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jcin_los_angeles

Poor tomato harvest

jcin_los_angeles
15 years ago

For some reason my tomato harvest is very poor this summer. Everything is the same, the varities of tomatoes, where I got them, homemade compost, organic fertilizer, watering, amount of sunshine, lots of bees, etc. But after a short period of setting fruit, the flowers have all been dying for weeks. The total harvest will be a fraction of what I usually get. Is anybody else experiencing this problem? What's going on?

Comments (17)

  • hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
    15 years ago

    I'm getting a much better harvest than normal. I tried new new varieties this year and they are all being very productive. I have no idea why...

  • dicot
    15 years ago

    I only grow cherry tomatoes, but I've been getting very good flower set and harvest.

  • skrip
    15 years ago

    Our harvest really sucked this summer! We planted several Cherry Tomato plants and only 2 gave tomatoes. And Im talking some very little (the size of raisinettes) ones, only 2 were the size of actual Cherry tomatoes.

    It is our 1st time so perhaps we did something wrong or maybe the plant need to mature more?

  • CA Kate z9
    15 years ago

    Tomatoes don't set fruit when it gets too hot. It was VERY hot in the San Fernando/LA region (at least) early on. And that's about when the first blossoms would have been out. This might be the reason. You might have to wait for the cooler Fall weather for tomatoes.

  • skrip
    15 years ago

    Westelle, thanks so much for your comment. They were actually my daughter's first veggie plantings and now I know what to tell her. She still picked them off so tiny and ate them all happily.

    It certainly was hotter in June than it's been in July this year, thats for sure.

    I was gonna pull them out, but now that you mention it, Here's to the fall! (hopefully)

  • slo_garden
    15 years ago

    I'm having the same problem, and I'm sure it is because of the weather. In the spring we had wild swings in temperatures which caused a lot of blossom drop. Then we had freak triple digit temperatures a few weeks ago, and once again, more blossom drop. Now that the weather has stablized, my tomatoes are doing better. But as a whole, total production is down for this year.

  • jcin_los_angeles
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    The weather has been pretty steady in West Adams, low to mid 80's. There was 1 heat wave, but that was weeks ago, and the only tomatoes I got did set after that. So I don't think it's weather related.

  • hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
    15 years ago

    Are you getting a lot of growth and no flowers, or is the fruit just not setting?

  • boondoggle
    15 years ago

    Just to throw my two-cents worth in, I have a Pruden's Purple that has blossomed sporadically, but the blossoms have all dried up and fell off. The Black Sea Man and the Miracle Sweet, which are right next to it, have done just fine. Go figure.

  • jcin_los_angeles
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    There are flowers, but they either die before opening or do open for awhile and then fall off. There are lots of bees, and for awhile lots of tomatoes. I added more compost and fertilized again (organic fertilizer). Everything is the same as it's always been, so I'm completely at a loss to understand what's going on.

  • hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
    15 years ago

    Hmmm...too much water and fertilizer?? A little stress does them good. I never fertilize mine. They get compost and nothing else.

    And your nighttime temps have been below 65F?

    Sometimes I wonder if it is just the plant. I'll have 3 plants of the same variety, 2 will produce a lot, 1 will produce nothing.

    {{gwi:313522}}

  • dicot
    15 years ago

    I agree with Hoovb, don't fertilize a flowering tomato. I probably wouldn't even add compost.

  • hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
    15 years ago

    I read that you can plant tomatoes in the same spot every year if you add a lot of compost--supposedly the compost reduces the amount of tomato-attacking microbes in the soil--something like that. Hence the compost. It doesn't appear to have hurt.

  • boondoggle
    15 years ago

    Hoovb, we have had very cool nights lately. (Not that I'm complaining. Our house doesn't have air-conditioning, so the weather has been a dream.) So cool nights will prevent fertilization? Interesting.

  • User
    15 years ago

    Try adding Dolomite (horticultural lime) to your beds next season, a few weeks prior to planting.

  • dicot
    15 years ago

    "Try adding Dolomite (horticultural lime) to your beds next season, a few weeks prior to planting."

    That's sounds like strange advice to me. Why do you suggest that Gonzer? LA soils tend to have plenty of lime and clay and tomatoes prefer just slighty acidic soils. His plants grew and produced flowers, but didn't set fruit, so how will dolomite rectify that situation?