First time growing tomatoes in containers. I have a Sun Gold (first two photos) and Dwarf Cherry Red (last two photos).
I just transplanted the Sun Gold but flowers are starting to die off. Any reason outside of they weren’t pollinated? Should I cut these all off? This is in Fox Farm.
The Dwarf was transplanted a couple weeks ago, was growing and produced flowers which just seem to be dying too. Any reason for this? It’s in crappy Kellogg amended with perlite but is super compacted and retaining water.
Any feedback is welcomed and appreciated!
by legendsagain
16 Comments
my plant was a lil bit smaller than your and had them , i cut them off . i felt it was too young to have them at the time
I wouldn’t stress too much right now. It could just be a fluke.
I like to pluck off the early flowers so the plant can use the resources to grow instead of setting fruit.
First set of flowers rarely takes on my experience. Youll get plenty of sungold later in the season.
(They’re sweetest when theyre safety cone orange!)
Do you shake the flowers to help them pollinate? We don’t have many bees here this spring, and I do it a couple times a day. Seems to help. NE Texas.
Do you have nectar flowers close by? Maybe you have a pollination problem.
That plant is not at a stage at all to produce flowers unless matures and produces at that size (re: tiny Tim and other dwarf varieties).
It looks like a cherry tomato plant by the looks of flower count, and it appears you have a tomato already growing.
The plant looks small, thin, and definitely not ready to produce. It hasn’t even grown into the cage at all!
…but if it were my plant, I might consider letting nature run its course at this point. It looks like you’ve done a good job pruning and encouraging airflow and better pollination.
What is the soil’s consistency and what size pot? Watering schedule? Tomatoes are quite resilient and I honestly think there’s a lot of gardening conjecture and myths when they’re pretty simple plants, but these are all factors to consider.
I think it’s a pollination problem too. Typically better to also grow two plants and have them close especially when they start to flower and definitely shaking them helps too
That last pic has a fruit in it
Needs way more time. I’d even cut off the bottom ones.
Looks like it needs fertilizer.
The flowers are dying off because they’re failing to pollinate. Shaking the branches that have trusses of blossoms will take care of the pollinating portion. Depending on where you’re gardening, temperatures also have a lot to do with fruit set. Once temperatures rise above 90f tomato plants begin to stop producing blossoms. This is how the plant tries to survive during the heat of the summer. The warm temperatures dry making the pollen less viable before it can pollinate the fruit. Once temperature begins to to cool off again in the fall your plants will start producing blossoms and setting fruit. The goal is to keep your plants healthy enough to survive the summer so they’re ready to produce again in the fall.
What are your night time temps? Fruit won’t set if temps dip below 50 degrees. I’d cut the flowers off and let it focus on getting some more vegetative growth before setting fruit too.
Judging by the leaves on the Sungold, the plant looks kind of stressed and wanting to stunt. Might just be the picture. Are you continuing to get a lot of new growth on top?
Self pollinate, they say to use a pencil eraser and rub on the blooms and rub on another bloom, they are self pollinated normally by the wind, but need help sometimes, give plenty sun, and water, they should do fine
What is the temp? Maybe still too cold for bees to hang out. Also maybe give the branches a couple shakes. If not a brush like a small paint brush
What zone are you in? Do you have native flowers for pollinators? How has the weather been? Stable or unpredictable? What time of day did you transplant and what was the temperature? How deep and wide are the pots? Those are some ideas. It’s been a huge learning curve for me as a first time grower myself. Here’s what I learned as great advice–don’t baby the plants and have patience. Don’t mess with them too much and let nature take its course. Always remain aware of UVs. Otherwise these flowers look great. I have tomatoes on mine and the flowers fell off. I think Kellogg organic is great soil, but I added mushroom compost alongside pumice and coconut coir then a layer of mulch. I have a lemon boy growing inside a tire I found in my neighborhood. P.S. ants are great pollinators and flowers falling off most times indicates fruit growth unless the plant is stressed.