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Growing Tomatoes

Are there any pink beefstakes that don't drop flowers?

13 years ago

Last year wanted to try some new varieties, and since brandywine seemed not terribly productive and late, went for German Giant, another brandywine lookalike but earlier, and supposedly more productive.

Flowers and leaf are quite similar from what I see in pictures. I got the PL and RL variants (although that place only sells PL), and got for free another pink beefsteak, Giant Belgium.

Now, as you can imagine, I have flower drop, massive. From 10-15 flowers on each cluster I get 0-1 tomatoes, and horribly catfaced. And giant belgium I got 0.0 tomatoes out of all the 3 clusters so far. That's truly pathetic. It hasn't been too hot, nor too cold (at least not all the time). I don't really understand why these tomatoes have no intention of reproduction.

So back to the original question: are there any big pinks that don't have this habit? I thought of trying Eva purple balls next year, but those seem on the small side from what I understand.

On an unrelated note: german giant was really good against late blight this year, especially in terms of foliage resistance, completely untouched, both variants (some tomatoes were touched but at least the plant can do smth now that the weather is better). One of the 3 out of 16 varieties very badly affected this year that resisted, one being a semiwild cherry, and another a cross of my own with that cherry and an heirloom from around here which looks suspiciously like Opalka.

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Comments (5)

torquill
13 years ago
I've had great luck with Earl's Faux, though admittedly my Sudduth Brandywines don't drop more than the first 2 trusses worth of blossoms. I haven't been particularly impressed with Stump of the World, I'm growing that for the first time this year... it just doesn't seem to have much vigor here.

Really, though, I don't think you're going to get more than two or three beefsteaks per truss anyway; they're big fruit, and there's a limit to how many the plant can support on one stem (both physically and nutrient-wise). Vigorous plants make up for it by putting out lots of branches and lots of flower trusses, so you can get a plant loaded with fruit even when there's only 1-3 tomatoes on any given truss.

Hopefully someone else will be able to give you more varieties to try. :)

--Alison
fungus
Original Author
13 years ago
Ah, yes, that's what I hoped. That these tomatoes will be big since they're so few. Like... giant.
But I wonder: is there a relation between pollination and reachable size? So let's say that flower didn't get a lot of pollen, can it still reach a big size?
Also, I'm gonna try manual pollination (shaking didn't work) using own pollen, and pollen from a productive cherry, maybe there's a problem with the pollen being sterile.
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digdirt2
13 years ago
I assume you have read the FAQ and the many discussions about the condition known as 'Blossom Drop' and the conditions that cause it?

Blossom Drop isn't variety, fruit size (except that it is less of a problem in cherry types), or fruit color related.

Dave
carolyn137
13 years ago
As far as I'm concerned there are NO varieties of any color, any shape that don't exhibit blossom drop. Blossom drop is normal, without any conditions that encourage it, as a way for the plant to shed blossoms that would set fruit in terms of making sure, or helping to ensure that the fruits that remain will ripen. Kind of a natural culling process if you will.

And then there are all the other conditions that can cause blossoms to drop based on temps, etc. High sustained humidity can also cause pollen to clump making it less effective and that also can result in blossom drop.

Carolyn, and do read the article about Blossom Drop by clicking on the FAQ link at the top of the page and scrolling down . And as Dave said, a search will bring up lots and lots of threads on Blossom Drop as well/
Bets
13 years ago
Dave is right.

I don't recall ever having a pink beefsteak drop more blossoms than any other color of large tomato. The years that we have had days over 100Â° they were all equal opportunity blossom droppers, with the exception of some of the cherries, but even some of them dropped blossoms when we hit 110Â° and it was only cooling down to about 75Â° or 80Â° at night.

Betsy

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

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