tomatoes -- how long until fruit?

[DCMom]

Hi everybody! Forgive a couple newbie gardener questions, please!

I planted 6 tomato plants -- a variety of cherry tomatoes -- in pots exactly one month ago. It's my first time planting anything. I'm excited that there are now little yellow flowers on all of them now. A friend told me that I should pinch off these first flowers because the plants are too young right now to bear fruit and that they should grow bigger and stronger before I let the flowers go. But the plants seem OK to me -- they're all healthy looking. Should I heed my friend's advice or let them be?

Another question...now that I see flowers, how long will it be until they turn into tomatoes?

Thanks!

[shaywyn]

I say let them be. With cherry tomatoes, I would think you should be harvesting your first fruit in about a month from now, since they've been planted a month already. They were plants, not seeds, right? Good Luck and enjoy!

[lizabird]

I've never pinched off flowers from tomatoes, I just let 'em go and never had any problems.

[pampered_mom]

I was wondering the exact same thing myself. I had a few tomato plants that I had purchased as starter blocks. One of them had flowered before I had really moved them outside. I have just let the flowers be. The flower looks like it has dried up, but hasn't really turned into a tomato. Should I just leave it?

[DCMom]

Great -- I'm going to leave the tomato plants alone! Thanks for the advice.

[Skim]

I bought cherry tom starts with flowers, and I found my first tomatoes today! I wondered if it was early, but I jut guessed the plant knows how long it needs up here in Wisconsin zone 4 to produce a juicy little fruit