I have two Better Boy tomato plants in large pots (one plant per pot) The plants are getting big and I've had yellow flowers appear but they are shrivelling up and falling off. No fruit yet. What am I doing wrong? I planted them around Memorial Day. I'm really new at this!
I water every day that's hot and check the soil on the days that aren't to see if it's moist. I started the plants in Miracle Grow soil. The plants are facing South and get plenty of sun. Any advice would be appreciated!
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
blossom drop
It's called blossom drop. If you type that into the search box at the upper left part of the page, you will find a lot of info about it. But the basic thing is that it is a reaction to stress -- the plant drops the blossoms to focus on survival. The stress can be from a variety of causes-- temperatures too low or too high, humidity too low or too high, too much or too little nitrogen, lack of water. Early in the season blossom drop often relates to night time temps going below 55. This point in the season, it may have to do with daytime temps much above 85 degrees. If that is the case you might try putting some row cover/ shade cloth over them to filter the sun and then mist the row cloth for a little evaporative cooling.
In future years, if you are in a really hot summer area, you might look for heat tolerant varieties. They usually have names like sunmaster and solar set.
In future years, if you are in a really hot summer area, you might look for heat tolerant varieties. They usually have names like sunmaster and solar set.