Tomatoes will not set fruit during high heat periods. This is quite normal and is discussed in detail in the FAQ here called "Blossom Drop". Once the air temps moderate, they will begin setting fruit again.

Just click on the FAQ button near the top of the forum front page.

As to watering - it all depends on if they are in ground or in containers? Are they well mulched? What is you soil/potting mix like? The best indicator is to check the soil moisture level at least finger deep before watering. Most of us tend to over-water and plants will tolerate too little water better than too much. ;)

Dave

One can always hedge the weather. My coworker always had some tomato plant thriving because of having cold weather varieties. His woke up again in September. In zone 5 we usually don't have to hedge against heat but perhaps in your case you could try a heat loving plant or two. I used portable green houses but in my new location the village did not like my tent like structures. So I am really better off just mixing it up myself. I should not complain, a friend of mine cannot even keep compost because of village ordinances written up by metrosexuals in pressed pants.

Hi, for some reason mine aren't setting fruit. Looks like its pollinated but its just sitting there. Only this plant (Brandy boy)

Oker,
The temperature forecast for Northern Va. looks pretty good ( Terry Light
Oak Hill, Virginia

I don't know why I wasted my time looking but according to Wikipedia:
Metrosexual is a neologism generally applied to heterosexual men with a strong concern for their appearance. For example, they may have eyebrows waxed, fingers manicured, facials etc. procedures which are generally eschewed by the average male. The metro- (mother[1]) prefix indicates this man's purely urban lifestyle, while the -sexual suffix comes from "heterosexual," meaning that this man, although he is usually straight, embodies a heightened aesthetic sense often stereotypically attributed to gay men.

Terry and Solanaceae,

I can indirectly relate. Close to a tiny town but definately not suburbia, semi rural to rural.

A near by aquaintence is in a new large tract subdivision charterd for equestrian residence and use. 5 acre min. most have more. Several new owners want to ammend the covenants to disallow horses, pave the roads and install street lights and sidewalks. Why did they move here???

He has 15 acres and caught a guy measuring his hay field for height, planning to cite him for not mowing his grass!

Gardening areas need not be unkempt but restrictions set against a pest fences, support structures, greenhouses or compost bins are done by those with wrong headed attitudes, especially when they are brought by new comers to non high density areas.

I have a much nastier word for those folks and my Wife thinks we should've closed the borders of the county to the urban sprawlers long ago :-)

Sumilea2008,my Ch. Purples are doing the same thing. I think for us it is the inconsistent weather that is the cause. We can't get more than a couple days in a row of above 65* and our night temps are consistently in the mid 40's, all of which is well below normal for us. What are your weather like in your region?

I have a 3 Mr. Stripy plants for variety and fun. They are on the same row as my Roma plants. The only plant that has fruit is the one in the middle. They all have had the same amount of blooms, the Romas are going gang busters but only one of the Mr Stripy plants is producing. I am about ready to pull up the two lazy ones and plant something else in the space. Ideas anyone??

earthworm73 - Our weather has been a little on the rainy side (Thunderstorms), but its been beautiful lately. Its usually, in the Mid 70's during the day time and lowest i've seen so far is in the high 50's mostly in the low 60's. I'm still waiting for the Brandboy to set fruit. All others, are setting fruit without any problems (Even the pink brandywine is setting fruit, but its somewhat acting like the brandyboy)

That is a massive problem here in AZ! But I spoke to a couple of gardeners and my mom (who taught me everything!), and there is a chemical you can try. It is in a spray bottle and you may not be able to get it at walmart, but I got mine at ACE Hardware. It is called Bloom Set or Blossom Set. (Their main gardener should know wher it is . .) A small bottle was like $7, but so worth it! After using it once, it about tripled the amount of cherry tomatoes I had! It just helps the blossoms thrive and pollinate easier! Good luck!

I've got the blossom set problem also, at two gardens which are a state and 13 miles apart.
Both gardens started out a couple weeks ago during normal weather with a set of a few tomatoes on the lower fruit stems.
Then things went sour with lots of wind, cool days, and cold nights. My plants are now about 30" tall on average, have 2 or 3 tomatoes maybe 8" off the ground, and then are bare clear to their tops. Many of the later bearing varieties have no set whatsoever.
This has been the coldest most miserable spring and early summer I can remember.
I have one cherry tomato plant going, an Ildi, and it has set zero tomatoes now by June 20! It was greenhouse raised
and set out full of blossoms. Out of a total of 58 plants
I may have only 30 tomatoes set.
But I have never seen Broccoli and cabbage grow like they are. And my Kohlrabi are exceeding 6" in diameter! Lettuce has been excellent, potatoes look wonderful and are in bloom, garlic onions and shallots are also excellent but a little tough this year (little green onions have been tough).
I have some very interesting test varieties going and also some side by side comparisons underway but I doubt much
real info can be gained under such adverse weather conditions. I was intending to do spaghetti sauce this year and just hope the future will be kinder to my plants so I can do so.

I'm having the same problem, only it's on one plant. All of my storebought plants are dealing with our heat fine (Early Girl, Husky Red Cherry, Sweet 100, Roma) and have hundreds of fruit set on each plant. But my Pineapple, despite being the same age as all the others, hasn't set a single fruit. I'm hoping it'll hang in there through the summer and then maybe bear me some late season tomatoes when it cools down a bit in October.

And if this is strictly an heirloom issue then I'm not feeling very confident about the Cherokee Purple and the Thessaloniki I set out a couple weeks ago.

Here in southern Indiana, our problems is lack of bees. Of course the fruit won't set if there is nothing to pollinate it. We have a few little sweat bees but certainly not enough. I haven't seen a honey or bumblebee for two years now.

I have to use an electric toothbrush to vibrate the plants to shake loose their pollen. But it's so tricky. You have to get just the right time of day, right humidity, and Heaven knows what else. I'm having some luck, but not as much as I need.

If you have any ideas on how humans can pollinate tomato plants effectively, I'd sure like to hear it.

Lainey

I hope you don't mind if I clear up a few points in this discussion. ;)

First, Of course the fruit won't set if there is nothing to pollinate it. Tomatoes are self-fertile, the blooms contain both parts needed so they pollinate themselves. Bees and other insects are not required nor relevant. Humans cannot pollinate tomato plants effectively when the air temps fall into the Blossom Drop range. Dead pollen.

Second, Blossom Drop - what you all are encountering (there is a FAQ on it here by the way and I linked it below) is a well-documented, well-researched, and normal part of growing tomatoes. It is primarily caused by air temps. If the air temps consistently exceed 90 in the day or fall below 55 or above 75 at night (+/- 5 degrees either way), the pollen in the bloom becomes tacky, clumps, and non-viable. You can hop on one foot and whistle Dixie while the moon turns to green cheese but it will make no difference. ;)

Third, as the FAQ here points out, hormone sprays such as Blossom Set and other names MAY be of some help when it is cool temps that are the cause but the resulting fruit are often quite deformed. But hormone sprays will not work when heat is the problem. Sorry but that is well documented too.

Fourth, blossom drop is not a problem of heirlooms. It is a natural response of all tomato varieties. However, some hybrid varieties have need created that are more tolerant of the heat and will set fruit under somewhat difficult conditions. Heatwave, Sunfire, Sun Tropic, Sun Master, (note the catchy names) are such varieties and if you do a search here you'll find several discussions on heat-tolerant tomatoes you may want to consider next year.

Fifth, many varieties of both heirlooms and hybrids are mid-season or late season varieties. They naturally grow quite a bit first and only begin to bloom and set fruit later in the season. You shouldn't expect all varieties to set fruit at the same time regardless of the weather. Know your varieties and it genetic traits rather than imposing unrealistic expectations on them. ;)

Mr. Stripey is an excellent example. It has always been notorious for poor fruit set or often NO fruit set. And it is an indeterminate so it can't rightfully be expected to set fruit at the same time a determinate Roma will.

So the best you can do is be patient and while you wait for the weather to cooperate learn what to expect from the varieties you are growing, stabilize and control the moisture levels in your soil as much as possible, mulch the plants heavily to keep the roots cooler and the soil moisture from evaporating, avoid over-feeding and especially avoid over-feeding high nitrogen ferts as they only make the problem worse. Use protection for the plants on cool nights and provide sunscreen shade for them in the hottest part of the day. Plan to plant earlier if possible to get some fruit set prior to the usual onset of your high heat and keep the plants healthy until the heat passes and they can again set fruit. Or plant later to avoid the late spring coolies.

I hope this is of help. If you wish to read more about Blossom Drop a search of this forum using that term will pull up hundreds of discussions about it for you.

Good luck with your tomatoes everyone! ;)

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Blossom Drop FAQ

Digdirt,

The FAQ link you cited directly contradicts your statement on pollination.

Can you please clarify? I have been out there with my paintbrush, and it obviously is useful for my squashes, but I still fail to see any pollen on the brush, or evidence that my hand pollination matters at all.

I would love to be able to stop doing that, and not feel guilty about what a waste it would be if I didn't hand pollinate them all!

If tomatoes are growing outside, or for that matter anything else, it is a lot harder to see pollen being shed when using an elctric toothbrush or soft artists brush etc, as the breeze and wind normally carries it away naturally,- but however in the confines of a greenhouse one can observe showers of pollen being shed whilst using a sonic toothbrush, which can also be easily collected as it drops, either on a white tissue or glass slide and can be used to pollinate other tomatoes either inside or out.

A greenhouse is also a very good indicator from the tomatoes as to when the pollen from individual varieties is coming on song, and a close watch should be kept on the outside grown ones as they normally also produce pollen on that particular day about three or four hours later as the temp rises.

Digdirt, The FAQ link you cited directly contradicts your statement on pollination.

Can I ask, how so? Hand pollination of squash is a different issue.

Granted, the FAQ includes the statement, "Some recommend attempting hand-pollination with an artist brush or a gentle shaking of the plant/cage/support prior to the hottest part of the day will also help." Operative words, some say.

You are free to try it of course but as you have discovered, it will make little if any difference unless your timing happens to be dead-on perfect. If the temps are in the clumpy, tacky pollen range, you could paint that yellow stuff on thickly and nothing will happen because the pollen isn't viable. It does make the gardener feel better though and that is why many do it.

I would love to be able to stop doing that, and not feel guilty about what a waste it would be if I didn't hand pollinate them all!

Then by all means do so - stop doing it - and join the majority of us who have found from experience that it is a waste of time. ;)

Dave

Forgive me for not being precise, Digdirt. Of course tomatoes are self pollinating, what I meant to say was that it is infinitely helpful to have bees to forage in the flowers and vibrate the flowers which assists the flowers in pollinating themselves.

I read a book by a fellow who lived on a teeny island in the Pacific for several years. There were no insects on the island. He wrote that he got no fruit whatsoever on his Rutgers and another kind of tomato (I forget which one it was) for the first season. It wasn't until the second season that he realized the flowers might need his assistance. When he shook the plants and flicked the flowers with his fingernail he got fruit.

I'm new to this forum, usually hang out in the hosta forum, so don't know all the tomato etiquette. They're a rough bunch in the hosta forum, so forgive me for stepping on toes here.

Lainey

No offense taken or intended Lainey and I apologize if it came across that way.

Just clarification as "where are the bees to pollinate my tomatoes?" is a question we get here almost daily. ;) Most studies show that insects play a very minimal role in tomato production, wind much more so.

But even if both are missing, tomatoes will still self-pollinate IF the pollen is viable and that factor is dependent on air temps. So the island resident may have just had an exceptionally hot summer that first year and a cooler, breezier one the second but he credited it to his intervention.

As Carolyn Male has pointed out in her book and discussed here often, sweat flies and the occasional bumble bee, perhaps, honey bees, no.

Dave