My NYC tomato, pepper, and cucumber plants. Is there something wrong?

[delson]

i see flowers on the tomato plants but no fruit, same on the peppers, cucumber is growing but i see some critters (2 or 3 kinds)on the lower leafs, quit a bit of dried flowers with tiny cucks, and cracks on the main stems. what am i to do?

[French-Connection]

The tomatoes are what we call too leggy, caused by not enough light mainly. Also what variety are you growing? Indeterminate plants need all the shoots taken off, which to be fair yours look like. So having all the shoots removes would have given you a far better plant.
My blog gives details of both types, if that helps.

Determinate or bush tomatoe plants grow smaller, and you leave the shoots on.
The critters on the cucumbers, do not look too bad , but there are signs of a lack of nutrients. Maybe the lack of light has not helped either.

[Mischka]

The plants in your photos don't look bad to me. Tomato plants do best with a minimum of eight hours of direct sunlight per day, but many folks get by with less. How many hours of direct sun are yours receiving?

I don't prune my tomato plants and there's been many a debate on the subject of whether or not it's beneficial or detrimental to do it. Depending on variety and date of transplant to the outdoors, your plants may just be beginning to flower. I have cherry tomatoes developing here in Mass., but many of my larger fruited varieties are just beginning to flower, so not to worry.

Have you recently been experiencing the same 90+�°F temps we've had here in Massachusetts? When temps exceed 90°F for consecutive days on end, tomato plants will shed many of their flowers; this is commonly referred to as "blossom drop". (I've attached a PDF file that explains this syndrome in detail)

What type of soil are you growing them in, what size containers are you using, how often do you water and what type of fertilizer(s) are you using? Soil pH is also an important factor for adequate nutritional uptake and plants in containers are affected to a greater degree than plants growing in traditional garden plots. You can pick up an inexpensive pH test kit at any of the big box stores, local hardware stores or gardening centers. It's a good idea to pick up an N-P-K test kit too, so you can better monitor fertilizer levels in your containers.

There are many folks here that grow in containers and I'm sure they'll be able to offer you some pointers, too. Don't despair yet, there's still plenty of time left in the season to get some fruits from your plants.

[rsg2001]

I grow tomatoes, cukes and peppers in nyc (Queens to be specific). Half my plants are in the ground and half in containers, and I get my best production out of the containers (more light on the deck). At any rate, my container plants have grown very lush and several, not all, are loaded with tomatoes. I'm certain that the problem here is light - I've had the same problem myself, and as a result every other year have had to have the trees pruned in my backyard to get more light. (This year we had to take down the one big maple at the back of the small back yard because it was growing into the garage and moving the bricks. Now we're getting close to 7 hours of sun and I believe that's why at least certain of the tomatoes have more tomatoes in progress than the last couple of years.)

Yes, we have just gone through several days in the 90s, and last week had three consecutive days of 100 degree temperature which has had to have had a negative effect. (Today, half of my Costoluto Genovese plant - in a container - wilted and I'm praying it's not bacterial wilt because it's loaded with tomatoes.)