Tomatoes are not producing fruit Update!!!

[natural_mama89]

Our tomato plants are huge, almost as tall as DP, with tons of flowers but no tomatoes yet. We tried some organic fertilizer and they still are not tomato-ing. What can I do? Most people I know already have tomatoes. We would like to avoid chemical fertilizers please help!

We have tomatoes!!!!!!!

[Owen'nZoe]

Since you've said that you are getting tons of blossoms but no fruit, my best guess would be that you have a pollination problem, not a nutrient deficiency. Do you notice pollinating insects in your yard, or not really? You could try to hand pollinate for awhile and see if that helps.

[natural_mama89]

yes I've seen bees on the flowers. Everything else we are growing is doing fine. How does one hand pollinate?

[KweenKrunch]

This can happen when there is too much nitrogen in the soil. Have you been fertilizing or adding manure/compost?

[natural_mama89]

yes we have been fertilizing. We initially used manure and compost and i just got some organic blood meal and bone meal fertilizer. I can't remove the nitrogen if there is too much though, so what do I do?

[KweenKrunch]

There's nothing you can do at this point - it's late in the season. I would continue to water well and see what happens. Tomatoes *are* heavy feeders, but too much of a good thing promotes lush foliage and little fruit production.

[natural_mama89]

Ah, I see. That's lame. guess there is always next year.

[savithny]

What have temperatures been like?

Tomatoes will wind-pollinate, they don't *need* bees.

However, they will only set fruit successfully if the temperature is at least in the 60s at night, and they also won't set fruit if it is over about 90-ish.

We've having some similar problems with some of our tomato types - it's been really cool here in the NE and DH's breeding field is having a lot of "Blossom drop" because of it.

[natural_mama89]

I'm pretty sure it has been between those temperatures. This season it took a while to get warm and stay that way though. Most people's tomatoes in the area were later than normal, but we still have none. Also, they are heirlooms. Does that make a difference? I just don't understand why everything is producing wonderfully BUT the tomatoes. I've heard trimming can help. How much would I trim off?

[savithny]

You can often get your soil analyzed by county extension agents to find out whether you need to fertilize or not.

My mom had a great book the last time I visited (and of course I can't remember the name) that talked about the *dangers* of overfertilizing, even with compost.

This article might help:
http://www.kdcomm.net/~tomato/Tomato/blossom.htm

[Owen'nZoe]

Originally Posted by KweenKrunch

This can happen when there is too much nitrogen in the soil. Have you been fertilizing or adding manure/compost?

When there is too much nitrogen, does the tomato plant still produce flowers? Or does it just produce a ton of foliage?

[natural_mama89]

bump: