A Mega blossom, or fasciation, is the fusing of two or more parts of the structure of a plant. This can happen in the stem, blossom and fruit of the plant. Many gardeners refer to the resulting fruit (if any) as cat-faced when referring to a tomato. Fasciation can occur in any plant; I’ve personally grown fasciated summer squash, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and carrot.
What causes a plant to create mega-blossoms?
-herbicide damage
-genetic mutation
-insect damage
-extreme environment conditions
-disease
-a random occurrence with no obvious cause
Should I Snip Off the Fasciated Blossom?
Up to you. I generally leave mega-blossoms. I love to see what nature is going to do with all that bloom. Sometimes, the bloom will die and fall off the plant, doing nothing of interest. Other times, I might end up with a funky double fruit or, even better, a extra large and lumpy tomato. I like guessing how many tomatoes are in the family of this monster I’ve just grown.
When Would you Snip off a Mega Blossom?
If you are trying to grow a lot of tomatoes, you may want to snip off that mutant bloom, to prevent the plant from directing energy to a potentially very large fruit at the expense of more fruit production. Perhaps you want to grow a record breaking tomato without hoping a mega-blossom will get it done. If you want pretty tomatoes that are visually true to type, you may want to clip that mega blossom.
I love mega-blossom and find them fascinating, yet they aren’t winning any beauty contests. My largest tomatoes have generally come from fasciated blooms.
Play HOW MANY MATERS with me!
Last (for now) but definitely not least!
I get such a kick out of the fruit of a mega-blossom. I doubt I am the only one!
The End