Should I remove early flowers from determinate varieties?

[Anthony_Toronto]

Making lots of pizza lately so threw in 3 plants each of 3 allegedly different san marzano varieties (san marzano, san marzano luongo, san marzano redorta (*redorta seedlings aren't looking so hot)). Most of my plants have flower branches and I typically take off anything this early (when I leave them on the resulting fruits usually aren't so good), but wondering if I should do this with determinate varieties. Thanks!

[KarenO]

I have never removed a tomato flower from any plant, ever. I will take a "not so good" tomato over no tomato all day long. In zone 3 I can't afford to be choosy. Especially with a paste destined for sauce, determinates only set a finite number of fruit on a finite number of flower trusses before they end with a terminal cluster. You will reduce your yield dramatically by removing any blooms from a determinate
K

[dpurdy]

Anthony,
I only remove early flowers if they form while still in pots in the nursery. Only because I want the plants to devote their resources to root development and growth. Once any plant is in the ground I don't remove any flowers. I don't prune any determinants, only stake them for support as necessary.
dpurdy

[Anthony_Toronto]

I have removed and left on in the past and can't remember ever being happy with any tomato from any flower left on, sure its nice to have a tomato but I would rather have had that energy go into the plant instead. But for the paste tomatoes that's not such a big issue for several reasons so I'll definitely let them go free!! For space issues and other reasons I am going back to pruning my indeterminates back to 3 to 5 stems with missouri suckering to leave as much foliage as I can in the room that I have. Fewer tomatoes from more plants/more varieties/less space is what I'm looking for this year...haven't pruned for years but going to see how it goes. Just arent enough bamboo stakes and ties out there to deal with the jungle I usually get. Might prune half and let half go and see how they do.

[Sodak]

Originally Posted by Anthony_Toronto

I have removed and left on in the past and can't remember ever being happy with any tomato from any flower left on, sure its nice to have a tomato but I would rather have had that energy go into the plant instead. But for the paste tomatoes that's not such a big issue for several reasons so I'll definitely let them go free!! For space issues and other reasons I am going back to pruning my indeterminates back to 3 to 5 stems with missouri suckering to leave as much foliage as I can in the room that I have. Fewer tomatoes from more plants/more varieties/less space is what I'm looking for this year...haven't pruned for years but going to see how it goes. Just arent enough bamboo stakes and ties out there to deal with the jungle I usually get. Might prune half and let half go and see how they do.

What is " missouri suckering?"

[kath]

Originally Posted by Sodak

What is " missouri suckering?"

Check out page 3 for a diagram and explanation:

www.finegardening.com/pruning-tomatoes

[Anthony_Toronto]

I usually let the suckers get longer in that diagram. Even if suckers with tips removed don't in fact direct the products of any photosynthesis back into the plant, I want them there to help shade any fruits.

[pycoder]

I'm growing San Marzano redorta this year and I took off the early flowers but I have a long growing season. Also, all of the information I have says that all three of these varieties are indeterminates.

http://sanmarzanotomatoes.org/varieties.html
http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/w...arzano_Redorta

I hope your redortas perk up. Mine have some 4" to 5" green fruit but I lost a lot of blossoms when the heat climbed to a freak 96 degrees here in mid May.

[Sodak]

Originally Posted by kath

Check out page 3 for a diagram and explanation:

www.finegardening.com/pruning-tomatoes

thank you.

[Anthony_Toronto]

Ugh indeterminate? I didn't even consider that they were. More staking for me! The redorta plants still look the weakest of the three.