TommyMacLuckie

I recently harvested some Orinoco that had the flower still on and one of them weighed almost 200 lbs. With exception to one that broke off, they all had their flowers still on (there are 2 more I couldn't get to). Based on that it doesn't matter if you cut it off after the male fruit appears in terms of how big the fruit gets, it's going to get as big as it does regardless of the flower being on the stalk. In regard to leaving the bloom on, the bees etc like the flowers that continue to come out as the purple thing descends.