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South Dakota

Does anyone have a link to a video showing how to hand pollinate a giant tomato mega? I am complete newbie and have failed a couple times so trying to get things right. Also, I have a first truss mega that just showed yellow petals today, how long before she is ripe for pollination? Thanks.
Also, I know there are several different pruning strategies, would you share how you do it?

5/18/2024 12:09:37 PM

Grittyville, WA

I'd like to hear from Dan on this one or see him do a video on it. Your flower might be ready to pollinate tomorrow? As they transition from light yellow to canary yellow they shed their pollen. I usually dont see much pollen drop from the megas. Definitely use any single blossoms you have to get some extra pollen. Not every blossom will shed pollen some are too young, too old, and maybe some just not in the mood (probably already shaken out by a bee or wind.)

As for pruning I prune off inward facing leaves, and I will dead end secondaries if I can see that they dont have a nice mega. Generally this limits them to a few good outward facing leaves, or whatever will capture extra sunlight but not make the plant overly dense.

[Last edit: 05/18/24 8:26:29 PM]

5/18/2024 8:02:26 PM

Grittyville, WA

Good megas on the secondaries can be rare, but thats precisely why I try to leave them on longer than most growers would, to boost my odds of seeing one, rather than pruning them all off before I can even see their potential. I'll let Dan chime in on how to prune for first truss megas. I haven't attempted any recently.

5/18/2024 8:20:49 PM