Tomato/pepper growing question: cut off the first flowers?

[EstimatedProphet]

Is it beneficial to cut the first flowers off of tomatoes and peppers? And if so, what's the best way to do it?

[wildeyed]

1. I do if the plant flowers immediately after I transplant it.

I just pinch them off until the plant has an established root system and is a decent size.

[Suich]

2. Wow! I've never heard that before.

Why do you do that?



TIA!

:shrug:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. I do the same thing.

I do it so the plant focuses more energy on laying roots and foliage than producing fruit. However, I live in a climate where a strong root system and ample foliage is required for it to make it through the summer.

[Kolesar]

3. I have heard that one should not buy starter plants that are already flowering

(not much else to add)

[hermetic]

4. I've read a number

of articles about this. Some say do and some say don't. The reason given for is that the flowers use up a lot of the plant nutrients that instead will go into the fruit. Last year I left the flowers on for a while and I got more yield than before when I used to remove them right away. But maybe that was just a difference in the plants. :shrug:

But if you're gonna do it, I agree that pinching them off is the best way.

[Gormy Cuss]

5. It depends on how big the plant is.

As already noted, it's a good practice to avoid plants that already have flowers unless it's a large plant (think 1 gallon pot size.) If you grew the plants from seed and the tomato plants are bigger than a foot or so, don't pinch flowers unless there are a lot of them. The exception is a cherry tomato plant -- I never pinch off flowers from them because it doesn't seem to matter.

As a routine practice pinching off some flowers and cutting out the sucker (side) shoots will help produce fewer but large tomatoes.

[bearfan454]

7. I always do.

My grandfather showed me that when I was a little kid. That is how they did it in Spain when he was a kid. On my plants I pinch off all of the yellow flowers on the tomatoes and the the white flowers on the peppers too. When you do this it makes the plant put it's energy into growing taller and bushier. After I stop pinching them off and let them flower again,I get way more than I would have originally. When I take a pepper off a plant I use scissors and cut the stem very close to the branch and it usually replaces that with 2 more peppers right there. Everybody does their garden the way they want to, but these 2 tricks get me a really good yield of tomatoes and peppers.

[Lisa0825]

8. From now on, I will be doing this.

I planted 4 tomato plants from seedlings. Of the four, 2 of them got several tomatoes very early. The two that did not (or only had one) grew rapidly and were very healthy, after I conquered a nutrient imbalance. Those two greened up immediately after I added organic fertilizer. Of the 2 with multiple tomatoes growing, one didn't grow any taller, but did green up, and the tomatoes stayed small and didn't ripen after weeks of sitting there. The other plant didn't grow, and didn't even green up. After posting here about whether I should pick the tomatoes, I did pick them. Within TWO DAYS, the yellowed plant was green, and within a week, there was a noticeable difference in height. Based on that experience, I feel pretty sure that having fruit too early causes the plant to put too much energy into growing fruit, and leaves too little for it to grow into a larger plant, capable of producing a better harvest.

I also picked 2 banana peppers, a jalapeno, and a bell pepper, and all of those plants suddenly had growth spurts as well!

Yes, I am a newbie, but I think this experience was so noticeable that I am pretty convinced of this! :)

[Blue Gardener]

9. Indiana Extension Service Information

Says you should remove them from tomatoes.

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/HO-26.pdf