So basically, it guides you through the process, but doesn't success guaranteed.

So I would suggest to implement a trial and error system. At the end, herb gardening requires a little risk.

In article ,
"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.

I planted a Stupice with 3 small green tomatoes on it, next to a Stupice
with no fruit or flowers (both germinated at the same time, and put out
to harden off together). The Stupice without flowers is 25% larger now
than the one that was setting fruit, but it still has no flowers,
whereas, the other Stupice has given me 3 tomatoes and is covered with
flowers.

YMMV
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html