My tomato plant isn't growing tomatos.

[bonsai-connor]

Hi
I have an Aztec Tomato plant. It's now about 1 1/2 feet tall. I thought that maybe it just needed to get bigger to grow tomatos but than I went to a nursery and see one 6 inches tall with a little green tomato about the size of a quarter growing. Why isn't mine?
thanks

[Liska]

Hi
I have an Aztec Tomato plant. It's now about 1 1/2 feet tall. I thought that maybe it just needed to get bigger to grow tomatos but than I went to a nursery and see one 6 inches tall with a little green tomato about the size of a quarter growing. Why isn't mine?
thanks

I think it's a matter of paitence =) I have four tomato plants in the ground; every one of them has small buds of some sort, tomato or growth I'm not sure, but the shortest plant has 9 baby tomatoes on them. Just across the flower bed, is a tomato plant another foot and a half taller than it, with no flowers and no tomatoes yet. Each plant develops at it's own pace, so just keep an eye out on it!

Does it have any flowers or tiny green buds at all?

[bonsai-connor]

It doesn't have anything but leaves...

[pizzarrhea]

how long have you had it?

[bonsai-connor]

Lets see... I think I've been growing it since January. I started to put it outside once it got warmer.

[rainbowgardener]

Definitely should have been making tomatoes by now. I started mine from seed indoors in February and they have nearly ripe tomatoes - but the plants are also a lot bigger than yours. To have been growing since Jan, it hasn't been thriving real well.

You would need to tell us more about the conditions. Are they in full sun? What is the soil like? Are they in the ground or raised beds or containers? How are you watering, fertilizing? What have your temps been like lately ?etc.

Pictures always help. Instructions for posting them are here:

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3724

[bonsai-connor]

They are in full sun. the soil is just regular potting soil. it is in a large flower pot. I water every 3 or so days but just a little. I haven't watered it in a few days because we just got 3 full days of rain. but the temps (except for the rainy days) have been up to 60-80. I live in Colorado so I'm wondering, could the elevation be a factor?

[Mac-7]

I am having the same problem with my tomato plants.

With 15 Brandywine tomato plants in the ground, all are 24" to 48" tall.

They were late to flower but finally did begin to bloom 10 to 14 days ago.

But so far none are producing tomatoes, even the tiny little beginnings of tomatoes.

I think something is wrong but really have no idea what it can be.

Some people suggest that the heat is causing them not to set fruit because tomatoes do not fruit well at 90 degrees or higher and here in Dallas it has been above that temp for weeks.

So I have no advice to give you except to wait as see what happens.

[rainbowgardener]

They are in full sun. the soil is just regular potting soil. it is in a large flower pot. I water every 3 or so days but just a little. I haven't watered it in a few days because we just got 3 full days of rain. but the temps (except for the rainy days) have been up to 60-80. I live in Colorado so I'm wondering, could the elevation be a factor?

Just trying to think of things... except when you are getting rain like that, watering "a little" every 3 days, does not sound like enough for tomatoes in containers in full sun. Tomatoes need a lot of water and tomatoes in containers dry out a LOT faster than tomatoes in the ground. I quit trying to grow tomatoes in containers, because in my experience in the heat of the summer (which it does not sound like you are having), they needed to be watered twice a day and I couldn't keep that together. I would water your tomatoes a lot (until water runs freely out the drain holes). Then check and see. When the soil is dry a couple inches down, do it again.

But then when you are watering frequently you are flushing nutrients out of the soil. So you need to keep fertilizing too. Your potting soil probably had Miracle Grow or something like that in it, but that gets washed out/ used up fairly quickly. If you haven't been fertilizing since Jan, that would be part of the problem.

[jmoore]

What size is the container?
Too much fertilizer at planting?
Too hot where you are?

[gixxerific]

I am with rainbowgardener on this watering every 3 day's is NOT good. especially if they are in black pots. I water mine every day at least once more if they need it. You should fertilize more often as well, but I'm not a big fertilizer kind of guy some times I go over board than other times I totally don't fertilize for a long while if ever. Wrong or not that is me.

My potted tom's are doing superb though and I will do it again for sure. Though I think cherry's and dwarfs are better for container planting.

I'm seconding the heavy watering and some fertilizer maybe after the first heavy watering. Fertilizer washes out of potted plant a lot faster that in the ground plants.

Another thing if using fertilizer use something with a higher second number, the Phosphorus. Too much nitrogen will make leafy plants with little flowering.

Good luck

Oh yeah give them some shade if it is around 90 degrees.