I have never seen it before but have been given some beefsteak tomatoes, actual type unknown and these have normal flowers then on top of the truss, one huge flower which has different petals, looks rather like a small aster flower on top.
I am
A.. curious to see what develops
B.. wondering if I should take the flower off.
Would be grateful if any one could shed light on to what this is for me.
Waiting for the first post of the season about this is akin to waiting for the first cuckoo of spring ;D. I think some years ago I was the one asking this question. I can't remember what such flowers are called but what you'll get is a large, misshapen tomato. Beefsteaks are particularly prone and it's perfectly normal.
There's a particularly good explanation here
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tomato/msg0323461710112.html
OK so I am a cuckoo too. Your reply confirms what I suspected. Thanks.
The same things do come up every year. So others can now read the answer for the first time too.
I dare say that by cultivating oddities is often how new varieties are bred.
Since I have several of these plants (hate to throw anything away)
I am now going to take off the big ones on all the plants bar one and take off the normal flowers on that one. Just to suit my curiosity.
I leave 'em on, get some great shapes, some of mine have gone 'blind', too, just 2 flower stems at the end, still get some great tomatoes ;D
Was it bifurcation or am I thinking of something else? I find myself singing the song by the Eels, beautiful freak when looking at some of them...
cristate?
I've had cristate flowers, and toms, on Black Seaman.
:) I get them on Black Krim and Cherokee Purple toms / shades x
They're cristate or "king" flowers.... technically I think it's a sort of double flower. It will provide you with a large, untidy monster of a tomato with rather uneven ripening habits but they do taste good. I've had them on Jumbo Tom "aka Supersteak", Big Boy (surely the campest name anyone ever gave a tomato), Marmande and now I've got them on some Black Krim... it's a normal thing on beefsteaks, along with the annoying growth habit (bifurcating, blind stopping on a flower truss etc)..... The king fruit I had off a Jumbo TOm weighed in at over 2 lbs a few years ago, we cut it into 3 slices and it entirely filled the grill.... took an hour to grill properly (slowly to cook through before burning) ... was one of the most delicious tomatos I've ever eaten....
chrisc
Quote from: chriscross1966 on June 02, 2009, 13:06:37
Big Boy (surely the campest name anyone ever gave a tomato),
;D ;D ;D
Quote from: djbrenton on June 02, 2009, 07:15:35
Waiting for the first post of the season about this is akin to waiting for the first cuckoo of spring
First post about it was a few weeks ago... You must have missed it.
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,51901.0.html
No DjBrenton & 1066 I did not miss it . Like most people reading every thing there is, takes up more time than I have available.
I ask when I need to know, there is always at least one kindly soul available to give me an answer when I need it. Indeed I always try to reply whenever I can too.
Just a simple swap of knowledge. That is what it is all about.
Quotes from previous posts can be very helpful, thanks to all those who recalled them for me graciously. I am grateful and your help is appreciated.