Hello all! Me again! Having some issues with my tomato plants at the moment! I have 2 very large tomato plants that had been growing very well, they are taller me now, lush green leaves and lots of yellow flowers. However, most of the flowers dry out/shrivel up and fall off! (First photo) I don’t know why! Also, on these same two plants, I’ve recently noticed some of the leaves having brown spots and yellowing of the leaves. You all have been such wonderful help with all of my gardening issues! Hoping to get some insight on these two new problems! Thank you I’m advance!
The most common cause of blossom drop in my experience is temperature fluctuations. Night temps are important. They need to be 55 - 75 degs F. Dryness with wind can cause this as well as insects. Soil dryness as well as too little or too much water. If they are outside you could make a temporary cage with cellophane until a bit later on. As for those browning leaves— I am suspecting fungal, or possibly bacterial. At any rate, I would remove all leaves with brown spots then get rid of those leaves. Just be careful not to get water on the plant’s leaves when watering your toms. Good luck with your toms.
If it's a plant virus, then there isn't anything you can do about it... But if not, then there are these 3 things I'd like you to try. 1. Check for aphids and spider mites, plus mealybugs also. They can cause such problems in vegetable plants. Google up their pictures and information - You'll know what to look for. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphid https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_mite https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mealybug 2. This could be a symptom of over watering. That could make your flowers fall off. 3. When watering, don't wash the tomato plants. They absolutely hate water on their leaves... Yes it's tempting for us to wash all our plants so that no dust is seem on their leaves. But all tomato plants hate this - This can also attract some of those garden pests I mentioned above. I suggest you put a clear plastic sheet over them also, (make a trellis of a sort), whenever it would rain. So your tomato plant leaves stay dry even during a heavy downpour. Trellis is a good idea for tomatoes anyway, because when the plant becomes heavy from the fruit hanging on it. It can droop down. That's why trellis is often used for such plants. For checking the moisture content of the soil, (if it's too little or too much) - Invest in a good garden soil meter. They are now available almost everywhere. Some have 3 things in them. Like soil moisture, soil pH, and light exposure. While others which are a bit costly, have 5 instruments in them. So they can also tell you the temperature and humidity of the air as well - Such gadgets take the guesswork out of gardening. And assist all new gardeners to quickly develop an instinct for gardening, (which otherwise takes years). So investing in a good garden and soil meter is a good idea.
Most likely it is septoria leaf spot. Soil borne it starts from the bottom up. The pictures make it hard to tell though. https://www.thespruce.com/identifying-and-controlling-septoria-leaf-spot-of-tomato-1402974
I have also had flowers fall off before. I manage to avoid overhead watering as my tomatoes have always had to be undercover due to my climate and growing zone. But as Sjored mentioned, temperature can play a huge role in blssom drop. My cold frame can get very hot and if that happens while flowers are forming, some may fall off. Mostly it is when has become too cold, especially at night. Tomatoes like a happy window of about 13C to 30 C ( give or take )Tomatoes are very sensitive to cold, and I also found that when I was watering with very cold water from our deep well, it was enough to trigger blossoms to fall and fruit failing to set. Now I'm careful to use tepid water for every watering ( This could also be because I do not have the recovery time as others may have with warmth, but I did read that a cold water watering can not only cause blossom drop but also set growth back a week or more). Hopefully with such large healthy plants more flowers will come. I recently purchased a meter like the one that S-H mentioned and it is helpful as a guide. If you aquire one, I'd recommend to read the directions carefully about how to prepare the soil for testing.
Do not worry about early blossom drop ! I am in Texas with similar climate ! Not enough insect pollination to make them set fruit right now !
@mart , that's why I encourage wild bees to come and build their hive in anyone of my tall Neen trees. (I often provide them with clean drinking water, and sometimes sugar water too). Gardening is impossible without beneficial insects...
S-H, sadly, I have not seen even a single bee this year! we do have plenty of wasps and mosquitos here, though! I’m thinking of planting more flowers to attract the bees to my yard.
Best way to attract bees my friend, is place little bits of bee's wax around the places you think bees would be most likely to build a hive. Yes flowers really help a lot, but this trick I mentioned above tips the balance our favor - Bees see this as proof, that this place must already have a hive in the past, (otherwise how can there be any bee's wax left here?). So they think that this must be safe area to build a colony here. Therefore 8 times out of 10, they will start building a hive. CAUTION: I don't have any African killer bees in my part of the world. So if some aggressive type of bees end up building a hive on your property - Then blame me afterwards! By the way, if there are hummingbirds in your area. Then bees aren't likely to build a hive. As sometimes hummingbirds steal honey from their hive. But even if not, they both compete for similar flowers.
If you have room plant some type of berries ! Blackberries, raspberries ect ! They bloom early and bees love the blossoms ! Helps the bees and you,, if you like like them !
