Help on tomatoes

[Doreen]

I have HUGE plants, great vines.

No tomatoes. They should be producing fruit in 6-8 weeks and I have had nothing yet and they were planted in March.

They are green, beautiful strong. A few flower buds start then nothing.
I have them in various locations in various sun, shaded, direct.

but no fruit.

what's up? any ideas

[Linda]

Found this in a Q&A site. We had the same thing happen last year. My guess is maybe the high temps, or too much fertilizer??


Most tomatoes take anywhere from 30-60 days to mature from seed, and several environmental factors can affect their ability to set fruit. Heat is one those factors. Once daytime temperatures reach into the 90's and nighttime temperatures hover near the mid 70's, tomato plants have trouble setting fruit because high temperatures render the pollen sterile. There are a couple of strategies to combat this problem. The first is to grow varieties that mature earlier, before the Oklahoma summer heat sets in. Smaller tomato varieties (e.g. cherry) usually need less time to mature, while larger tomato varieties take longer. The smaller varieties are also more likely to set fruit better in hot weather. You could also buy established seedlings or start yours indoors several weeks before transplanting in order to give them a jump on the season. If your plants still haven't set fruit by the time the intense heat sets in, try to keep your plants healthy and consistently watered and once the temperatures drop, they should resume setting fruit. Other factors that prevent tomatoes from setting fruit include low temperatures (below 50ºF), a lack of sunlight (less than 8-10 hours), inconsistent watering, damage from pests (e.g. thrips), or too much nitrogen fertilizer.

[Doreen]

Thanks Linda.

I am going to bet it is the temps. Same dirt/ soil mix can produce maters til Christmas.
I put up some old bamboo shades for such a strong sun to be eliminated and I have a misting system that will drop temps 20*... Mid day when it is a scorcher I am going to mist them and see if that helps.

If it was too strong of nitrogen, I read where egg shells and coffee grounds can balance that, so I have bee throwing those in the ground and still nothing, so IT has to be the heat.

Oh yea, I sprinkled/ dusted for bugs too. BUT there wasn't enough a tomato for the tomato worm to eat.

[Linda]

My guess is still the heat. I think it was year before last that we had 6 ft. plus tomato plants and lots of small tomatoes, but I never did get enough to can. Then a fungus hit all of our garden and when he was done ranting and raving about it he yanked everything out.

Misting them is probably a good idea. It would be a shame to lose them when they're doing so well.

Are they, or have they blossomed?? They should have by now since you planted so long ago.

[Doreen]

tons of blossoms, come and go. I have been accusing chickens or bugs or birds of eating them, but from what I am reading it is the heat.

Lucky they are cheap at the store now, and since I have been dealing with these plants this long I will keep going and have fresh ones in the fall I hope.

[Linda]

I mentioned your tomato problem to hubby this morning, and also what I had found and posted.

He said your plants are doing what ours did last year. He too felt it was the heat.

The neighbor has given us a few tomatoes this year. We had been buying them once the tomato scare passed.

Maybe you'll get them come fall, but that's a long wait for them.

[Doreen]

I waited a long time and now it is in the 30's at night, I might not see too many. I have about 40 green ones, I should pick and have fried green tomatoes.

[Linda]

That's what the neighbor did. Did you pick them??

[phatcats]

When we cut ours down I pulled a bunch of green ones off. They sat in a bag for a couple of days until I got some bread crumbs, I was making fried green tomatoes the next night and when I looked into the bag they were red! Imagine that.

[Doreen]

My sister picks all her green ones in the fall in Canada and they ripen on her windowsills for the next month or so.

I still have them on the vines and they are still growing, not great. A little chilly for them at 40*F at night, the vines look horrible but the fruit is still hanging in there.

[Linda]

JoAnne, I didn't know they'd ripen that fast, but glad they did.


Doreen, If they're hanging on maybe they'll still ripen. The weather you're getting has to warm up pretty soon. It's not normally that cold there is it??

[phatcats]

But I didn't want them to ripen, I wanted fried green tomatoes. ;D

[Doreen]

Ugly ugly vines, but they are growing. I don't get it.