Lol! ...Just laughing at how you say it, not at "what" you tell... Might be a different type?

Didn't your Mother ever tell you, "Some people blossom before others, but you'll catch up." LOL! I think the same goes for plants!

Don't feel bad. If your plants are bigger, they'll probably produce more fruit in the long run.

Maybe a little too much attention.

My neighbor(aka Mr. 16-16-16 because he dumps it on just about everything) has plants that are two feet tall and not one tomato on them.

My plants are maybe a foot tall and I am a little concerned that they can not support the amount of fruit that has set.

Every year he ends up with an enormous amount of tomatoes that taste similar to water ballons but not quite as good.

This year I started program of foliar feeding. I think they like it very much.

Cheers

Three possibilities I can think of. (1) Different varieties -- your neighbor has earlier fruiting varieties. (2) Your neighbor has stressed plants. Plants that are under stress often fruit early -- it might be their last chance to reproduce. If this is it, you can expect your plants to do better in the long run. (3) You have been over fertilizing your plants. Or, of course, it could be a combination of all three and perhaps other factors that don't come to mind.

Carol,

I don't think it's type because she got some of her plants from me. You know... You go to the nursery to get a few of each plant, but you end up with 9 packs...

Regarless, I got mine in the ground 3 weeks before she got her's in and she has fruit.. Me, just flowers now on my Tom plants. Her peppers are way ahead too. The few I have have just come up, here's look to be a week or more ahead.

The difference is that her plants look like those nursery plants that are still sitting in the containers hoping for someone to pick them up. Mine are like 100 year oak trees compared to them. It's the same with the peppers. Here's have few leaves and are skinny. Mine are bushy and dark, dark green.

BTW, I planted in clay with tons of compost mixed in. Here's are planted on a few inches of top soil. She didn't even till it into the clay. When we water, she'll get water sitting on top, where my dirt is soaking it in. I can water for hours without issue so I don't have to water everyday. She has to water a bit everyday.

Dang, it's depressing when stressed out plants produce better then well established plants.

I just noticed.. In my last post Here's should have been her's.

I with there was an edit option..

BTW, if you want to compare her plants to mine in terms of people. Her plants are like kids having kids; fruits everywhere. Mine seem like secure people in their 40's with a good income trying to have kids and going to a fertility clinic.

Maybe you could ask your neighbor what it is she is doing for her tomatoes. Maybe she has some secret. If she does, please share it!

crabjoe,

You didn't say if you have been fertilizing... if so, with what exactly?

Violet,

I haven't used any fertilizer in my garden at this time because I loaded it with compost before planting. The only thing I was planning on using was some Epsom salt if the plants looked a little down, but they are all dark green and growing pretty well.

Do you think I should be feeding my garden? I do have some Miracle Grow I bought for my Peach tree, so I can feed the garden instead of the tree if need be. My Peach tree has stunted growth compared to my neighbors, so I picked some up to try and nurse it along, but havn't used any yet.

Sometimes it's just one of those mysteries. Last year, I fed my pepper plants with good soil and organic matter and got zilch. At the same time, someone I knew planted in that 99cent topsoil you get at the box stores that turns into adobe when it dries after a rain... and he got a TON of peppers.

Is your neighbor getting better sun on her plants?

I dunno, Joe. I tend to think that her's are producing because they are stressed as described above, but that is just a guess from what I have read.

I can certainly understand the frustration, but you have some tomato cages to let them grow in and perhaps you will need all the support you can get to handle yours when they load up. A number of things can affect those things, sun might be one of the most obvious if yours are shaded or something. If you have not fertilized, just used compost, I surely would not think that they have enough nitrogen to cause a problem. In my garden, I laid the compost and composted horse manure on heavy. Some plants are loaded and some do not yet have a tomato set on the vines. Even some of the same variety are not consistent, and that puzzles me. One of those new Burpee's Porterhouse looks like {{gwi:71600}} and has {{gwi:71601}}. Another Portherhouse looks like {{gwi:71602}} and only has a couple of small tomatoes on the vine. The seed were started on the same day, and treatment has been about equal, other than the bigger one is in a container of compost and composted horse manure and gets more sun, while the other is in the ground and gets more shade.
Patience is a virtue, a watched pot never boils and all them other other cliches.
Bill P.

I hate it when someone does *everything* wrong and has a better garden than mine. As Joe said, "WHY, WHY, WHY???".

Jim

I looked at her garden again today and her plants are drying out due to the lack of water. Remember she has to water every day.

It just amazes me she has fruit and mine are just now flowering. Her Toms don't even need cages for support yet.

Taking a WAG, I have to agree with the others that say it's stress. But good Lord, how can such little twigs produce fruit?

Probably a desperate attempt to make a few seed while they can, from the sound of things. I would not think that they would be very big or very good when they do ripen. They may have an intense flavor due to lack of water, however but could be rather "chewey."
Bill P.

Always a mystery why some produce and some don't. It seems to me that the dark green is an important clue in your post, though. Even if you only use lots of compost, compost has a huge nutrient holding ability. I would suspect that your plants have more than ample nitrogen and are using it to grow into very large plants which will fruit later. Hopefully you live in an area with a long season as the excessive vegetative grownth encouraged by excess nitrogen also delays fruiting. I wouldn't add any additional nitrogen to the garden this year and you might even want to limit the water somewhat--don't let them get dry and wilt, just don't keep them fully moist all the time if your climate will allow you that kind of control. Eventually the plants will set fruit and will be able to produce a much larger crop than those in less fertile soil. You also might want to get a soil test next spring and possibly hold back on adding more compost to the soil. Try adding uncomposted vegetable matter, such as grass clippings, leaves, etc. on top of the ground as these will gradually decompose and add to fertility, but in the process will tie up excess nitrogen from your soil, which will help encourage your plants to fruit.

LOL sound you sound like me a bit. I want instant gratification. I almost bought one of those big toms (like 3 ft tall) in the big pots that already had some red tomtoes on it. but I didnt. I am lovingly taking care of all mine in the ground. They have tons of flowers but not little toms yet. Hopefully soon. we have been in the low 60s a few days this week. I hope we have some hot weather more than 2 days in a row soon.

Do you fertilize? If so, did you over fertilize? Sometimes if you apply too much fertilizer plants get stunted fruit production.

This could be your problem,,,if you plant too early and it gets cold the plants just set there and wait for the next train. I planted 6 toms in EARLY MARCH and they are just now setting fruit versus the toms i planted in late MARCH , which are the size of softballs and turing red. This has happened to me before so i expect it in some years, especially in texas.I THINK THEY WILL DO GREAT AS THE WEATHER WARMS U... LOL BILL PS THEY WERE THE THE SAME VARITIES.