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| Many of the blossoms are missing (they look like they were cleanly snipped off) on an otherwise healthy looking tomato plant. I can see piles of blossoms on the ground. Is this a lack of pollination problem? There are still many blossoms on the plant. Should I be worried? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by tarynmerkley (My Page) on Thu, May 22, 14 at 0:16
| Another picture of the problem. |
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- Posted by missingtheobvious Blue Ridge 7a (My Page) on Thu, May 22, 14 at 0:31
| What variety is your plant? If you have other tomatoes, are they dropping their blossoms as well? Is the plant in-ground or in a container? When did you plant it? And most importantly, what has your weather been lately? Tomatoes, peppers and beans are especially picky about the air temps when it comes time to set fruit. If the night temps fall below 55 or rise above 75 or if the day temps are above 90, the pollen becomes tacky and non-viable. Pollination cannot occur. If the bloom isn't pollinated, the bloom dies and falls off. From the FAQ, "Why are the blooms on my tomato plant dying and falling off?" |
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| Sorry. But it appears that the plant aborted them, for some reason. One of the reasons could be high heat. Did you get some temps 95 to 100F ? There could be other reasons as well. |
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- Posted by tarynmerkley (My Page) on Thu, May 22, 14 at 0:44
| Thanks for the replies. Yes, we had strange weather last week in the high 90's. It's back to the 70's this week, so hopefully all further blossoms will pollinate?? It is a Better Boy in a raised garden bed. I didn't notice any other varieties missing blossoms but I will look more closely tomorrow. Is there anything I should do to hand pollinate for the other blossoms on the plant, or not worry too much about it? |
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- Posted by missingtheobvious Blue Ridge 7a (My Page) on Thu, May 22, 14 at 1:07
| Tomatoes growing in the outdoors are pretty much self-pollinating. Wind does a lot of the job by vibrating the plant. Insects help -- not by spreading the pollen, but by vibrating the blossom, helping it pollinate itself. If you want to do something yourself to help, then give the stems a flick or a (gentle) shake once or twice a day. That vibrates the blossoms, helping pollen to fall from the inside of the anther cone onto the stigma. Some tomato varieties are known for the ability to set fruit at a few degrees higher than most tomatoes. IIRC, cherry and grape tomatoes usually set more fruit in hot weather than larger tomatoes. |
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| Other than reading the FAQ all about it that missing linked for you above so you can be sure none of the other causes are contributing to it, then don't worry about it too much as we can't really control the weather or the pollen's reaction to it. :). so hopefully all further blossoms will pollinate?? Not necessarily. Blossom-drop can continue throughout the season to some degree depending on which of the factors listed in the FAQ are causing it. Dave |
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| Do those look more like they were cut rather than dropped? When I've seen that, i've thought earwigs. |
This post was edited by mbrowne on Thu, May 22, 14 at 11:30
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- Posted by missingtheobvious Blue Ridge 7a (My Page) on Fri, May 23, 14 at 9:34
| Abscission is defined as "the natural separation of flowers, fruit, or leaves from plants at a special separation layer." In tomatoes this can be at the "joint" or "elbow" on the pedicel (fruit stem) or where the pedicel joins the fruit. The reason can be fruit ripening (some tomato fruit naturally drop from the vine as soon as they are ripe; IIRC this is more common in currant varieties) or blossoms dropping due to temperature (and resultant lack of pollination) or other reasons. So what you have is a zone of dying cells which naturally separate the pedicel -- without action by earwigs or other wildlife. |
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