Julie,

It is a decision that I think only you can make because you're the one who is looking at the plant and we cannot see it, so only you can weigh all the possibilities and decide what you want to do. Over the years, you'll learn what works for you in situations like this.

I've had this happen before, and the manner in which I've handled it has depended on what kind of split it was, what time of the year it was, how close the fruit was to breaking color, etc.

If the remaining 3 tomatoes were close to that variety's typical mature size and might start breaking color any day now, I've leave the branch attached (well, half-attached) to the vine and harvest each tomato as soon as it breaks color. Then I'd put the tomatoes on the counter out of direct sunlight and let them finish ripening indoors.

Sometimes I've used Band-aids with small plants or Ace bandages or stretchy surveyor's type to try to put a branch back together again or to keep a truss attached to a plant until its fuit matures. It isn't that hard to hold the two parts of a split branch or truss together and wrap something around them to hold them together. You might be surprised at how often this actually works. It would help to tie the repaired branch to the tomato cage, trellis, stake, etc.--whatever you are using to support the plant. They will keep the wind from blowing it around and breaking it again.

If it is early in the season and the fruit are smallish, I'll just prune off the broken part and move on since there's lots of time for additional blooms and fruit set.

Some folks have had luck with cutting the branch with the truss and sticking it in a vase of water with perhaps a tiny bit of water soluable fertilizer or liquid seaweed added to it. The fruit sometimes will survive and color up fine.

If the fruit is too young or too small to be near maturity and likely won't color up, you can harvest the green fruit and have fried green tomatoes.

I always carry scissors or pruners with me when I harvest so I can snip off a fruit that does not want to separate from the plant easily. Some tomatoes have been genetically improved to make the fruit easier to tug off the plant (it involves a gene from Solanum cheesemaniae and Dr. Rick was involved in making it happen) but most of the ones I grow apparently don't have that genetic improvement and sometimes you have to tug so hard that you can break a branch or tear a whole truss off a plant. This seems especially true with deformed, catfaced fruit formed from fused blossoms.

If you decide to bandage your broken stem, use something stretchy that will allow the branch to enlarge if you succeed.

If you have to pick the fruit and you're pretty sure they are not mature enough to color up on their own, put them in a paper bag with an apple. The ethylene gas from the apple might color them up. That does not necessarily mean they are ripe and will taste good, but they'll look ripe. Most supermarket tomatoes are picked green because they ship better that way and have a longer shelf life before they spoil, and ethylene gas is used to redden them but it doesn't actually ripen them. This is why grocery store tomatoes taste the way they do.

Good luck with your CPs.

Dawn

Hi Dawn, thanks for answering. They are big, but still green. I think they have to be close to ripening since they were on the first bunch of tomatoes, though.

I will go out in the morning and see if I can support the stem, it is in a difficult place to get to, in the bottom middle of the plant. The ripe tomato came off easily, but it was holding up the rest of the branch because of how it was sitting in the crook of the plant. It's a pretty short stem so I might not be able to tie it to anything, but you gave me a lot of good ideas to try.

At least the plant has a lot more tomatoes on it, so I guess it's not that big a deal, I just hate to lose any:).

Julie, You're welcome. I know. It is hard to lose any, especially when the crop is just starting to ripen and you've waited so long for it.

Surprisingly, broken branches that are still attached to the plant with some tissue can be quite resilient. I've tied some of them back up to cages without even doctoring up the wound and have had them continue to grow and produce right along with the rest of the plant. You just never know how they'll do, but it is always worth giving them a chance and you really have nothing to lose by trying.

Dawn

A couple of weeks ago when we had hail and high winds, a little Tumbling Tom in a container broke over the side of the container and probably less than half the stem was attached. It was heavy and probably had 20 green cherry tomatoes. I just moved it over so it had a little support from the pot and left it. The foliage began to die, but the fruit began to ripen. I pull ripe fruit off for a snack when I am watering the containers. If it were later in the season and I had satisfied my tomato cravings, I probably would have chopped it of, but not this early.

Julie I agree with all Dawn and Soonergrandmom have said. I tend to let a plant fend for itself somewhat. I usually don't remove a stem with sizable fruit on it if the stem is firmly attached at least a 1/3 of the way. Another determining factor is the size of the stem. In the hail two weeks ago I have the top of a Juane Flammee' plant bent in half and partially broke. It may of broke off but fell on some support from another stem and the side of the cage. I just left it alone. It is mending and doing fine. If I had straightened and attempted to re enforce it I may of done more harm than good. It is ofter hard to decide what the best method is. I would imagine your fruit will mature fine. They may not grow much if any more but will mature and at least you will get to eat them. But again without seeing them it is hard to say. Nothing ventured is nothing gained. Jay

Thanks, everyone.

Well, I couldn't really figure out how to fix or tie up the broken stem. So I just put an empty six-pack planter underneath the tomatoes so they weren't pulling down on that stem so much and wouldn't sit on the ground. I think they will do ok like that.