Blossoms dropping--temps OK? pics!

13 years ago

I've got six tall and and apparently-healthy tomato plants here in Santa Barbara by the coast. Three of the plants are producing fruit, but the other three, all Brandywine, aren't. The blossoms are breaking off at the stem and dropping, like this:

One plant (not sure what variety), the one producing the most fruit, is dropping some blossoms, but fruiting others. Except for this poor guy--it's a half-grown fruit dropping:

I read the FAQ about blossom drop and the temperatures here are borderline (high 50s at night), but should be OK. I have a sheltered yard with plenty of sun, and the plants are in raised beds. I'm watering 1-2 times a week, deeply, using a drip irrigation system. I amended the soil with compost/mulch before planting.

I've been working on controlling some early blight--maybe that's my problem? Thanks for any advice!

Here is a link that might be useful: More pictures here!

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Comments (5)

gardendawgie
13 years ago
Brandywine is way over hyped. I gave up on Brandywine. There are healthy vigorous tomatoes will no health issues. Why bother with always sickly Brandywine and they taste even better than Brandywine. Look at the evidence. Only BW has the problem. Therefore the solution is obvious. Get rid of BW and you will live a happy tomato life.
sewobsessed
13 years ago
The top picture looks, to me, more like they've been physically broken or chewed, either by a human, animal or insect.
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Taira, I looked at each of your pictures. I would say they each have a chance. The first indicator I look at is the knuckle behind the bloom. You can see it very well on 3 blooms in the last photo. The top knuckle in the last photo looks good. The first things you will see if it didn't pollinate is a faint yellow ring that forms in the center of the knuckle and goes around the stem. This is where it will break away from when it falls. Also you may notice a slight decrease in stem size on the bloom side on those that don't pollinate. The top stem looks fine at this point. I'm not sure how long these blooms have been open as I can't see the front of them unless they are in one of the other photos. There is no ryhme or reason to blooms. The timeline Dawn posted gives a good rule of thumb to go by. But some blooms don't abide by a time line. I have blooms on my Heinz 2653 that have been open 3 weeks. Still look bright and haven't died or fell off. Only one has set fruit that I've noticed. May be a few more I haven't noticed. It is a determinate variety and is loaded with blooms. It had a few blooms that hadn't opened when I transplanted. Withing 2 weeks it was covered but the whole plant set there for some time. The color got lighter for a while. Now it looks real healthy and it is growing again. So hopefully it will set well. If 50% of the blooms would set it will be loaded with fruit. I really like the Heinz varieties. They seem to have good disease resistance(now I've doomed them), take the heat and set well here in my climate. I shared Heinz 1439 with Dawn last year. I lost my 1439 and 1350 plants due to the hail. Back to the subject. I would have hope for each bloom from what I see in the pictures. If I could see them in person I could tell you more. I'm continuing to have a few greenies show up. Not is large numbers but more than I expected considering the lateness of the plants and the early and constant heat and wind. I continue to have some wind damage show up to leaves and a few blooms. Jay
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Bets
13 years ago
Hello Tybstar,

I am concerned that your plants may have some type of blight, if I recall correctly there have been reports on this forum of cases (or suspected cases) in southern California of late blight. But I don't see any of the typical brown spots on the stems, of course even looking at your other pictures at the link, I am unable to see very much of the stems other than the ones like those in this post. The one with the tomato and the dried stems looks similar to early blight.

Take a look at the picutures in the link below, and compare them to your plants. Perhaps that will tell you what is going on with your tomatoes.

Ignore what gardendawgie says about BW (Brandywines) lots of people grow them successfully. I think he is just jealous. :-) Different people, in the same and different areas get different results with the same variety, people even get different results in different years with the same variety! (And they get different results with different var. . . . ah never mind, you get the picure.)

Betsy

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Problem Solver (Photos for Diagnostics)
tybstar
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks, Betsy! I am working on controlling blight, if that's what it is. I don't see the concentric spots--most of the yellowing is starting at the margins of the leaves. We'll see what happens! Thanks for the link, it's very helpful.
torquill
13 years ago
tybstar, I grow pink Brandywines and I'll be the first to admit they're temperamental about setting fruit early in the season. I think they need to get to a certain size or age to really take fruiting seriously. :) I expect the first three trusses to drop unpollinated... the fourth may set one, then after that they seem to get into the swing of things. So be patient, the shriveled buds in your first picture are just dropping off because pollination didn't work out.

The second pic worries me a bit, as that sort of stem death isn't normal. It might be early blight, which you already know you have... it may have gotten damaged in the process of trying to control the blight, too. Consider it a one-off and use the tomato as a fried greenie (mmm)... but if it happens more than this once, you have a problem. Tomato stems don't normally die if there's a healthy green fruit on the end of them.

Blossoms dropping--temps OK? pics!

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Blossoms dropping--temps OK? pics!

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tybstar
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