pruning tomato flowers?
 

We have some indeterminate tomatoes (Cherokee Purples), which are
growing well (knock on wood), and producing a lot of flowers, and (so
far) some fruits. We cut a tree this year, so have actual SUN in the
garden - a new experience.

Some of the flowers seem quite close together. I'm wondering if it
would make sense to pinch some of these off now (zone 5+). My
'reasoning' is that this would (a) avoid crowding, and (b) 'direct more
energy' (as they say) to the remaining fruits.

I didn't find much about this with Google. (Which may be a skill-set
issue.)

Thanks,
George

pruning tomato flowers?
 

George wrote:
We have some indeterminate tomatoes (Cherokee Purples), which are
growing well (knock on wood), and producing a lot of flowers, and (so
far) some fruits. We cut a tree this year, so have actual SUN in the
garden - a new experience.

Some of the flowers seem quite close together. I'm wondering if it
would make sense to pinch some of these off now (zone 5+). My
'reasoning' is that this would (a) avoid crowding, and (b) 'direct
more energy' (as they say) to the remaining fruits.


Neither of which are in themselves very useful.

I didn't find much about this with Google. (Which may be a skill-set
issue.)

Thanks,
George


Thinning may give fewer larger fruit but will not improve the overall yield
or alter flavour. It is usually done to avoid overloading the branches (on
fruit trees) or to produce specimen produce (eg giant pumpkins), such as are
entered into shows. Are you just experimenting for fun or looking for a
particular outcome?

David

pruning tomato flowers?
 

On Fri, 9 Jul 2010 00:07:46 +1000, "David Hare-Scott"
wrote:

George wrote:
..
Some of the flowers seem quite close together. I'm wondering if it
would make sense to pinch some of these off now (zone 5+). My
'reasoning' is that this would (a) avoid crowding, and (b) 'direct
more energy' (as they say) to the remaining fruits.


Neither of which are in themselves very useful.

...

Thinning may give fewer larger fruit but will not improve the overall yield
or alter flavour. It is usually done to avoid overloading the branches (on
fruit trees) or to produce specimen produce (eg giant pumpkins), such as are
entered into shows. Are you just experimenting for fun or looking for a
particular outcome?

I'd say 'experimenting', but that implies keeping track of what I've
done, to which plant. Despite good intentions, that always seems to
come up short. Alas.

Thanks,

G

pruning tomato flowers?
 

In article ,
George wrote:

We have some indeterminate tomatoes (Cherokee Purples), which are
growing well (knock on wood), and producing a lot of flowers, and (so
far) some fruits. We cut a tree this year, so have actual SUN in the
garden - a new experience.

Some of the flowers seem quite close together. I'm wondering if it
would make sense to pinch some of these off now (zone 5+). My
'reasoning' is that this would (a) avoid crowding, and (b) 'direct more
energy' (as they say) to the remaining fruits.

I didn't find much about this with Google. (Which may be a skill-set
issue.)

Thanks,
George

Typically, thinning is done by picking the young fruit, not flowers.
This seems as if it would make more sense with determinate tomatoes than
with indeterminate, like the Cherokee Purple. With determinate tomatoes,
you have a better idea of the ultimate size of the harvest, and can
adjust accordingly. Whereas, with an indeterminate, if you pick one off,
the vine will just set another.
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/2/maude
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