Hi all,
My mother called from Oklahoma, frustrated to no end by what's happening to her tomatoes. I have absolutely NO idea what the perpetrator is...so hopefully you can shed some light on the issue.
About a week ago, her three tomato plants (two yellow pears and a "big rainbow") that she keeps in pots on the patio started setting blooms. Then, something started snapping the blooms off of the yellow pear 'maters through the night. My mother was furious, because the same thing happened last year and she never caught what was doing it, nor did she get any tomatoes out of the deal. The blooms are disappearing, leaving only the small stems attached to the larger stem that holds the cluster. In one or two instances, she has found the bloom, dropped into the pot, but in most cases, the bloom disappeared altogether.
Thinking it was birds, I told her to go out and get some bird netting and construct a tent around her tomatoes. She did so, and spent much of the afternoon rigging up a tent that, she said, was stretched at least two feet ABOVE the plants (so that a bird couldn't land on the netting and stick his beak through to the blossoms). The next morning, she went out and discovered that two more of the blossoms had been snapped off/eaten. Though neither of us thought it was a good idea, she sprayed the tomatoes with a conventional pesticide, thinking it might be some sort of insect doing the damage. The next morning she went out...and more blossoms were gone. Now, there were only few blossoms left. Sadly, she walked over to her flowerbeds and started dead heading her petunias. TWENTY MINUTES LATER, she turned around only to discover that while her back was turned, ANOTHER blossom had disappeared.
I told her that, as a last resort, she should move the pots to the front porch and see if the change of location deterred whatever was coming after the blossoms. It didn't. This morning, the remaining blossoms were gone, AND whatever it was had started in on the Big Rainbow. She said she saw a grasshopper hanging around a couple of times, but she wasn't sure if hoppers fed at night or if one could devour a tomato blossom in the short time she had her back turned. She's gone out with a flashlight at night and hasn't found anything.
She's incredibly depressed over the whole situation and I'm at my wit's end. Does ANYONE know what could be plucking the blossoms off her tomato plants?? There's NO damage to any other part of the plant--the leaves are all healthy with no visible signs of distress.
Please...any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Once we pinpoint what this thing might be, then possibly, we can prevent it from happening again. If it IS a grasshopper, is there anyway to keep them away?!?
Thanks so much for any help you can offer,
-Kelsie
Tomato Emergency
Kelsie, a bloom-eating varmint is a new one on me, but I had a similar issue last summer with an unknown critter eating my green tomatoes. Someone suggested I use a kitchen sifter and sift a wide swathe of baking flour in a circle around my plants. Then, look to see what kind of tracks get made through it. You may or may not be able to completely answer your question, but you'll know, for example, if it's something that has to go through the flour like a lizard or something, or over it like a bird or flying bug. In my case, it turned out to be ground squirrels--and I had been thinking lizards, but ruled them out because of the footprints in the flour.
Good luck--this has gotta be heartbreaking!
P.S. Once the flour has done its job, sweep it up pronto. If it gets wet you get paste... :( another lesson learned by sorry experience...
I ran a search and found this little tidbit that makes sense in relation to your Mom's problem:
In unfavorable weather--night temps below 55 or day temps above 95 with hot drying winds, tomatoes do not set and flowers drop. Problem disappears as weather improves.
If she has either of these weather conditions, this could be her problem. Hope this helps.
Moonpye, are you sure they aren't just falling off? During hot weather that's what happens to mine, they "drop" the blossoms that fail to pollinate. Some will drop at anything close to 90, and that has already happened here, and is happening again...
It will resolve with better weather, but I know that's not much help. If you post this on the Tomato Forum you'll get a better explanation, I think:)
Some varieties will drop at even lower temps. Not saying that this is what is happening, but temps can influence whether the blossom hangs on. I've had a ton drop off in the past 3 weeks. The stub is there just like something bit it off.
Yes! I looked up pictures of blossom-drop online, and that's EXACTLY what my mother's plants are doing. I assume that Oklahoma wind is just carrying the blossoms away, so she doesn't see them on the ground or in the pots.
Now that she knows what's happening, she's moved the tomatoes to a location where they'll get partial shade and little wind. I've also advised her to do one, weekly deep watering instead of a bunch of shallow daily waterings. If all else fails, I told her to go to the local garden store and buy some tomato plants listed as "Proven Oklahoma Producers." I'd imagine that those would be the plants acclimated to the Okie temps and wind.
Thanks all, for your help!
-Moonpye
Moonpye, the weekly watering won't work with containers. They will need daily, or even twice daily. The tomatoes don't have the root systems they do in the ground, and the reason for the deep watering is to get the roots to go down to the water table. Even in really big containers ( most successful container growers have told me that each plant needs a minimum 10 gallon pot) they need lots of water to keep them going strong.
Tomatoes are fine with full sun, it's heat, not light, that bothers them. Getting them out if the wind won't hurt, but won't help. A healthy pollinated blossom can hold on thru a real heavy wind, but if it's gonna drop, it's gonna drop, wind or no.
HTH
My mom just pointed out that she HAS to water the pots every day (I've done very little container gardening:). It may be that she's going to have to invest in some more heat tolerant varieties. What's odd to me is that none of my blossoms have dropped yet, and most are setting fruit (here in Paducah, KY). It makes me wonder if the fact that her pots are sitting on the patio is what's really, really heating things up for the 'maters.
Moonpye,
If they are sitting in the sun on the patio, they might very well be picking up extra heat reflected from the patio surface. The pots could also be absorbing heat from the patio too. I would move them from the patio to a cooler surface, grass, dirt, etc.
Karen
I agree 100% with glendalekid. The patio WILL heat the containers up more. Also, the roots don't have the protection they would have in the ground and will get hot. I tried raising some herbs in big containers on my patio last year for the butterflies. It was a total failure. Even watering twice a day I just couldn't give them enough to survive the awful heat. Does she have a tree like a nice big oak that she could set them under? Or a covered porch? I now have my herbs on my covered front porch on the east end and they are doing great.