Fused Blossoms

seaeagle · May 1, 2017

I removed about 7 or 8 fused blossoms from my tomato plants yesterday.All of the Cherokee Purples and Greens and all the the dark tomatoes had them.I think Earl's Faux and Beefsteak too.

Just wondering if anyone knew why this happens.It happens to often at the beginning to be a anomaly.It is obviously something that is meant to happen.

I always assume the plant knows best but in this case I nip them.I have a wild guess that maybe its has something to do with pollination.Maybe a trait from when tomatoes were bee pollinated or something.Maybe putting out huge blossom to alert the bees

SteveP · May 1, 2017

I always leave mine and get the monster tomatoes they produce. I have even heard of people who try to grow the HUGE tomatoes will remove all of the blossoms except a fused one and try to grow one tomato on a plant. I don't do that, but I do think it is fun to have a couple of monsters in the garden. My largest is only 2#.

KarenO · May 1, 2017

It seems to happen most often with the early blooms. Beefsteaks are most likely to have compound blossoms and some varieties more than others so genetics plays a role. It happens more in spring and especially when the weather is cool.
KarenO

**carolyn137** · May 1, 2017

Also known as megablooms, and here's a link with lots of info,many threads from here at Tomatville.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=megablooms+tomato

And the best book on megablooms by Marv Meissner,a retired cardiologist whom I know very well.He used to come here to Tville,but interest was limited so he stayed mainly at those sites which featured large vegetables.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q...+size+tomatoes

Carolyn

PureHarvest · May 1, 2017

If I recall it is mostly the flower buds being exposed to night temps below 55. This is while the tissue for the buds are still forming inside the stem, meaning that the exposure happened before you even have the flowers externally present to see. Might explain why you see these on early flowers when the temps are lower.
Genetics plays a part too as mentioned.

b54red · May 1, 2017

I usually clip them off if I have a good fruit set because the tomatoes they produce though usually larger than normal are not great slicers and are just plain messy to deal with. They frequently ripen very unevenly so one or two lobes will be over ripe and another may be still green. Of course I miss a few and I also like to get an occasional monster for showing off.

Bill

Nematode · May 1, 2017

Agree wit PH cool temps while bud is forming.

Gardeneer · May 1, 2017

I used to get quite a few of them up in PNW. but down here in NC i have not noticed any or maybe I am not paying much attention to it. We didn't have cool weather here. Maybe that is why the incident of megabloom/cat face is rare here. Today , May 1st I picked 4 ripe tomatoes. No cool weather here.

seaeagle · May 1, 2017

Sort of found the answer. It is called a fasciated blossom. Seems like it is just a gene common in beefsteak tomatoes.

Fasciation in tomato flowers was described first in the 1920’s; a 1948 paper from the National Institutes of Health described the genetics of fasciated beefsteak tomatoes. In botany, fasciation is an event out of the ordinary, yet somewhat common.

https://www.unce.unr.edu/areas/south...Fasciation.pdf

seaeagle · May 2, 2017

After having more time to read about fasciation, seems everyone was right about cold stress or any sort of stress possibly being a factor. Also mentioned was promoting fast growth of the plant which I think we all do.

But the main reason is genetics where some sort of mutation occurred. Thanks for all the replies. It helped in the search.

Edit to say if Carolyn's links pointed to fasciation I didn't see it because I have Google blocked in my hosts file

OzoneNY · May 2, 2017

I have about a dozen of these megablooms on my Cherokee Purple right now, but none of the other varieties right next to it has even one.

**carolyn137** · May 2, 2017

Quote:

Originally Posted by seaeagle

After having more time to read about fasciation, seems everyone was right about cold stress or any sort of stress possibly being a factor. Also mentioned was promoting fast growth of the plant which I think we all do.

But the main reason is genetics where some sort of mutation occurred. Thanks for all the replies. It helped in the search.

Edit to say if Carolyn's links pointed to fasciation I didn't see it because I have Google blocked in my hosts file

The last link I put up was the result of a Google search, not google itself and there were many links listed,here's one from Tville, which I know you can read.

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=32478

Carolyn

Gardeneer · May 2, 2017

Quote:

Originally Posted by OzoneNY

I have about a dozen of these megablooms on my Cherokee Purple right now, but none of the other varieties right next to it has even one.

Last year all my CP tomatoes were from megabloom and few cat faced

Hudson_WY · May 3, 2017

Cold weather would certainly explain why we have a lot of fused blossoms on our tomato plants! I don't mind though - I never pinch them. If we vibrate the blossoms we usually get a nice shaped large tomato. A lot of them are boat shaped too. They still slice up nice for a sandwich!

Nice shaped CP - Gardeneer - you should win something for that!

zipcode · May 3, 2017

I'm not convinced the cold theory is foolproof. Sure, certain conditions accentuate the problem, like humidity, but the first bloom is a megabloom on certain varieties no matter what.
I had late plants that spent their life in great temperatures and they all had it.

May 1, 2017	#1
seaeagle Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: virginia Posts: 733	Fused Blossoms I removed about 7 or 8 fused blossoms from my tomato plants yesterday.All of the Cherokee Purples and Greens and all the the dark tomatoes had them.I think Earl's Faux and Beefsteak too. Just wondering if anyone knew why this happens.It happens to often at the beginning to be a anomaly.It is obviously something that is meant to happen. I always assume the plant knows best but in this case I nip them.I have a wild guess that maybe its has something to do with pollination.Maybe a trait from when tomatoes were bee pollinated or something.Maybe putting out huge blossom to alert the bees

May 1, 2017	#4
carolyn137 Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a Posts: 21,169	Also known as megablooms, and here's a link with lots of info,many threads from here at Tomatville. https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=megablooms+tomato And the best book on megablooms by Marv Meissner,a retired cardiologist whom I know very well.He used to come here to Tville,but interest was limited so he stayed mainly at those sites which featured large vegetables. https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q...+size+tomatoes Carolyn __________________ Carolyn

May 1, 2017	#8
Gardeneer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: NC - zone 8a - heat zone 7 Posts: 4,909	I used to get quite a few of them up in PNW. but down here in NC i have not noticed any or maybe I am not paying much attention to it. We didn't have cool weather here. Maybe that is why the incident of megabloom/cat face is rare here. Today , May 1st I picked 4 ripe tomatoes. No cool weather here. __________________ Gardeneer Happy Gardening !

May 2, 2017	#10
seaeagle Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: virginia Posts: 733	After having more time to read about fasciation, seems everyone was right about cold stress or any sort of stress possibly being a factor. Also mentioned was promoting fast growth of the plant which I think we all do. But the main reason is genetics where some sort of mutation occurred. Thanks for all the replies. It helped in the search. Edit to say if Carolyn's links pointed to fasciation I didn't see it because I have Google blocked in my hosts file Last edited by seaeagle; May 2, 2017 at 11:05 AM.

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May 1, 2017	#2
SteveP Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Joplin MO Posts: 1,398	I always leave mine and get the monster tomatoes they produce. I have even heard of people who try to grow the HUGE tomatoes will remove all of the blossoms except a fused one and try to grow one tomato on a plant. I don't do that, but I do think it is fun to have a couple of monsters in the garden. My largest is only 2#.

May 1, 2017	#3
KarenO Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Vancouver Island Posts: 5,922	It seems to happen most often with the early blooms. Beefsteaks are most likely to have compound blossoms and some varieties more than others so genetics plays a role. It happens more in spring and especially when the weather is cool. KarenO

May 1, 2017	#5
PureHarvest Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Mid-Atlantic right on the line of Zone 7a and 7b Posts: 1,369	If I recall it is mostly the flower buds being exposed to night temps below 55. This is while the tissue for the buds are still forming inside the stem, meaning that the exposure happened before you even have the flowers externally present to see. Might explain why you see these on early flowers when the temps are lower. Genetics plays a part too as mentioned.

May 1, 2017	#6
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	I usually clip them off if I have a good fruit set because the tomatoes they produce though usually larger than normal are not great slicers and are just plain messy to deal with. They frequently ripen very unevenly so one or two lobes will be over ripe and another may be still green. Of course I miss a few and I also like to get an occasional monster for showing off. Bill

May 1, 2017	#7
Nematode Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: massachusetts Posts: 1,710	Agree wit PH cool temps while bud is forming.

May 2, 2017	#11
OzoneNY Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: Frisco Texas Posts: 390	I have about a dozen of these megablooms on my Cherokee Purple right now, but none of the other varieties right next to it has even one.

May 3, 2017	#15
zipcode Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Romania/Germany , z 4-6 Posts: 1,582	I'm not convinced the cold theory is foolproof. Sure, certain conditions accentuate the problem, like humidity, but the first bloom is a megabloom on certain varieties no matter what. I had late plants that spent their life in great temperatures and they all had it.