tomato blooms????

[highwayman]

i was in my garden tying my mater bush and noticed they have blooms already. some people are telling me to pinch they off till the plants get bigger and some are telling me to let them run. i  need help. thanks

[keith44]

depends, if there is no danger of frost, and you are having warm temps, and don't care about the size of the fruits, let em go.  If there are still cold nights, or temps aren't normally in the 80's (F) this time of year, I'd pinch off all blooms.  If you want the largest plant pinch off the blooms.  If you want a few really large fruits from each plant pinch off all but two on each "arm" or branch.

That's how I handle it, others will likely have other ideas.

[LunaticFringeInc]

I prefer to pinch them off so that I can produce a stronger bigger plant with a better root structure and there for produce better in the long run over the course of the season.  But then again I also dry all the produce that I cant eat when its producing more than I can consume.  So that works for me...if your just looking for slicing tomato here and there for a salad or sandwich then it probably doesnt matter much which route you go.  On the other hand I am trying to avoid spending any more at the grocery store than I have to.  I do the same thing to most of my veggies BTW...  On my fruit trees for the most part I limit it to one fruit per a twig.  Any that have two or three others on it get the smaller ones removed and thrown in the compost pile.  With my Peach tree I end up with huge suculent peaches that are to die for, although I do get fewer peaches in the process.  But sometimes quality trumps quanity!!!

[longwinters]

I guess it would depend on how big your plants are etc... The only thing I pinch off is the "suckers" on my indeterminant plants unless they are so small that they couldn't hold up a tomato. 

Long