understanding my tomato plant

[Anonymous]

I have one tomato plant and about 3 weeks ago the first green tomatoes came out and have steadily increased in size. There are 4 rather plum green tomatoes on it now -- yay!

However... I don't see any other tomatoes in the works. There were a lot of yellow blooms on it, but none of them have developed into tomatoes. I noticed something similar last year -- new tomatoes just didn't seem to form in the middle of July and August, and then I got a bunch in September/October. Is this typical? Any advice?

[Anonymous]

I wish I could help. First time tomato planter here. My tomatoes finally ripened last week. I was about to pick them off the plant then they exploded and rotted. Arghh. Since my plants are determinant and will not yeild any more this summer I guess I'll have to try again next summer!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish I could help. First time tomato planter here. My tomatoes finally ripened last week. I was about to pick them off the plant then they exploded and rotted. Arghh. Since my plants are determinant and will not yeild any more this summer I guess I'll have to try again next summer!

OP here. If it helps, I am no green thumb either. This is my 3rd season growing tomatoes and I am still learning. But I'm happy to say that I've had much better success with the cherry tomatoes this year. If you aren't growing cherry tomatoes, give them a try next year. The yield is quicker -- and greater in number.

Sorry to hear about your rotten tomatoes.

[Anonymous]

Some of our blooms are eaten by birds or fall off before the fruit can form. Odd year in the garden - almost too much water for some plants. And the warm winter means more birds, more rabbits, more squirrels.

[Anonymous]

The flowers have to get pollinated. Have you seen bees around your garden? If not, you can shake the flowers to get the pollen to where it needs to go, or you can use a paintbrush. Also, some tomatoes need to have their flowers pollinated before it gets too hot. It may just be too late and too hot now in the season for some tomatoes to start setting fruit. There are also many diseases and pests that can befall the tomato plant.

Folks at gardenweb can tell you all you need to know:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/tomato/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The flowers have to get pollinated. Have you seen bees around your garden? If not, you can shake the flowers to get the pollen to where it needs to go, or you can use a paintbrush. Also, some tomatoes need to have their flowers pollinated before it gets too hot. It may just be too late and too hot now in the season for some tomatoes to start setting fruit. There are also many diseases and pests that can befall the tomato plant.

Folks at gardenweb can tell you all you need to know:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/tomato/

I have not seen a ton of bees lately, but my cherry tomatoes are doing well, so there must have been some bees around. I'm going to try the paint brush method. I just hope I'm not too late.

p.s. my neighbor uses mosquito squad -- I'm not sure if that would affect the bee population or not.

[Anonymous]

Cherry tomatoes aren't so picky about temperature. But it's probably too hot and humid for regular heirloom tomatoes right now. The humidity prevents the pollen from getting to the stamen so the flowers can't pollinate correctly. You probably need to plant the tomatoes earlier in the season so they can set fruit before the heat of summer kicks in. Heat is great for ripening tomatoes on the vine, but it works against setting fruit.

[Anonymous]

Another vote that it's too hot at night (depending on where you live) for the tomatoes to set fruit right now.

You can also just give your tomato plants a gentle friendly shake, if you don't want to fool with the paint brush.

Yes, Mosquito Squad will affect the bees, too.z But tomatoes don't really need insects for pollination.

[Anonymous]

Gentle shakes work for me with my cherry tomatoes.

If you desperately want fruit you can pick when green and they'll ripen in a sunny window. I do this all the time, as my son is always picking green fruit because he can't help himself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The flowers have to get pollinated. Have you seen bees around your garden? If not, you can shake the flowers to get the pollen to where it needs to go, or you can use a paintbrush. Also, some tomatoes need to have their flowers pollinated before it gets too hot. It may just be too late and too hot now in the season for some tomatoes to start setting fruit. There are also many diseases and pests that can befall the tomato plant.

Folks at gardenweb can tell you all you need to know:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/tomato/

I have not seen a ton of bees lately, but my cherry tomatoes are doing well, so there must have been some bees around. I'm going to try the paint brush method. I just hope I'm not too late.

p.s. my neighbor uses mosquito squad -- I'm not sure if that would affect the bee population or not.

We use mosquito squad and have no issues with pollination on any of our plants. Plenty of bees to pollinate. We have had some plants be tastier to birds than others though. Cucumber production is off, for example. But this weekend might see a bumper tomato harvest!

[Anonymous]

OP here again. How are everyone else's tomato plants doing? About how many green ones do you have growing on each plant? (Have you had any red ones come in?) If yours are doing particularly well, please post advice that I can follow next year. Thanks!

(I'm asking specifically about big tomatoes -- not cherry tomatoes.)

[Anonymous]

I have some really big tomatoes on my plants but none have turned red yet. I'm hoping the hot weather helps turn them red.

I grew my plants from seed, but didn't plant the seedlings in the ground until April. I did cherry tomatoes and heirloom tomatoes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here again. How are everyone else's tomato plants doing? About how many green ones do you have growing on each plant? (Have you had any red ones come in?) If yours are doing particularly well, please post advice that I can follow next year. Thanks!

(I'm asking specifically about big tomatoes -- not cherry tomatoes.)

I planted roma, big boys, pink ladies, black krauss, indigo rose, and cherries this year.

The Indigo rose seem to be doing the best, they are a little more than double the size of cherries. I have maybe 10-15 per plant on those. The pink ladies are coming in second at 2-3 large green ones per plant. That's about average for the really big tomatoes I've found. Nothing at all ripe yet, we've usually been eating tomatoes for 2+ weeks already.

This is my 6th year planting tomatoes in this climate. It looks like it is going to be my worst yield yet. I grow from seed and I had terrible trouble getting the seeds to sprout this year and even if they did sprout many withered before I could transplant.

Last year I had about 70 plants, this year only 50. I usually have enough tomatoes to can sauce for the whole winter and for us to eat all summer long. With the way the plants are looking this year I will be lucky for us to have enough to eat fresh this year.

I'm also disappointed in my zucchinis and pumpkins. The pumpkin plants are small. Not vineing and leafing like they need to be at this point. The zucchini plants are large, but even with me helping the pollination process along I have yet to get a fruit to form.
So far my best crops this year seem to be my basil and my snap peas. The pole bean plants are growing nicely, but not a bean in sight yet.

[Anonymous]

Pollination is most likely your issue but you may also have been destined for a small yield by not pruning those first few yellow flowers when they appeared. I call these "sucker flowers" as they form fruit before the plant is truly ready and cheat you of a better yield. I always take off the first half dozen early-appearing flowers so that the plant is better equipped for fruit production.

Also, in general, our climate is best suited for grape and cherry tomatoes, not plants that yield giant fruit. It's just too hot and humid for them to ripen properly without splitting or succumbing to a mealy texture. However, cherry tomatoes will be sweet as candy and prodigious, especially in the beginning of the season. However, with that said, there is a lot that can be done with big green tomatoes (fried, pickled, even sauteed) so may be worth growing a few plants just to harvest them green.

BTW, we local gardeners REALLY need our own thread! Can we petition for this somehow?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pollination is most likely your issue but you may also have been destined for a small yield by not pruning those first few yellow flowers when they appeared. I call these "sucker flowers" as they form fruit before the plant is truly ready and cheat you of a better yield. I always take off the first half dozen early-appearing flowers so that the plant is better equipped for fruit production.

Also, in general, our climate is best suited for grape and cherry tomatoes, not plants that yield giant fruit. It's just too hot and humid for them to ripen properly without splitting or succumbing to a mealy texture. However, cherry tomatoes will be sweet as candy and prodigious, especially in the beginning of the season. However, with that said, there is a lot that can be done with big green tomatoes (fried, pickled, even sauteed) so may be worth growing a few plants just to harvest them green.

BTW, we local gardeners REALLY need our own thread! Can we petition for this somehow?

Yes! We need our own gardening forum!