Tomato, no fruit

9 years ago

I know there are a lot of answers for this question but, please hear me out. I feel this one has a twist which has eluded an answer since 2013. I started Gardening September 2012. I had only one tomato plant and it did well. In 2013 I had several Tomato plants which include: Roma, Chocolate Cherry, Tiny Tim, Beefsteak, Husky, Cherokee and finally Dagma's perfection. All my plants produced tomatoes well except the Dagma's Perfection. The Dagma's perfection grew in an Earthbox together with the Beefsteak. The Beefsteak produced well. Both plants grew around 6 to 6.5 feet tall. Both were healthy till frost killed them. The Dagma's perfection produced tons of flowers. All flower would eventually drop. I tried shaking it, hand pollinating, brush pollinating. I could literally see the pollination flying in the air. I used the Original Earthbox nutrients and followed their instructions. I could see bees coming to the plants. The plant was started from seed at home, transplanted early spring with nice temperatures. Nights temperatures soon became above 50F. All my plants started to produce but, not the Dagma's perfection. Then it got very hot, most of my plants produced much less and some did not look to good during the heat of the Summer. But, they all produced. The Dagma's perfection continued to produce, what I describe as tons of flower. As the weather cooled again the Roma produced at this time better than it had all season. The Dagma's perfection went ballistic producing flowers. I desperately tried all kinds of pollinating methods, including an electric toothbrush. In the end the frost killed my plants and the Dagma's perfection was not able to set fruit. This year 2014, I grew two tomato plants again in the Earthbox this time using organic fertilizer. Both plants did well and produced plenty of tomatoes. Has anyone ever had an experience like this or hear of it? Is it possible to get a male plant?

Comments (4)

carolyn137
9 years ago
Yes, it is possible to get what you call a male plant, I call them mules, but they never even produce blossoms in my experience. They can be seen with OP varieties and even more so with some hybrids as I saw in the growing fields of a commercial farmer friend. Instead of being the normal size plants they were much bigger and you could spot them ASAP.

No doubt due to mutation of the genes for either pollen or the female stigma, but in the case of the hybrids probably due to incomplete manual pollination if male steriles were not used for seed production.

Carolyn
digdirt2
9 years ago
Agree with Carolyn. Some call them "sterile" some call them "bulls" too. But yes it is possible and a result of a particular seed used IME. In other words some seeds from the same package will be fine and some won't due to issues at the time of pollination of the parent plant(s).

Over the years I have found a few and usually just rip them out and replace them once it is clear they won't set fruit despite ideal growing conditions.

Dave
Related Professionals
70037 Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Jackson Landscape Contractors · Bellefontaine Neighbors Landscape Contractors · Placerville Landscape Contractors · Belleville General Contractors · Chowchilla General Contractors · Perrysburg General Contractors · Wheeling General Contractors · Winchester Center Stone, Pavers & Concrete · Solana Beach Decks, Patios & Outdoor Enclosures · Ashburn Decks, Patios & Outdoor Enclosures · Knoxville Decks, Patios & Outdoor Enclosures · Larkspur Decks, Patios & Outdoor Enclosures · Pataskala Decks, Patios & Outdoor Enclosures · Wentzville Decks, Patios & Outdoor Enclosures
easygreenus
9 years ago
Hi,

I've seen many posts for stunted tomatoes, but all apply to the
plant. My plant is growing fine, its the fruit that has problems.

I am growing my tomatoes hydroponically indoors under LED lights in clay pellets. I am able to control grow room temps,
humidity, and nutrient temps within the recommended ranges.

I have four Kumato plants. Plenty of blooms, many set, I
have mature fruit on all of the plants.

My question concerns blooms that set to a BB size tomato
and grow no further. I have some that have been like this
for two months. I have other blooms that set and grow
fruit to the size of a large marble, then it stops.

On the four plants, I probably have 20 tomatoes like this. If
I could discover the cause of this problem I could greatly
increase my yields.

Conditions:
Using three part Flora nutrient in a flowering and fruiting formulation.

18 hours lights on, 6 hours off. Tomatoes do not need shortening days to produce flowers like some plants do.

Feeding six times per day for 15 minutes. Clay pellets, so the roots are getting a lot of O2.

Temperatures never get above 77 degrees F. Night temps drop to 62 -65 degrees F

Nutrient temps range from 65 - 70 degrees.

I maintain the nutrient PH between 5.8 - 6.3 and between
1100 - 1500 ppm.

I use Reverse Osmosis (RO) water and supplement with General Hydroponics CalMagic (Calcium and Magnesium).

Thanks for any ideas you might have.
carolyn137
9 years ago
I think what you are describing is fruit abortion and I've linked to a Google Search below where there are several links that deal with that topic.

Hope that helps,

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Fruit Abortion