I have one plant which I'm thinking is Orange Russian 117 that really had a problem with its growing tip. I would describe it as an "ingrown growing tip" named after the condition a nail can get. It may have a fused blossom too, I'll check tomorrow to be sure.

It's up to you if you want to pinch it off, and that depends on your strategy. I personally love fused blossoms because they sometimes make funky looking fruits and for that reason never pinch them, plus they produce the heaviest fused fruits.

There is no "determinate-mode" in my opinion though it is conceivable the growing tip could self-top what started as the main stem. You still have a sucker in your picture right below which will grow normally so you could just let the plant naturally develop its next stem and train that one as the main if necessary.

But the pictures are a littly blurry for me to see exactly what is going on and it does seem to me that the main growing tip is there (It could be a leaf though). The fused blossom is sometimes pinched by some people that don't want a gnarly fruit, or other people say it demands too much energy for the plant and remove it under that pretext. I find that the plant does well all on its own and try not to be too controlling. But I'm very easy to please receiving tomatoes, never complain about the shape, no matter what it looks like you'll never know once it's sliced up or in you mouth. If you keep it, be sure to pollinate some more from other flowers/or vibrate it extra to provide for the fused blossoms' extra pollen needs. Whatever you do it will probably be fine, though so don't sweat it!

Looks OK to me! You'll get a multiheart (clickable link);-)

PC

Sure. Nothing to be gained by leaving it on and new stem growth should develop from the node below it. But what future growth the plant may have may well depend on whatever happened to it in the attic.

Dave

Mega blooms are common early in the season with some varieties more than others. But bloom at the end of stem is normally a determinant habit. Now wait and see what happens with other stems/branches. If they also end with blooms then the plant is a determinant. This can be due to crossing or mutation.
Just My Opinion.

Sey

Every year I notice a few indet plants during the early season that get one of these, though they do seem more common on some dwarf project indets. I leave them alone, because all will continue to produce side suckers which will take over the upward growth. If you are a heavy pruner, then you may want to remove it so you can choose earlier which side stem you want to continue as the main stem.

Thanks all. PC that Orange Russian 117 is beautiful!! Think I will leave it and see what happens. I have never had a mega bloom in all my years growing, so it will be kind of fun to see what I get! This plant started out strange with some gnarly leaves that looked exactly like 2,4D damage at seedling stage, but it was in our second floor store room (attic) where I start the seeds and had them under lights so it wasn't herbicide damage. But one branch certainly had something. Dave, It will be interesting to see how this plant does. Sey, there is another tiny blossom cluster below this one that is normal for an indeterminate so I'm pretty sure it's not a cross. DDsack, I don't prune so I will just let the plant do it's thing.

Thanks for all the information,

Jennie

Jennie,

If your plant looks as if it has herbicide damage (and it's growing in your attic), I would suspect the growing medium. Sometimes it is possible to get a bag with questionable contents and I'm guessing that it's because it contains something that was sprayed before being recycled. Have you grown anything else in the same stuff? A quick test would be to sprout a bean and see how it looks after growing in the same medium.

Linda

jennie - I have no idea where you are located as you don't provide that info but if herbicide use is prevalent in your location this time of year then it can easily get into the average attic. Attics have all sorts of air exchange vents built into them. It is the function of an attic. So if there was any herbicide use in your area the plants could easily have been exposed.

As for leaving the fused bloom on the plant, that's your choice of course just as long as you accept the additional stress effect it will have on the plant.

Dave

Hi Linda, I started them all in the jiffy pellets, then transplanted to ProMix BX. No others were affected and only two leaves on the Russian 117. Maybe they were just deformed. Now the plant is doing fine. Sorry Dave, I tried to change my user name when everything switched over to Houzz and was never successful. Then I decided I would sign my posts Jennie, 7b NC but keep forgetting to do that. I will remember from now on. A question though, why would a mega bloom place anymore stress on the plant than if the blossoms did not fuse and 2 or 3 tomatoes were forming from the separate blossoms?

Jennie 7b NC

Hi Jennie in NC

Maybe you're just a worried Mom {G}. I know I was last year when one of my PL plants began to look a bit deformed. I'm glad that I didn't panic as it turned out to be nothing. I know that I obsess too much over my babies {LOL}.

I pinch out the fused blossoms because I don't like huge great gnarly-looking tomatoes, but some people do, so more power to them!

Linda

<A question though, why would a mega bloom place anymore stress on the plant than if the blossoms did not fuse and 2 or 3 tomatoes were forming from the separate blossoms?>

Normal growth vs. abnormal growth. My arthritic knees working in the garden vs. your healthy ones ones working in the garden. Big difference. :)

In this case the central stem would have kept growing, providing circulation of water and nutrients. Now it can't.

All you have to do to get your zone location added like the rest of us is to go to your profile page here - just click on your name - and add it in the slot provided. From then on it is automatic.

Dave

Linda, I do fuss over the tomatoes! :-) I got my user name changed. I think I was doing it wrong before! Thanks for the infor Dave.

Jennie