Question: cherry tomatoes with no flowers

Kira · Tue May 17, 2011 9:39 am

Hello all,

I'm new here. I think this looks like an excellent forum, and I'm SO happy to finally have a little garden going this summer. I usually end up waiting too long, or like one year, I over did it and couldn't manage everything I'd planted.

Anyway, I bought the last cherry tomato plant from the grocery store. It has 5 or 6 large clusters of tomatoes on it, but no flowers. In fact, it's been pinched quite a bit and I don't even see anywhere with new leaves - the stems are just cut off. I hadn't noticed this when I bought the plant. It's fairly large and thick.

Will it make flowers somehow? Is there something I need to do? How can I help it to produce more during the summer and not just what it has on it now?

Also, it has huge leaves - much bigger and different (flat) than normal tomato leaves. Should I clip them to give the tomatoes more sun? They seem to be ripening just fine, so I feel I should leave them on there.

Also, last question, can I clip a branch with a cluster on it, or is it best to take off each tomato? I don't want to hurt the plant, but I love those cluster tomatoes you can buy in the store on the branch.

Thank you for any information you might have. I can provide pictures if needed. It's nice to be here : )

~Kira

Rogue11 · Tue May 17, 2011 9:56 am

Welcome to the forum. A picture really might help.
When you say the stems are just cut off do you mean at the tip? Is the plant producing suckers (new growth in the elbows where the leaves meet the stem).
What kind of a Cherry tomato it is? different tomatoes can have different shaped leaves.

TZ -OH6 · Tue May 17, 2011 11:38 am

Do not clip leaves. Leaves need sun, fruits do not.

If your plant is a determinant variety (fruits terminate the top of a branch) and it has been clipped it probably will not grow any more. If it is indeterminant (as most cherries are) it should start putting out suckers from the leaf axils and they will flower and fruit eventually.

If it has odd leaves it sounds like a potato-leafed variety, which is rare for a cherry tomato.