short, stumpy and tons of closed up flowers?

[redirtgirl]

Hello forum, first post.   I have 2 plants in a bounty (elite artisan) - an heirloom cherry and a micro tom on day 40.  The plants are like 4 inches tall and have a ton of closed up flowers.  I haven't had to prune because they are so tiny and not really spreading. 

 I have 2 instincts:  1 to cut of the flowers to encourage more growth and 2, there is something wrong with my nitrogen?   I am using AG nutes - if nitrogen is a problem, how do you fix it?  I am looking forward to learning.  Thank you

[Shawn]

Hello and Welcome!

I am going to defer to those who do grow and know more about tomatoes.  I am sure someone will help, I am just sorry it can not e me.  I am still new at growing them myself

[clumsythumbs]

If you are able to post photos, I think it may help the tomato experts weigh in. I know this is your first post; you can look at the photo repository instructions if want to take a photo and post. 

That being said, I am currently growing a tomato that is on about day 35 and I do not think it is much taller than 4 or 5" and has no flowers. I did grow the heirloom cherry once and it never got super tall (maybe 9" total?). If you want to the plant to grow larger, you can pinch off some buds to encourage growth before it sets fruit. How many "branches" does it have (if you count up the main stem)? If you look at the garden patches and compare growth to other people at 40ish days, that may help compare.

[fldave]

I have two Bounty Elites with three AG Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes in each.  The top of the tallest plant is 6.5 inches and the rest are around six inches.  A photo of the tallest one when it was 90 days old is attached.  My guess is that the 50 watt lights on the Bounty Elite keep the plant from trying to reach higher for sunshine.  I have seen photos of these in the 60 watt Farm units and they are about the same height.  The photos that I have seen of them in 20 watt Harvest units seem to show them stretching higher towards the light but I could be wrong as I never tried to grow them them in a Harvest. As I recall, I had lots of closed-up buds at week six.

[Sher]

redirtgirl, i doubt that there is anything wrong with your nutrients.  my Aerogarden tomatoes all start flowering when they are tiny. The plant will continue to grow. I would not cut off the flowers.

If the top of the plant is very dense and tightly curled together, I just cut away leaves and maybe branches that are keeping light and air from reaching the interior of the "ball." Otherwise they can mildew from transpiration moisture that can't evaporate.

[shevraeth]

I had heirloom cherry tomatoes in a farm unit all of 2020 (basically planted on Christmas and culled them a couple of weeks ago) and that's about as tall as they were when they started flowering. They maybe got to 7 inches in total height before I culled them. They had some spread, but vertical height was tiny.

[Shawn]

How are the tomatoes doing?  Still producing like mad?

[redirtgirl]

Sorry to not respond sooner  -  I didn't know how to
post images....   I really appreciate the responses.  I just let them be and it looks like I can harvest some.  This is SO much fun.  

[Sher]

Wow, redirtgirl! What a beautiful harvest!

[Shawn]

Wow, I would say you have the knack for this.  Look at all of them.  Wonderful job.

[redirtgirl]

I seriously....seriously...did not do a single thing to these plants but feed them AG nutes, shake them sometimes and keep the water levels up. Either I have magic water or this is beginners luck!

[Shawn]

Maybe a bit of both

[Sher]

Feb 21, 2021 17:41:02 GMT -5 redirtgirl said:

I seriously....seriously...did not do a single thing to these plants but feed them AG nutes, shake them sometimes and keep the water levels up. Either I have magic water or this is beginners luck!

Or the magic of Aerogardening!