I have some beautiful heirloom tomato plants in my garden, all different varieties. They look beautiful and have nice blossoms, but the blossoms won't set into fruit. In fact, I don't even see any pollen on any of the flowers or when I brushed up against them. My plants are sucker free, and I've only fertilized them twice with Peters tomato food. What's going on?
Can anyone help? Thanks!
Has it been hot, cold, rainy? Weather affects pollination. It sometimes helps to go out and lightly brush the flower stems with you hand. Tomatoes self pollinate for the most part but if it's too hot the pollen gets too sticky to drop down or other weather factors can make it difficult for the flower to pollinate. I'm sure more expert southern growers can give you some hints. Your plants should pollinate in time.
This message was edited May 8, 2012 10:52 PM
Give your plants a good shake everyday. That may help the pollination. Also, are the blooms dropping off or just no evidence of tomatoes.
David
Patience, grasshopper.
The shaking seemed to work! I googled the shaking thing and found someone who said they use an electric toothbrush to vibrate the plant flowers.
I tried that and I now have 8 little baby tomato fruits on Aunt Ginny's Purple, Giant Belgium, and Abe Lincoln.
Amazing wonders! Thanks for the tips, folks!
