Tomato plants are not setting fruit, anyone know why?

My plum tomatoes are pushing 4 feet. Big healthy plants, lots of blooms but no fruit. We have been in a cycle of rain everyday for the last week and a half and if it doesn't rain it is cloudy and muggy. Any clues as to why no tomatoes?


moderator's note: added a more descriptive title to topic

 

If it has been raining probably because the insects are not active and are not pollinating the blooms. Have you noticed the bees flying about? You can hand pollinate which is not difficult to do with a soft artists brush. Just use the brush and go from flower to flower. That will make sure that the pollen gets to all of the blooms. Then they should set fruit. Insects will probably become more active when the weather improves.

 

I had this same situation last year. Though I didn't hand pollinate, I did go around and give the plants a little shake, shake, shake to get the pollin flying. Someone (GardenMama I believe) suggested adding some Epsom salts to the water as that is supposed to help the flowers stay on longer so they have a little more time to become pollinated. Eventually I did get some fruit so hang in there.

 

If the plants are in pots or are close enough to touch you can also just sort of shake them into each other. I only plant my tomatoes about 2 ft. apart so I rarely have a pollination problem. But occassionally early in the season I will have a few that fail to set fruit. That is before the insects get going.

 

Ack! I was having a similar problem and I neglected to even consider this was a pollination problem =(.

Thanks for this post.

 

I have started shaking the plants every morning, hoping I get them to fruit.

 

I will keep my fingers crossed.

 

Well I have been shaking the tomatoes and I found 5 little babies this morning!


YEAH!!!! ( photo / image / picture from marikelley's Garden )

 

These are my babies!


( photo / image / picture from marikelley's Garden )

 

LOL,, Congrats! You are a mother. Hope those babies grow well and you have no more problems with them.

 

Thanks!

 

We do tend to panic don't we? LOL
I get very upset when veggies don't grow as I expect. Ah, the plight of the farmer!

I wanted to try a new type tomato this year, so I bought Stupice seeds without reading enough about them. The plants are loaded, but the fruit is only about 2 inches or 2 and a half in diameter. The book told me this, but I failed to notice. They may be good for canning and we just have to spend more time peeling.

 

You will have to tell us how they taste. Are those a form of grape tomatoe?

 

Same thing happened with ours. I bought Porters thinking that they were the old type,,,they weren`t! The regular Porters were only 1 ounce fruit. Little bigger than the salad tomatoes. But the Improved Porters were better. Meduim size fruit, no core to speak of and no bug problems or diseases. They are finished now but I will plant them again next year. The regular ones are still making a bunch. Just bite size.

 

Tomatoes

The taste is rather good, but so small, not much juice. It might help if I let them ripen a bit more before hungrily wolfing them down.
Mart, I'm not sure if they're supposed to be related to the grape tomatoes.They are quite larger, say a little bigger than a golf ball.