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Sun, Jun 12, 05 at 13:12
| Hi All
Live in San Fernando Valley , so cal. I have 5 tomato plants of various heirloom, det. indet, hybrid. All are losing over 1/2 blossom. I have a few fruits which set a bout a month ago. I know hight temps cause blossom drop..but It is definitley not over 90 continously ( it was a few days last month) In fact, if you live in the area, you know we have had June gloom with breaking to great weather in afternoon. I s the june gloom ( hazy cloud coverage) causing the drop. They re breaking off at the blossom stem...about 1/2 way. What can i do!! I have big beautiful plants ( the best ever) with blossims falling by the hour) I have used the blossom set spray before it doesnt work. Anyone else having this problem in our geographic area? What do we do... thanks |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by Goddessemer6 9A (My Page) on Tue, Jun 14, 05 at 22:20
| Perhaps it is a pollination issue? Have you tried vibrating your maters? :) I use an electric toothbrush to gently vibrate the whole plant and help with fruit set. |
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| I have the exact same thing going on with my tomatoes. I was going to post also. My plant has all kinds of flowers but the stem above the blossom turns brown and the entire thing falls off. We have had unusually dry hot (90+) weather here in the Midwest for a few weeks. Is this the cause of what is going on? We finally got some rain the past few days. Hope it snaps out of it. Heather |
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- Posted by Carolyn137 z4/5 NY (My Page) on Fri, Jun 17, 05 at 9:27
| It's not just hot weather that can casue blossom drop. Your JUne GLoom conditions with the fogs and mists casue what's caused pollen clumping with the high humidity which makes pollination less effective. Carolyn |
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- Posted by linnaeussimkin z9 CA (My Page) on Tue, Jun 21, 05 at 9:57
| I live in Pomona, and have the same problem with a couple of the heirloom varieties. The Home Depot types (Lemon Boy, Roma, Betterboy, etc) do not have the blosson drop. The weather is warming up this week, and I hope that this cures the problem, because I am losing a LOT of blossoms. I am watering every 3 days, any feedback? Thanks in advance... |
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- Posted by loneranger Sunset20 (My Page) on Tue, Jun 21, 05 at 15:52
| If the plants otherwise look healthy, they'll have plenty of blooms before the growing season is over. I had a blossom drop problem last year, and the problem resolved itself. I wouldn't really worry about it. |
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| Same deal down here in Oceanside, although lately we've all had lots of sun. Here's my scorecard to date: Brandywine (Amish) Lots of flowers/drops 2 fruit Big Zach Lots of flowers/drops 1 fruit(deformed) Heirloom Cherry variety Lots of flowers and all set. (50? Costrolee Lots of flowers 1 fruit Carmelo Every single flower sets to fruit. Definitely going with tons of Carmelo next year. My wife was wondering what I was doing with the Sonic Care in the garden the other day. (Kidding) |
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| I have the same thing happening in Virginia. I just built raised beds because we have clay soil. I filled the beds with top soil and manure. Approximately 3 bags of top soil to 1 bag of manure. Someone told me that I may have too much fertilizer and that is burning my herbs and tomatoes. That I should try to add more soil to reduce the fertilizer ratio. Does anyone know if that is the problem? There are some tomatoes but a lot of the blooms are brown as opposed to yellow and break off. Thanks |
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- Posted by Irish_rose_grower z7 LI NY (My Page) on Fri, Jun 24, 05 at 20:03
| Same thing happening in New york. Last year I had the problem with blossom rot, this year it's blossom drop. I lost all my tomatoes last year. If I don't get a crop that's edible this year, I'm just going to stop and beg my neighbors for some of their harvest. Maureen |
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| I have the same thing here in utah...I really haven't seen many bees this year? Could that be a problem..I haven't applied fertilizer since I turned the beds and planted april 20th. I may have over watered..It has also been windy (almost to much for bees)and dry air. I only water the soil. |
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| Hi sushiqueen, I posted a reply to a thread entitled "tiny whitish bugs". It's about thrips, a very tiny insect which can cause a tremendous amount of blossom drop! They are so small that you could easily overlook them, even with a substantial infestation. But once you do recognize them, believe me, you'll see them! You might want to check my post on that thread for some additional info. Western Flower Thrips are common in our part of the country (Most prevalent west of the Mississippi). In fact, commercial vegetable growers in the west suffer terrible losses in some years to thrips, so our little home gardens are certainly not exempt. I hope it's just your weather causing your blossom drop, because frankly thrips are a pain! Good Luck!
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| Interesting reading here. Misery loves company. I'm having the same problem in coastal Massachusetts with blossom drop and it's with my heirlooms like Giant Belgian and German Johnson (potato leaf). The Better Boys are just fine. The past week of nonstop rain and fog won't help I guess. Leslie |
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| YEs I do have blossom drop and was out inspecting my 16 maters this am and caught one suspect to look under the 20x.. It had wings and 2 black eyes. |
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- Posted by KikibooCRZ z8 VA (My Page) on Fri, Jul 8, 05 at 9:18
| I am having the same problem here in se VA only it's with my peppers. I have sent off specimens to the county extension office but have yet to hear back. I hope i get some peppers this year. Last year they did awesome. Just thought I would let ya'll know that you weren't the only ones. Ki |
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| Having verbally accused my backyard heirloom gang as being nothing more than a bunch of ornamental flowering bushes that are littering the premises, (except the Carmelo), they have taken my point seriously, and have responded in kind. Now, most everything is setting to fruit. Either that they have taken note of my "second string" back up Costoluto's, that have just started flowering and fruiting, and realized the handwritting is on the fence, so to speak. Good luck to all of you...... |
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- Posted by deneciepie (My Page) on Fri, Jul 3, 09 at 22:44
| Yup, I planted all Heirlooms and have the same problem. Good set during the occasional periods when its between 60-90 degrees. Otherwise zip. Is it just the "heirloom" toms that are behaving this way? I have 5-6 foot tall bushes with not much to show for it. BTW I put these in in late March and April here in Tracy, usually thats late enough that they take right off, but this years' weather had them in a sulk for several weeks. |
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