Dumb Tomato Question

Hi guys,

I kind of have a silly tomato question. I have a healthy, lush tomato plant that has 4-5 yellow flowers on it. I very much want to coax these flowers into fruit, but I have read conflicting advice on how to encourage this. Some places say to fertilize the plant, some say to hold off (to some degree) on both watering and fertilizing. I certainly don't want to burn anything, but I also want to get the tomato party started.

Thanks in advance.

If it's green and healthy with flower buds I wouldn't fertilize it. Some say to fertilize when the tomatoes are the size of marbles but I believe in most cases less fertilizer is best. Too much fertilizer will cause a strong bush but little fruit. I have seen tomatoes that "grew in the wild" with no fertilizer or water and still produced a bunch of tomatoes. They are much more resilient than we give them credit for and are capable of producing without too much adieu.

Thanks for the advice. I suppose just watering them like normal would be ok?

My advise would be to never withold water from tomato plants - they don't like wet feet, but a constant supply of water will keep them growing nicely. I fertilize mine when the transplants first go into the soil, then when tomatoes start to set, and then after I have picked the first ripened fruit. They need less, rather than more fertilizer. One thing tomatoes seem to need in abundance is calcium - I give mine bone meal, crab meal and dolomite lime when first setting out transplants.

Our local nursery gave al alternative for calcium. Save all your (and neighbors) eggshells then whirl them with water in the blender or food processor and add them to soil. I have also read that magnesium is good for them (makes sense since when we take calcium, magnesium is good to add). I have some good organic fertilizer from EB Stone that has the bone/blood meal in most of their fertilizers (veggies, citrus, palms, starter) etc, but the problem is that the bone and blood meal are attractants for the dogs to dig in the soil!

Tomatoes need about an inch of water a week. Large quantities of water after dry spells can cause your tomatoes to crack open,so it's probably not a good idea to withhold water too long. I don't remember the exact cause of the 'burst'.
Tomatoes are generally self-pollinating and I think the only thing that really affects the pollination period is high temps. I've heard of ways to encourage pollination like gently shaking the plant and pollinating yourself, but I don't think fertlizer and water will 'directly' help the blooms you do have. Don't worry about it too much, you'll have plenty of tomatoes in no time.

they need phos. for fruit energy, nitrogen for flower energy so if u fertilize make sure the ratio is weighted to phos. ive read tapping the stalk or electric tooth brushes help pollinate.

Thanks for the info everyone.