This year some of my tomatoes are developing particularly strange stems. All my tomatoes are grafted to rootstocks and are grown single stem in case that has anything to do with it. Basically the stems of a few of my tomatoes are getting really wide in one direction although relatively narrow the other way, almost as if they are flattening out. The plants are vigorous and growing well. I am seeing a particularly large number of megablooms as well in case that tells us anything. I've seen growth like this occasionally before, but this seems a particularly dramatic expression of whatever this growth habit is. It is just some of my tomatoes and mostly in one row which is mostly dark tomatoes. The tomato stem in the picture is from a Cherokee Purple and is currently about 2 feet tall. Is this anything I should worry about? Does it tell me anything about my soil, the amount of watering or anything else?

Similar to fused stems.

Happens to mine too, non-grafted.

Called fasciation [mention]zendog[/mention], not really anything to worry about, plant will do fine. Number of potential causes.

I had an example years ago,but the plant didn't live the entire season.
I wanted to dig it up before frost hit and grow it indoors.
That was before I knew about cloning.
I could have taken cuttings to make more plants of the same type mutation.

No worries. It's not that uncommon and seems to happen with CP frequently. Just let it grow and enjoy your tomatoes.

you would think it would be more productive than a regular stem.

Many of my plants have the fasciated stems this year too. They are all in different locations so I have to think it's environmental/weather influence rather than soil or care etc. So far all plants are extremely healthy so I am just leaving them to be what will be. A strange year for sure in so many ways.

What fasciation can do.

slugworth wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2020 4:34 pm you would think it would be more productive than a regular stem.

Megablooms, which can produce larger than average fruits, are common on trusses from such branches. I believe people usually pick off their megablooms, though (for the want of smoother, more symmetric fruit), unfortunately, which means people have probably been unintentionally selecting against them being as great as they could be. With more attention put toward them, I think they could be pollinated more easily/fully and potentially even have more shapely fruits as a result.

I've been trying to select for fruits that set on megablooms, recently. I had some pretty big ones last year. Had they been fully/properly pollinated, the fruits probably would have been record-breakers, or close, considering the length of their blossom scars. As is, they were big, but not giant.

One of those was a near-multiflora beefsteak with a megabloom on a truss of many flowers. I think it got maybe nine fruits (all of appreciable size) on that truss (with most of the flowers not producing), potentially more. Sure, it's not a hundred large tomatoes, but nine large fruits on one truss is still pretty good.

I don't see any megablooms to match the size of those two last year, yet, but it's probably a little early to tell how big they'll get.

My big belgian pink has a double stem near the top and has 3 fused strands that lead to blossoms.
Sister plant next to it is normal.