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I have 4 heirloom tomato plants. One of them is producing well. One has had a frew fruits start up, but blossom end rot ruined them. The blossoms after that have just dried up.
I seem to have fixed the blossom end rot by watering more and more regularly, and the new growth looks much better.
But the other two of my plants have just been growing like mad, but no or just a few blossoms and they don't fruit.
Anything I can do to get my plants to be more than ornamental?
:)
Thanks!
I seem to have fixed the blossom end rot by watering more and more regularly, and the new growth looks much better.
But the other two of my plants have just been growing like mad, but no or just a few blossoms and they don't fruit.
Anything I can do to get my plants to be more than ornamental?
:)
Thanks!
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Los Angeles
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Re: No tomato blossoms
Thu, August 10, 2006 - 1:47 PMAre they in containers or in the ground?
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Re: No tomato blossoms
Thu, August 10, 2006 - 1:59 PMare you adding any kind of organic compost/fertilizer to the soil? -
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Re: No tomato blossoms
Thu, August 10, 2006 - 3:18 PMcontainers.
I've been doing some Neptune's Harvest on the foliage, but didn't want to overdo it. I also have some organic "tomato food" granules, but I haven't added that since I potted them a couple months ago.
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Re: No tomato blossoms
Thu, August 10, 2006 - 3:57 PMI have the same issue, and Michael recently told me that they need phosph...damn was it phosphorous, or phosphate? Anyway, it's the 2nd one of the 3 that's listed on fertiliser ingredients. They need it to kick start fruiting. Nitrogen won't help--in fact, it could discourage fruiting and encourage leaves only. -
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Re: No tomato blossoms
Thu, August 10, 2006 - 7:09 PMNPK,
a higher concentration of the P (phosphorous) will aid in fruiting
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Re: No tomato blossoms
Thu, August 10, 2006 - 7:33 PMHmnn.. it's a puzzle. I have tomatoes on the deck in pots and they are growing, blooming and fruiting like gangbusters. I used el cheapo potting soil, and no fertilizer.
Every morning, if it didn't rain a lot the day before, I give each pot a gallon of water. That's it. It's been very hot and we haven't had much rain. I do have some yellowing of the lower leaves, but other than that I've had a good year. I grew them from seeds and transplanted them into pots when they were big enough. They were outside on their own as soon as the frost threat was over.
I know it's been really hot in LA, but do the tomatoes that aren't doing well get 6 hours of sun a day where they are? What is the difference between the "living conditions" of the plant that is doing well and the rest? If one plant is doing well and the rest aren't and they all are living with the same level of light & water and were planted at the same time, then I haven't a clue!
Wish I could be more help....
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Re: No tomato blossoms
Thu, August 10, 2006 - 7:54 PMHello,
I had a like problem, and my neighbor told me about a product that you spray on the plant that is absorbed through the leaves....any gardening center should have it, or so I am told.
It adds calcium , which I am told is indicated by these conditions.
Good luck, Wayne
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Re: No tomato blossoms
Fri, August 11, 2006 - 2:28 PMHonestly, I had the same problem with heirloom tomatoes specifically. I got about four fruits the year I planted them. If someone has the key to growing them well I'd love to hear it. Now I plant the standard garden center stuff 'cause at least it fruits. But the heirlooms are so much more interesting. -
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Re: No tomato blossoms
Fri, August 11, 2006 - 5:23 PMAha! Mine are heirlooms. I have never had a problem before with toms, so that's an added slant on it. -
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Re: No tomato blossoms
Fri, August 11, 2006 - 5:50 PMI got way into heirlooms..then way out of them because they are trickier, for various reasons, and tomatos are tricky enough.
They tend to be way longer season than newer varieties. that's likely why they have so few blossoms.
As gardeners, we vote every year with our spring seed buying dollar, and we kinda voted heirlooms out of the cataloges this way, and growing heirlooms is a reminder of this sometimes. The heirlooms are suited for the environments they come from more, i think, and less adapted generally. Brandywines, for instance, collect water in their tops and rot in wet environments. Many are more susceptible to various wilts and blights, which they then spread to other varieties.
Still, people ask for them by name at the market sometimes. I can't blame them, as some of them do taste way better in my opinion. But they only taste better if you manage to grow them. -
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Re: No tomato blossoms
Sat, August 12, 2006 - 7:42 AMI think I'd try heirlooms again if I lived somewhere with a long enough growing season (not Colorado) or if I had a greenhouse. And I'd also plant some other varieties at the same time.
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Re: No tomato blossoms
Fri, August 11, 2006 - 3:14 PMa few tomato tips:
Poor fruiting is sometimes due to a low pH in the soil... which is supposedly easier to correct safely before they are planted.
With high temperatures reach over 9o° for many days in a row, i've heard it can mess up the plants from fruiting as they should.
Blossom-end rot is often due to a lack of calcium
(too much fertilizer can muck up the plants ability to absorb calcium). Putting mulch (grass clipppings or other) into the soil can help the roots absorb calcium.
i've seen a hormone spray at a garden shop that claims to increase blooms, yet i've never tried it. -
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Re: No tomato blossoms
Sat, August 12, 2006 - 3:18 PMMost likely the issue would come down to soil (Nutrients, type of soil, etc.) or moisture. Too much moisture can be a problem for tomatoes, and of course so can too little. Doing them in containers is usually a good thing because it allows the soil to heat up to favorable temperatures. One of the problems though is that the soil can get too hot.
Nutrients to aid in tomato bloom would be phosphorous, calcium and magnesium. A good organic way to get this is to grind up egg shells the best you can and put them in the bottom of the hole the plant will go in.
Christina, I'd like to know how far apart the tomatoes are and what their directional alignments are during the day? Sometimes a plant on the west side of the group can suffer more than the others.
Tomatoes, in all reality, are finicky. Some do well, some don't. Not every variety is suited to variations in climate. Heirlooms can be problematic simply because it comes down to genetic variability. That's why when doing heirlooms it's always best to start alot of them at once because it will raise the odds of getting a few good ones, but you'll have to weed out the not so great ones.
Tomatoes do do best at a pH between 5.0 and around 6.5. If you're going to use containers try using ProMix for your soil. It's a high quality potting mix that is better suited for tomatoes. You'll have to add fertilizer but that's pretty typical because the average tomato is a heavy feeder. Best of luck. -
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Re: No tomato blossoms
Mon, August 14, 2006 - 8:59 AMWow, thanks Sean. This is really good info to have.
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Re: No tomato blossoms
Mon, August 14, 2006 - 8:36 AMHi,
I posted the other day but remembered this.....the older people in my famly claim that the puase of the moon will cause this problem so check the date you planted the tomaoes against the date in the farmers almanac, when they say you should have planted, and see if you planted on or in the right phase of the moon.
Wayne -
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Re: No tomato blossoms
Mon, August 14, 2006 - 11:55 AMYeah, like Wayne says their are alot of references to planting with moon phases. Anything above ground, i.e. not root crops, should be planted on the new moon. And root crops should be planted on the full moon. I think that's the order.
Supposedly for above ground crops the increase of light reflected from the moon as the moon cycle works towards full helps their intial growth to get established.
I'm wondering what effect Mars will have on harvests and growth this year because Mars is at it's closest to Earth on August 27. Can't wait to see it as big as the full moon rising on the 27th.
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Re: No tomato blossoms
Thu, August 17, 2006 - 1:26 PMThanks guys!
I scratched in and watered some tomato food with phosphoous, calcium, etc. in it.
When I watered a day later I had some blossoms! :)
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