Why is it my potted tomatos are not producing much fruit? The plants are four feet or so tall and bushy, two plants finally have two tomatos the third none. I started them inside under a grow light in March and moved them outside when the weather permitted.
I've got to figure this out so that I can grow them under my light in the winter.
Do you know what variety of tomatoes you have? Some varieties perform better in containers than others do.
What kind of soil did you plant them in? Container grown plants must have a potting mixture that drains rapidly, to prevent root rot. Garden soil is not usually a good choice for container-grown plants of any kind, because it's too heavy.
How large are the containers they're in? Tomatoes tend to have large root systems, so need large containers to do really well.
How much light do your plants get? They love the sun!
Do you use a fertilizer that's high in nitrogen? The nitrogen content will be represented by the first number on the package. High nitrogen fertilizers produce a lot of greenery at the expense of flowers. You must have flowers in order to have fruit.
If your plants are flowering well, are the flowers being pollinated? Tomatoes are self-fertile, but they still sometimes benefit from a little help in the pollination department. If you don't have a lot of bee activity around your plants, you may need to encourage them. I gently shake my plants, just to be doubly certain they get pollinated.
What kind of soil did you plant them in? Container grown plants must have a potting mixture that drains rapidly, to prevent root rot. Garden soil is not usually a good choice for container-grown plants of any kind, because it's too heavy.
How large are the containers they're in? Tomatoes tend to have large root systems, so need large containers to do really well.
How much light do your plants get? They love the sun!
Do you use a fertilizer that's high in nitrogen? The nitrogen content will be represented by the first number on the package. High nitrogen fertilizers produce a lot of greenery at the expense of flowers. You must have flowers in order to have fruit.
If your plants are flowering well, are the flowers being pollinated? Tomatoes are self-fertile, but they still sometimes benefit from a little help in the pollination department. If you don't have a lot of bee activity around your plants, you may need to encourage them. I gently shake my plants, just to be doubly certain they get pollinated.
The tomatos are Big Beefsteak a burpee seed.Kisal wrote:Do you know what variety of tomatoes you have? Some varieties perform better in containers than others do.
What kind of soil did you plant them in? Container grown plants must have a potting mixture that drains rapidly, to prevent root rot. Garden soil is not usually a good choice for container-grown plants of any kind, because it's too heavy.
How large are the containers they're in? Tomatoes tend to have large root systems, so need large containers to do really well.
How much light do your plants get? They love the sun!
Do you use a fertilizer that's high in nitrogen? The nitrogen content will be represented by the first number on the package. High nitrogen fertilizers produce a lot of greenery at the expense of flowers. You must have flowers in order to have fruit.
If your plants are flowering well, are the flowers being pollinated? Tomatoes are self-fertile, but they still sometimes benefit from a little help in the pollination department. If you don't have a lot of bee activity around your plants, you may need to encourage them. I gently shake my plants, just to be doubly certain they get pollinated.
The soil is a potting soil and top soil mix I took from a planter we used for flowers last year. I stuffed some vermiculite into it and put it in pots that are approximately 12 inch diameter, (hmm. been a long time..diameter is measured across not around I hope). No fertilizer, but I was using water from my fish tank to water them,, high nitrate.. about .4 ppm, (tap water is .1ppm by law). I stopped that when I heard high nitrate is the cause of flowers falling off which I had a lot of.
There are holes in the bottom of the planters so any excess water should be draining out.
They get full sun about 90% of the day.
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rainbowgardener
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Agree with Kisal, 12" pot is way too small for a tomato plant and it's probably getting pretty root bound in there. I'd get a 5 gallon bucket and repot it.
Otherwise the question is are they not producing any flowers or are they producing flowers, but not setting fruit? The latter is called blossom drop. You could type that in to the search box in the upper left of most pages and find a lot of info about that.
Otherwise the question is are they not producing any flowers or are they producing flowers, but not setting fruit? The latter is called blossom drop. You could type that in to the search box in the upper left of most pages and find a lot of info about that.