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dragonlady
- Newly Registered
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Wed May 30, 2007 3:18 pm
- Location: SOUTHWEST ONTARIO CANADA
lots of blooms....no tomatoes !!!
This is the third year I've tried growing tomatoes and I'm ready to throw in the towel. NO LUCK!!! This year I'm trying beefsteak. I've been picking out the suckers, and the plants are now 3 feet tall with a really strong main stem. I have a lot of flowers ( for about 3 weeks now) but nothing else is happening!! They get at least 6 hours of sunlight, and definitely enough water. I never had THIS problem before. What should I be doing?
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firefighter23
- Full Member
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2007 3:19 pm
- Location: WISCONSIN BABY!!
Well, I'm not an expert but I do research anything and everything that relates to a project that I'm going to try and accomplish... Beefsteak is one variety that I am growing this year and I do know that they are a very late maturer... 80-90 days to maturity means it will take a few weeks for the flowers to shrivel and turn to tomatoes(little green balls) I attached a couple of pics which I believe is the way the flowers look, the pics are the same plant, approxomitly 4 weeks apart...
1st- the buds appear
[img]https://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m77/firefighter4-23/Plants-June2021.jpg[/img]
2nd the flowers open:
[img]https://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m77/firefighter4-23/Plants-June2020.jpg[/img]
3rd flowers brown and turn into yound tomatoes:
[img]https://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m77/firefighter4-23/Plants-June2032.jpg[/img]
4th young tomato (center-kinda blurry):
[img]https://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m77/firefighter4-23/Plants-June2035.jpg[/img]
~FF23~
1st- the buds appear
[img]https://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m77/firefighter4-23/Plants-June2021.jpg[/img]
2nd the flowers open:
[img]https://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m77/firefighter4-23/Plants-June2020.jpg[/img]
3rd flowers brown and turn into yound tomatoes:
[img]https://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m77/firefighter4-23/Plants-June2032.jpg[/img]
4th young tomato (center-kinda blurry):
[img]https://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m77/firefighter4-23/Plants-June2035.jpg[/img]
~FF23~
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NeedSomeHelp
- Newly Registered
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Tue May 22, 2007 1:57 am
- Location: Zone 7
Do you fertilize the plants? If so, are you using a fertilizer with phosphorous? It could be that the soil is too nitrogen rich, which means the plant will grow but may hold off on putting on fruit.
Also, watch out for overwatering. There are many tomato growers who dry farm, that is, they NEVER water. I would definitely not water every day, and would not water any week where there is at least an inch of rain. The best way to check for moisture is to stick your finger a couple of inches in the ground beside the plant. If it is moist, I would not water. Also, be sure to mulch with straw or some other such common material. I prefer pine needles or regular farmer's hay.
If you have nice looking blooms, you should have tomatoes soon. As long as the blooms are not rotting, you should be fine.
Also, watch out for overwatering. There are many tomato growers who dry farm, that is, they NEVER water. I would definitely not water every day, and would not water any week where there is at least an inch of rain. The best way to check for moisture is to stick your finger a couple of inches in the ground beside the plant. If it is moist, I would not water. Also, be sure to mulch with straw or some other such common material. I prefer pine needles or regular farmer's hay.
If you have nice looking blooms, you should have tomatoes soon. As long as the blooms are not rotting, you should be fine.
one thing you might consider, are the flowers being pollinated? There is a growing problem here in the US with bees disappearing, partly, I believe, because of a virus of some sort, and partly because too many people have no idea what their bug spraying habits can do to a bee population.
If your neighbor desires a pretty lawn the ChemLawn truck visits could be doing in your bees. If you spray for one bug you could be killing the others.
if you have too much nitrogen one easy way to combat this is to spread a nice hefty layer of fresh cut grass around the base of each plant. Decaying green grass takes nitrogen out of the soil; fewer leaves, more fruit.
If your neighbor desires a pretty lawn the ChemLawn truck visits could be doing in your bees. If you spray for one bug you could be killing the others.
if you have too much nitrogen one easy way to combat this is to spread a nice hefty layer of fresh cut grass around the base of each plant. Decaying green grass takes nitrogen out of the soil; fewer leaves, more fruit.