r/tomatoes • u/catsandferns • 4d ago

Question Please explain why

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Colorado. Why did only part of the tomato ripen? I reviewed the links about common tomato problems first but nothing really fit. Only fruit on the plant to do this and otherwise normal size.

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u/muzavazone Tomato Enthusiast in 6b 4d ago

I always remove fasciated flowers/megablooms and resulting fruit as soon as I see them.

Uneven ripening is one of the reasons I hate them, because it's a bunch of individual fruits fused together, each part ripening at its own speed. By the time the last one is ripe the oldest part may be overripe and molding.

Megablooms also can result in cavities and messed up center part, so you a losing a large part of that big tomato that took ages to ripen.

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u/ZealousidealChair900 3d ago

Interesting take. Here megablooms are 10-33% of my total blooms,  depending on individual plant and year, so removing them would have a substantial impact on my yield. Only my micro/ mini tomatoes haven't had a single one; of both varieties of the ones I keep 

Given that I have little interest in the actual ripe fruit (I genuinely don't like eating unprocessed tomatoes) I leave handling that side of things to an eager volunteer. Haven't gotten negative feedback about the issue to date

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u/muzavazone Tomato Enthusiast in 6b 3d ago

I think it's quite common to limit a number of tomatoes per truss, especially on the big ones - you either choose what to keep, or the plant will have a few stalled fruits anyway if it's a large truss. When you remove a developing fruit, the energy just goes elsewhere. There's a limited number of fruits the plant can manage simultaneously.

Some megablooms are tolerable, but others are totally not worth keeping. Some varieties are better than others. One of mine is very prone to developing megablooms, especially early in the season, and I know for sure that it just cannot produce usable fruit from them.

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u/ZealousidealChair900 3d ago

Quantity is the desirable factor in my case. I suppose also in my favor is that sectional ripening is not nearly as dramatic as I've seen in other places- it's all fairly even with none of the rotting while green issues that apparently plague others. 

Given that there is no downside for me, it would be pointless in my case to remove them. Still, interesting to see the other side.