I have always pinched those first few flowers that pop up a few weeks after I put my plants in. Today, before doing so, I got curious and googled it. Saw a few suggestions that it was not good for the plants, that they would fall off normally, that any kind of pruning wasn’t good for the plant. But, this seems to be referring to before one transplants them.
Color me confused. Any ideas good Dopers?
Sounds like the makings of a good experiment - try it on half your plants this year, and see if you notice a difference either way.
Never heard of removing the first flowers. Maybe it’s a good idea, maybe not, I just never heard of doing it.
What I thought the post would be about from the title was removing the suckers, the small non-fruit bearing branches that sprout up. That way the plant directs more of its energy into producing tomatoes. I try to do this but usually get lazy and just let the plants grow wild by August.
One of my little 8-inch plants in my enclosed patio actually has a tomato already. Allowed to grow, it’ll bring the entire plant down. At some point (soon) I’ll have to remove the little fruit. I’m pinching off any other blossoms. And yeah, I get lazy about the suckers too.