Should I pinch off flowers and fruits when planting?

 

I bought a bunch of tomato and pepper plants yesterday, and some of them
have flowers and/or fruit on them already.  I asked the people at the stores
if I should pinch them off when planting in order to put more energy toward
root-building, and three different people said I didn't have to.  I'd LOVE
for this to be true, but I could swear I heard somewhere that you are
supposed to pinch off the flowers and fruit when you plant.  Can anyone
enlighten me once and for all?
--S.

 

Suzanne D. wrote:

There are many practices passed around between gardeners.  Most are given
the recommendation of being age-old.  Some are useful and some are not.
Some work in some situations but not in others.  For a pursuit that seems to
be built on a large collection of "rules" there are many exceptions.  It
looks simple but it isn't.

I have never bothered with this pinching out of fruits and flowers and my
transplants work just fine.  This is not conclusive because it is possible
that if I did it they would do even better.  I couldn't be bothered going to
the trouble of testing it as I work on the concept that if it ain't broke
don't fix it.  My feeling is that having your transplants in the right
situation at the right time in well prepared soil (or not) is likely to
swamp any effect of pinching (or not).

For those who claim that this practice is important please show your
evidence, note that some kind of comparison is required, saying that you do
it and it works for you isn't conclusive either.

David

 

David Hare-Scott wrote:

With tomatoes I only take out blooms and foliage 2/3 up from the roots
and bury that 2/3's of the plant. I have a lot less watering to do
because of the deep roots. My peppers are always in bloom when
planted, but planted at the same level they were growing in the bed.
We've been eating both for a while now. :-)

Tom J
North of Atlanta

 


:-))  Well Peter Cundall always says to treat tomatoes badly so they think
they are going to die and thus flower early.  I assume his reasoning for
that is to get crops from them.  Whatever Pete says is good enough for me as
his advice has always been woth following so I'd never think of deflowering
at planting.

 

says...


But isn't deflowering considered one of the rites of spring ...along  
with the maypole, Beltane blazes ...and ...and (whispering) Morris
dancing.