Over a number of years I have noticed an occasional problem with some tomato plants. Every now and then they develop 3 or 4 leaves normally and then lose their growing point. There is no lead shoot to grow upwards. This phenomenon is known as
coming up BLIND. It is still not known for sure what causes these
blind tomato plants, there has been a little bit of research
here.
Some of the research suggests that environmental factors are to blame, this might be lack of watering, temperature or being pot bound. There is also certainly a genetic factor which determines which varieties are more prone to this problem. I have certainly found this to be the case, I have at least 6 plants which have suffered this blindness, all of which are a beefsteak variety called
Quebec. My own seed saved from a Canadian variety. These genetic problems are also more common in beefsteak varieties. The
'determinate' or bush varieties are also more prone than the
'inteterminate' or cordon varieties.
One possible solution is to look out for these
side shoots and if the plant comes up blind, then allow any side shoots developing to grow.
This 'indeterminate' variety here is
Sungold. You can see that I have pinched out the side shoots and the normal, healthy growing point here is fine.
So this side shoot could be allowed to grow up on one of my blind plants. I suspect many of you out there have also experienced these 'blind' plants?
2 Comments:
If you cut out the sideshoots you can root them in water or compost, so you could make a new plant to replace the blind one. I have not had any that are truly blind, but sometimes I get one whose growing-point splits into a Y shape, making it impossible to tell which is the main shoot.
I've never heard of blind tomato plants. Your plants look well on and hope you get a good crop. I've decided not to grow tomatoes this year as mine flopped in flavour last year.
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