Hi everyone! I live in Frankfurt, Germany - admittedly not the best climate for growing warm weather veggies. But, I'm giving it a shot. Problems so far - tomatoes have been green for about 3 weeks now, and eggplants develop flowers, but they droop and die before producing fruit. My basil, thyme and rosemary are thriving - the weather has been from the mid 60's to the mid 80's for the last month and I'm wondering if I should be worried about the tomatoes or just be patient (obviously, I'm new at this), and what's up with the eggplant.
Thanks for any advice!!
Eggplant and Tomatoes
The flowers may drop for at least three reasons: irregular watering, excessively high or low temperatures, or lack of pollination. Don't be too impatient either, the plants may yet be too young.
You didn't tell us the low temperatures. Below the mid50sF tomato flower tend to abort; above 95F as well.
If the other conditions are fine, you might try hand pollinating. Tomatoes are self pollinating with the help of vibrations (wind, bees). I flick the flower clusters gently with my finger. Eggplants can be pollinated with a small artist's brush twirled within the flower and between flowers.
Great advice marshseed - I think I will go flick my tomatoes.... what about cukes and zucchini types? do they need flicking? I have noticed that some of the flowers on my zucchini and cukes die off without producing a fruit. what's with that?