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All foliage - few flowers
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Posted by
RyseRyse_2004 5 (
My Page) on
Thu, Jul 11, 13 at 11:50
| My tomato plant are very lush this year - 6' tall and very wide. The foliage is deep green and they look so healthy probably due to the very regular rain fall we have had. BUT - there are few flowers and it is July already! I had no tomato crop last year due to drought and really want a big crop this year. What can I do???? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: All foliage - few flowers
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| very lush this year - 6' tall and very wide. The foliage is deep green and they look so healthy...BUT - there are few flowers and it is July already Excessive nitrogen fertilizer. That always results in lush dark green plants with few or no blooms and fruit. Dave |
RE: All foliage - few flowers
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| Dave, considering that there might be enough P and K in the soil and NPK consumed at 3-1-2 ratio would be beneficial for OP to try foliar feed with some lower numbers of P and K and no nitrogen just to see if it will jump start fruit production? It seem like a total waste of the season otherwise... and what does she have to loose, plants are annuals anyway... |
RE: All foliage - few flowers
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| Would it be beneficial? Slim possibility. One can't effectively use one nutrient to off-set the excesses of another nutrient. Trying to do so usually only compounds the problems. If we knew where the OP lived or at least the garden zone we'd have an idea of the length of the gardening season. Unfortunately that info wasn't provided. Why is that - location and length of season - relevant? Because N will dissipate rather quickly all on its own in certain climates assuming proper watering and IF it isn't constantly being replaced. So length of season may be enough for the plants to recover and begin to produce. But that is moot since we don't know either the climate or the form of the excess nitrogen. For example, quick fix synthetics like MG will dissipate fairly quickly but overly manured soil or excess amounts of high nitrogen granular ferts are much slower to balance out. Dave |
RE: All foliage - few flowers
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| Please understand I didn't fertilize anything. This is virgin ground. Nothing has ever been planted on it. |
RE: All foliage - few flowers
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RE: All foliage - few flowers
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| I am in NW IL very near the Mississipi. My zone is right there for everyone to see but I have narrowed it down. We have acres where no one has ever planted anything. It has not been grazed either. How do I get nitrogen out of the ground????? BTW, the black- top soil goes several feet into the ground. Actually, in places I have dug down, it goes at least 6'. |
RE: All foliage - few flowers
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| Then if it has never been planted, you have not added any amendments or fertilizers to the soil, it has never been grazed, never had cover crops tilled in, never raised any manure producing animals, never had manured trucked and spread there, cropped for alfalfa or any other high nitrogen crop, never grown corn, etc. there is no way to know how the nitrogen, IF it is high in N, got there. Have you had the soil tested at all? If not it would well be worth it as is available from your local county ag extension office. Can you post photos of the plants? Perhaps they will suggest other possibilities. How many years of history with the soil there do you know first hand? Getting N out of soil would depend in part on how it got there in the first place. Normally it is dissipation over time and planting high nitrogen-demanding crops. My apologies for not noting the "5". I read it as part of the 2004 in your name. Dave |
RE: All foliage - few flowers
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| Nitrogen, possibly can come from natural composting of plants, organic matter ?! Also, possibly, some plants' roots fixed nitrogen into the soil |
RE: All foliage - few flowers
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| I will try to post a picture later today - have never done it before. My first-hand history of the land is that nothing but grass/weeds/brush has grown on it for over 100 years. Thanks for your help. Many decades ago I had a similar problem when I planted tomatoes on a patio enclosure where my dog peed all winter so that is why I suspected high nitrogen. |
RE: All foliage - few flowers
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| You could try forcing one plant to flower and fruit by clipping some of the roots. Take one plant and take a shovel about 6-8 inches away from the stem on one side and dig down a quarter or semi circle but no more around the plant. Just put the blade in and pull it back out, don't actually dig up the soil. This will trim back some of the roots and stress the plant. A plant in stress might think it's going to die and thus, spur it into fruit and thus seed production. Not sure if it will work, but seeing as it doesn't seem like you can correct the soil if it is in fact high nitrogen, it might be worth a shot. I would try one plant at first, give it a week and see if the plant stays healthy and starts setting flower buds. CH |
RE: All foliage - few flowers
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| Another option: Water them more often and feed them "P" and "K". |
RE: All foliage - few flowers
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how about this one?
http://www.gardeners.com/Vegetable-Blossom-Set-Spray/34-444,default,pd.html |
RE: All foliage - few flowers
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| this happened to me years ago, i had huge green plants but no tomatoes,i haven't had it again. i really think excess nitogen is usually not the case. i use many high nitrogen elements to prepare the soil milorganite,cotton seed meal,chicken manure,ect plus compost. would i started doing was planting further apart sun and air circulation are very important, i also mulch with straw to keep the soil moist.. how close are they planted? |
RE: All foliage - few flowers
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| Thanks for all the support. No more water!!!! We have had more than enough VERY regular rain - fortunately the tomato garden is on a slant so it runs off. Also - I will not be adding anything at all to this soil--- beet greens are an indication of healthy soil and those are a rich green. Today, I am noticing flowers starting to form and a few small tomatoes so maybe the plants were just over-stimulated by all the rain and are now going to perform. I have 12 plants (each a different variety) and were planted 2' apart in rows 8' apart. I have reinforced concrete wire cages around each. With all the foliage, they are growing very close together but the path between the rows is wide enough to walk through. I think I will have a tomato crop after all unless we have a very early frost. Thanks again all. |
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