1 foot tomato plants already having flowers bloom?

[hippygrassgirl]

this year I was busy moving into our new place when it was time to start my tomatoes, so I bought already started plants from the nursery, and I put them in the ground the other day, they are about 1 foot tall or less and have flowers already on them? arnt they way to short to grow tomatoes? are they stunted some how? or is this normal, I havnt experienced it before!

thanxs any help would be good

[TZ -OH6]

Tomatos can start blooming once they grow a certain number of leaves. The amount of nutrients and light determine how tall the plant will be at that point, and if it will decide to flower, so flowering when a foot high is not unusual. The nursery probably saved some money by not fertilizing much after a certain date.

[somegeek]

My starters pushed out blossoms and the seven plants are all shorter than a foot. I plucked the lowest blooms in favor of growth. Some of those blossoms may have produced fruit which would have sat on the soil.

As a rule of thumb stated by some, remove the first foot of foliage after the plant is 2-3ft tall. That foliage may not get a lot of sun, become leathery and provide a way for fungus and the like to get onto the foliage from the soil.

Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

[hippygrassgirl]

wow great answers!!! well I think I will pluck those flowers too, and I don't think your wrong, it sounds logical! ya since I wrote that the plant that hadd the flowers has grown another 2 inches tall in the middle, so I gave them all fertilizer!!

[Jessie8697]

plucking the early blooms tell the plant it needs to grow instead of producing fruit-- when your plants get about 3-4 feet tall, cut off the top of the plant to tell the plant hey its time to stop growing and start making some fruit

[hippygrassgirl]

Really? cuting the top wont kill it? I know other plants you can do that to, but tomatoes I didnt think were so durable to damage. well ill give it a try to one plant this year, and see what happens. thanxs for the advise.