Tomatoes are one of the plants that many gardeners love to grow and care for. The tomato tree is very easy to grow, early fruiting time, and yields many fruits per tree.
Therefore, tomato plants are often preferred to grow in each family. Technical care of tomato plants is not difficult, they are easy to live with and do not have to take too much care.
Recently, many gardeners have always asked the question of how to stimulate tomato plants to produce more flowers and fruit.
Should you pick the first flowers off tomato plants? And what is the real meaning of getting rid of premature flowers? Let’s find out more details in the article below.
Should You Pick The First Flowers Off Tomato Plants?
Pruning the first flowers of a tomato plant will depend on various factors such as the grower’s goals, the stages of development, the time of year, the age of the plants, and the time of their growth.
The flowers of a tomato plant will develop into fruit if pollinated properly and each flower can become a tomato in the future.
Therefore, stimulating tomato plants to produce more flowers to produce fruit is an important technique for gardeners.
1. When Do Tomato Plants Start To Flower?
Tomato plants will begin to flower depending on age, growing area, and cultivar.
- Age: As the tomato plant matures, it will begin the process of flowering and fruiting. Normally, after 6-8 weeks, tomato plants will begin to flower and pollinate to bear fruit.
- Planting area: The size of the planting area will greatly determine the flowering time of tomato plants. If you grow them in pots or small containers, tomato plants will flower earlier than when planted in the ground because the roots will not be focused to thrive. Therefore, tomato plants will flower and fruit earlier when grown in pots.
- Tomato varieties: Flowering sooner or later depends on the tomato cultivar and its growing time. Therefore, you need to check the information about the growth and fruiting time of the seed.
2. Should The Tomato Flowers Be Plucked Early?
The answer depends on your goals.
Cutting off the first tomato flowers is intended to help the plant focus on growing leaves and roots more so that the plant has a more intense vitality before entering the breeding season.
If you are growing tomato plants in pots or plastic bags to transplant into the ground, you should pluck the first flowers of the tomato plant to encourage leaf and root growth.
Removing tomato plants’ early flowers will help them focus on developing stronger leaves and stems. Because when growing tomato plants in pots, the roots have run out of space to grow and deepen, they are forced to flower and bear fruit earlier than when planted in the ground.
You also can refer to the detailed article on whether to plant tomato seeds directly in the ground or grow them in pots to facilitate future development.
By plucking the flowers, tomato plants will have hormone regulation to continue to maintain leaf and root development. The roots will grow healthy, deeply rooted in the soil, and grow wider, from which the tree will have better vitality and resistance to heat and cold before harsh weather.
In addition, the early flowers will cause tomato plants to focus on nurturing flowers and fruits, so they do not have enough strength to prepare to reproduce in large numbers at the time of maturity.
Therefore, you should remember that tomato plants will only produce more flowers and fruits if they are produced at the right time, in the right season, and at the right age.
3. How To Remove Tomato Flowers?
This technique is very simple, you just need to use your fingers or scissors to cut those flowers. You should cut the entire flower bed instead of cutting individual flowers to limit the energy of the plant having to maintain unnecessary branches.
This will activate substances in the leaves and the plant will redirect its energy to continue focusing on nourishing the branches and leaves.
4. When To Stop Picking Tomato Flowers?
You should be aware that plucking tomato flowers is only for a short period and depends on the specific purpose, so you should not cut flowers when they have been in their final position for 2 to 3 weeks.
After this time, the roots of tomato plants have been hardened, deepened into the soil, and grown wider, so they will better absorb nutrients to nourish flowers and fruits at the beginning of the breeding season.
Read more: How To Get Rid Of Tomato Fruitworm: All The Advice You Need Now
Conclude
Pruning the early blooms of tomato plants is essential if you are growing the plant in a small pot or container. This will stimulate the tomato plant to focus its energy on developing stronger branches, leaves, and roots.
However, you should only remove these early flowers at the right time because if you remove too many flowers, you will have to wait a long time for the plant to have enough nutrients and flowers next time.