Thread: early tomatoes
View Single Post
Old January 12, 2018   #9
MickyT
Tomatovillian™
 
MickyT's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: North Vancouver, BC, Canada
Posts: 46
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by carolyn137 View Post
I can't conjure up specific folks, and don't have time to do a search here or via Google, but I can give you a general answer which I hope will help.

There are two stages of growth/development in the tomato cycle.First is called the vegetative phase where new growth results in roots and stems and foliage.

The sexual phase is next which results in blossom formation followed,usually, by Pollen from the anthers pollenizing the stigma,which results in ovules in the tomato ovary being fertilized which forms a baby fruit if you will.

Energy for the plant to do all of this is derived from photosynthesis in the leaves and involves mainly ATP and GTP.

It takes more energy to sustain sexual than vegetative growth.It takes at least 3 to 4 days in one cycle.

So if you take off blossoms,you save energy.

So for most folks taking off blossoms with most varieties does not lead to earlier fruits since the next cycle starts in just 3-4 days..

If I goofed above please let me know here in this thread since I have been typing fast to get some bills paid,property tax bill, and some others,ready to go out tomorrow.

Carolyn
Thanks Carolyn for that great explanation, which of course leads me to more questions. Does this cycle continue all season and is it regular (3 days sexual then 3 days vegetative)? Does the amount of sunlight affect the length of the phases? When fruits have already set, do they grow and ripen during only one of these phases or simultaneously while the plant continues to cycle through them?
MickyT is offline   Reply With Quote