I started my tomatoes from seed about 7 weeks ago. They are now between 14 and 18 inches tall and seem strong. I've noticed this week that they are beginning to grow flower buds. I haven't transplanted them to my garden yet (I plan to plant them next weekend). Should I remove the buds? Do they need the energy to develop the roots instead?
Thanks in advance.
Yes, remove the buds. You do this with mostly everything that you plant out so they get a good growth on their roots.
Don't worry about them. If the plant is strong enough to support them it will, if not the blossoms will drop.
============ I've done it both ways, seemed to make no difference. The taller ones though were in 1/2 gallon milk cartons and had a deep root system come transplant time.
You could always experiment, take some flowers off one, leave them on another. You could even try plant using a trench method for some, (typical) vertical plating in another.
I agree with "leave 'em alone". As was said, it the plant can handle them, it will, if it can't it'll drop 'em.
I personally remove them, since I bury my stems gradually with mulch to grow more roots, and I've no use for a bunch of tomatoes at the bottem of the stem. It doesn't seem to matter in terms of strength of plant per se, but I just do it so I can bury my stems as the plant gets taller.
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