Quote:
Originally Posted by MotownJohnny
Too much high-nitrogen fertilizer (the first of the three numbers of the package label) will promote vegetative growth at the expense of reproductive (flowers, fruit) growth. Try using a fertilizer that is specifically for tomatoes, or at least for fruiting plants - it should have a formula higher in P and K (the 2nd and 3rd numbers). Not enough sunlight will do that, too, tomatoes should have at least 6 hours of sun per day. Another possible cause is heat stress - if it is routinely above about 90 in the day, and doesn't cool down much below 72-75 at night, many tomato varieties will have flower bud abscission or if the flowers open, the fruit doesn't set. Finally, sometimes chipmunks will take a liking to flower buds of certain plants - the plants send a lot of sugars into the developing bud to help the flower grow and form fruit, and that makes them taste sweet. I've personally had that problem on impatiens, where the chipmunks strip the flower buds - don't know if that happens with tomatoes but I could see them doing that.
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Fertilizer is Jobes fertilizer spikes used as directed, so I don't think that's a problem. SHE is on the west side of the house where she gets a good 8 hours a day of sunlight, so I don't think that's the problem either. In the last week daytime temps have been above 90, overnight temps are in the low to mid 70's, so that's a possibility, I guess. Chipmunks are definitely not the problem since we don't have any here. Every now and then a small yellow flower will bloom, and then the next day it's all shriveled up and brown. I water it at least once a day unless it rains.
When I had a garden in Virginia some years back, the only veggie I couldn't get to produce was yellow squash. It looked as though someone was taking a pair of scissors and snipping off all the blossoms. Then one morning I spied a snapping turtle dashing away as fast as his short little legs would carry him with a squash blossom in his mouth. I could have put up a barrier, but I didn't have the heart to deprive the little guy of his delicious breakfast.
