What's the name of teeny tomatoes that don't grow?

[Vespertino]

Just curious, a little bird told me there was a name for those itty, bitty tomatoes that never grow or mature, but the nice little bird couldn't remember.

Here's a pic:



I have a couple of these on my brandywines. What are they called?

A few more newb questions if I may:

1) Should I leave it be? Or would removing them benefit the plant?

2) How long should I give these tiny tomatoes a chance to grow? At what point is it certain they'll never mature?

3) Is it possible for some tomatoes to start growing and then stop, and remain stunted? I have a few that were growing and starting to mature but seem to have been spinning their wheels in terms of size while it's neighbor fruits are getting larger.

Thanks everyone!

[barkeater]

It's only the beginning of May? When did it go in and how big is the plant?

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Vespertino

Just curious, a little bird told me there was a name for those itty, bitty tomatoes that never grow or mature, but the nice little bird couldn't remember.

Here's a pic:



I have a couple of these on my brandywines. What are they called?

A few more newb questions if I may:

1) Should I leave it be? Or would removing them benefit the plant?

2) How long should I give these tiny tomatoes a chance to grow? At what point is it certain they'll never mature?

3) Is it possible for some tomatoes to start growing and then stop, and remain stunted? I have a few that were growing and starting to mature but seem to have been spinning their wheels in terms of size while it's neighbor fruits are getting larger.

Thanks everyone!

It looks like a typical newly fertilized emerging fruit to me and I've never heard of a specific name for those.

How long have you waited now to see if it enlarges? I never examined all the new wee ones on any plant so I can't tell you how long I ever waited, but when I see them I'm happy, more fruits, and don't remove them.

If you don't see them enlarging within a week or so if it were me I'd conclude that not enough ovules in the tomato ovary were pollenized, so the hormaonal impetus to enlarge is not there and they may just abort.

Carolyn

[Stvrob]

How long has it been since it was fertilized? It looks like it will grow fine to me.

[Vespertino]

Originally Posted by barkeater

It's only the beginning of May? When did it go in and how big is the plant?

The plant was put into the earthtainer in mid-march (lower branches removed and planted very deep), the plant is now 20 inches tall above the soil. When I put the tomato plant into the earthtainer it had a single blossom which turned into the large tomato in the photo. The teeny guy was from a blossom that popped up a week after that. In hindsight, I don't think that bloom was as big or nice as the first one and it was very cold around that time.

Originally Posted by carolyn137

It looks like a typical newly fertilized emerging fruit to me and I've never heard of a specific name for those.

How long have you waited now to see if it enlarges? I never examined all the new wee ones on any plant so I can't tell you how long I ever waited, but when I see them I'm happy, more fruits, and don't remove them.

If you don't see them enlarging within a week or so if it were me I'd conclude that not enough ovules in the tomato ovary were pollenized, so the hormaonal impetus to enlarge is not there and they may just abort.

Carolyn

I've waited about a month and it hasn't grown in size. I guess it couldn't hurt to give it more time, there's been crazy weather this spring with lots of late cold spells and freezes. While I brought the plants inside on the nights where there was a frost warning, they did spend a lot of time outdoors when the temps were in the 40's. It finally seems to be warming up for good now, and I've gotten a lot of good blooms that have since had a date with an electric toothbrush. Overall the plant looks happy as a peach, so I guess I'll wait and see just in case they finally start to grow. But from what you mentioned it might have been an aborted tomato, a month is a long time to stay small, I don't know if that's normal.

Originally Posted by Stvrob

How long has it been since it was fertilized? It looks like it will grow fine to me.

It was fertilized around the last week of march, the large tomato behind it was from a blossom I'd pollinated a week before. Despite being about a week apart in age, the difference in their size is astonishing.

Thanks for the replies, everyone! I really appreciate all the info.

[Worth1]

I get these sometimes and it is always around the time of cold weather.
They will hang on forever and never do anything.

I just leave them be and let nature do as it wishes.
They don't harm a thing and who knows it my grow.
On the ones I have had the bloom turns brown and hangs there forever.

I bet this is exactly what yours did.

Worth

[Vespertino]

Yeah they took a lot longer for the petals to finally drop, the wind seemed to take care of that eventually (had a few windy days 25+ mph)... It also seemed that the blooms that did this weren't as strong looking as the ones that set better fruit. Other blooms that came out around the cold spell never opened, they just turned yellow at the joint and dropped off.

Now that it's warmer the new blossoms seem healthier. Hopefully pollination will be more successful this time around. I'm under a bit of pressure to produce tomatoes, I've spent a small fortune on my patio garden and hubs wants a return on the investment I know there's no guarantees but as long as they taste better then the camparis sold at costco it will be a success.

[lycomania]

Ah, it must be great having a husband whose hobbies all make a return. Haha

They'll taste better than the camparis. Let me add a word of praise for campari's, which aside from the ugly ripes at least provide edible tomatoes during our winter.

[Vespertino]

As of late his hobbies include passing gas. And he wonders why I exile myself to the patio

I agree on the camparis, we've been buying them often since they're worlds better than the craptacular supermarket tomatoes from mexico that taste like wet cardboard. While I'm happy I have about 4 fruits out of about 6 that are growing, I keep worrying that they might be a dud in terms of flavor. But I'm getting more flowers now, with the warmer weather I hope the stunted fruit won't be as much of a problem going forward.

[kath]

[QUOTE=Vespertino;346481]As of late his hobbies include passing gas. And he wonders why I exile myself to the patio ]

Thanks for the LOL.

Remember to take into account that all the tomatoes, herbs, etc. that you get from your setup this year and forevermore are fresh and organic(?) and will be worth even more than the most comparable items you could find at the store. It won't be long before DH will be able to see that your hard work is reaping huge savings as well as tasty food.

I've seen lots of those little undeveloped maters, too- sometimes I remove them and sometimes I don't bother and I don't think it matters much. Warmer weather should be providing you with lots of fruits soon enough.

kath

[bower]

Last year Anna Russian set full clusters of these little fruit in early spring. The first fruit to grow were higher on the bush, but once those had ripened, the plant went back and grew the little first ones. They weren't the biggest fruit, but good all the same.
I've seen this on other tomatoes too, that some fruit stay tiny until the others have ripened and been picked, and then they come on.

[Vespertino]

That's pretty neat! I'm definitely going to leave the little tomatoes be and hope that they follow in your plant's footsteps. It would be nice to see all of them mature, even if they do so a bit later.

Unfortunately I think I might have a pest on my tomato plant. I found 10 teeny pin bite marks (black) on one of the baby tomatoes- it literally appeared overnight.

[bower]

Another reason for keeping them, in your situation in Texas, is that those fruit might be able to grow when the heat is too intense for the plant to set new fruit.

I would remove the damaged one though! Don't want that to spread, whatever it is.

[edweather]

I get those all the time and have never had one grow. They just seem like duds, and it will be obvious if they don't get any bigger after a few days. Will probably prune at some point but I usually just leave them seeing as they don't take any energy away from the plant.

[bower]

One plant I know that sets lots of these and never grows them is Black Cherry. Those early clusters that don't fill out, never will! Humbug.