Do you see any whiteflies ? I have not gotten any tomatoes to set and the blossoms drop off, Tom came and pointed out the whiteflies and said they have been carrying a virus that infects the plants and causes it to not set fruit, and to get rid of those plants... the virus causes the leaves to curl and stunt and look yellowish....... you might want to Google fla whitefly virus and see what comes up... fla whitefly virus..... sally

Carolyn can it not be tobacco or nicotine related without being TMV? Are you a specialist in the field? ***** Taz, that's a double negative but if you're asking if tobacco products can be the cause of disease with tomatoes without TMV possibly appearing,then the answer is no, I know of no documented disease caused just by smoking products. TMV was originally insected transmitted until TMV tolerant tobacco was grown commercially in the US when now it's different and mechanical transmission is what happens in most cases and especially in commercial greenhouses. I hope one of those two answers is appropriate to your question. Am I a specialist? You can read some of my background at my page. Do I have a Ph.D in plant infectious diseases, no I don't. But I was raised on a farm where we had acres of tomatoes, will be 71 in June, have grown about 2500 hundred varieties myself, have a good understanind of infectious diseases in humans, which I taught, as well as vegetables and fruits, worked with the Cornell Coop Ext in two different counties, have done lots of teaching of Master Gardeners as well as field days re diseases, have been posting online about tomato infectious diseases since 1989 and have done clinics on IDing tomato diseases here and there. And have wrote a book about Heirloom Tomatoes, after being asked to do so. I've been retired since 1999 , from teaching, b'c of mobility problems, severed four quads in 2004, have two new hips and still have to use a walker, and still continue to grow stuff in much less numbers, all my gardening done by someone else. And being retired I have the time to read/post at four online message sites that I chose and as a Moderator at two of them. So it's up to you to decide if I have a good undertanding of tomato diseases and diagnosis of many of them. No one person, even a tomato pathologist, knows it all, but I usually have enough information to help folks looking for answers online to the best of my ability and I don't know ALL the answers either. Carolyn, being also honest but not rude as you posted above.And who also finds this site is sometimes contentious , as do many others, which is why in 2006 many of us moved to a different site but I usually drop in here from time to time anyway as do a few others who also moved elsewhere.

the thing i'm worried about most is that once this cool weather passes, then the scorching weather will come and none of the blossoms will be viable due to sticky pollen from the high temps! **** Andrea, from friends I have in Sacramento I'd be much more worried about the high temps than the lows. Pollen is effective at night as long as the temps aren't above about 65-70 F but sustained daytime temps about 85-90F and above will destroy the pollen and if differs b/c not all varieties are the same in terms of temp susceptibility. And when there are high sustained temps the pollen doesn't become sticky, as you posted above, it becomes denatured ( destroyed). Pollen can become clumped and thus sticky due to high humidity, but I dare say last I knew high humidity wasn't a problem in Sacramento. ( smile) Carolyn

Anyone else having blossom drop with all this heat across the nation? ***** bc, all you have to do is scan thru the threads here and you'll see that you aren't alone. It's so easy to say that when temps moderate fruit set will start again, but depending on where someone lives, that doesn't always happen. For instance, where you live one has to factor in high humidity b'c that can cause pollen clumping which makes the pollen much less effective. And between the high heat and high humidity it certainly does pose a problem. Most of the folks in FL that I know set their plants out in February, sometimes early March, so that fruit set occurs before the high heat of summer appears and perhaps you can think of doing that next year, Carolyn