Tomatoes Dropping Blossoms

[Fig3825]

I read the sticky on the first page of this (Tomato) forum and I read that high temps can cause stress and blossom drop. Quite a few blossoms have dropped from several of my tomato plants.

[url=https://www.weather.com/weather/monthly/22312?month=-1]Is this most likely the reason?[/url]

22 of 31 days in July were OVER 90F...

If so, what can I do to help them? I have no means of providing shade aside from buying a shade cloth or something. Should I bother or wait and see what happens? This is the status of the plants as of now, about 3-4' tall and averaging about 4-5 blossom groupings per plant aside from the plants on the far left, which had to be replanted a bit later:

[img]https://www.jtnewton.com/Images/Garden/07312011002.jpg[/img]

[stella1751]

I had this happen a lot with the variety I grew last year. Up here, we can get below 55 at night and are frequently above 85 during the day. Those blasted tomatoes just kept dropping their blossoms until August rolled around. Then they produced like mad. Being patient is about the only thing you can do. That and choosing a different variety next year. They're not all like that

[tmstclaire]

And I'm experiencing the same thing except for my Better Boy plant that has one tomato on it. I'm going to try a heat resistant variety this year. It is good to know that the plants will likely produce after the heat wave.

[Fig3825]

Yes, that is comforting - assuming the heatwave ends soon...

My 10 day forecast shows 10 out of the next 10 days 89F or above...

[mattie g]

I don't think I've had new fruiting in the last two or three weeks, and I blame it all on the heat.

Also...don't put stock in a 10-day temp forecast. Or any 10-day forecast, for that matter.

[rainbowgardener]

Shade cloth isn't that expensive or you can use some kind of open weave fabric liner from a fabric store for even less. It might really make a difference. If you have the shade cloth, then you can mist the cloth providing evaporative cooling as well.

And of course plenty of water and nutrients. I don't know if you started your tomatoes late (not just the smaller ones), but they are looking less tall and bushy than I would expect tomatoes at this point in the season. In this kind of heat, tomato plants need a deep soaking maybe as much as every few days (water more deeply not more often!).

[Fig3825]

I started them quite late. I planted them normal time for this area and then went overboard with some homemade pesticide and killed all my pests...and all my plants also. So I had to start over and everything in the garden aside from one surviving summer squash was replanted about 4-6 weeks after they should have been.

[Fig3825]

Just an update. The temps have been in the mid to high 80's for about a week now and my tomatoes took this opportunity to start fruiting. As of yesterday evening, among my 7 plants that include beefsteak, roma and jubilee, I have about 10 tiny tomatoes that popped out. They are about 3/4" in diameter, presently.

Of my 2 chocolate cherries, one has a bunch with a group of about 8 little cherries that popped in the last few days.

Thinks are looking up!

I also have some female flowers on my butternut squash that appear to be on their way as well and are not yellowing immediately and subsequently browning into 'too hot' oblivion.

[rainbowgardener]

Yay!! And you have a long growing season yet! Look for hendi_alex's posts on succession planting. He's another 300 mi or so south of you, but he starts new tomatoes and other plants to finish out the season with, in case some of the spring planted ones are getting a bit tired.

[soil]

I cant remember the last day it was below 90. had to be early june.

[Fig3825]

I am actually planning on some fall crops. I'm envisioning an entire bed of lettuce planted right along the soaker line so I can ignore it until I start harvesting. I learned a lot this year thus far.

I might try butternuts again as I've read they are a good fall crop. Definately lettuce. Probably won't mess with tomatoes. I can plant lime beans and snow peas as well as I'm all setup to do so. I think I want to give brussels sprouts a shot also. I think I can accommodate all of this in just two beds. But to keep things easy, I may use a single bed for the butternuts knowing they vine out 10' or more. Might be able to keep them in the bed if I plant 4 running parallel on the 10' dimension of the bed.

What is the deadline for starting fall crops? I know lettuce can just go and go until the first frost, but I've never done fall crops.

I think the season here is going to be hot for a while and then get cold really quickly. Like SoCal, we're still showing some 90F+ days coming down the pipe on the 15 day forecast. Of the last 11 days, 7 of them have been 93 or above. Of the next 15, only two are showing 90F+ and those are suspect because they are pretty far out and we all know that the weather folks are just shamen who really use nothing but WAGs to predict weather.