Flowers but no tomatoes

chuxter · July 14, 2007

Hi y'all. This is my first year growing tomatoes. I decided to go with the 5 gal. buckets with a potting soil that contains a slow release nitrogen. I water about every day to every other day depending on how the soil feels to the touch. And I live in southern West Virginia. Finally I was fertilizing every 14 days or so with Miracle Grow for tomatoes until the tomatoes got about golf ball to baseball size (about 2 1/2 to 3 weeks ago) then I stopped. They are still green. The variety is Mortgage Lifters and I planted 8 of them. Hope that's all the info.

Now, 7 of the tomatoes are obviously the same species because the leaves and tomatoes look the same. And on each of those are anywhere from 8-16 tomatoes. But there's one tomato plant that is very different from the rest. It's bigger, taller, more bushy and with larger, darker green leaves. It's got tons of flowers but no tomatoes. I'll include some pix. Hope soneone can help.

This pic shows the leaves of the unknown species. Just on the bottom leaves do they have the yellow spots.

This one shows the Mortgage's on either side on the ??? species

Here's a ML tomato

Here, the ??? plant leaves are on the left and the ML leaves are on the right

This shows the flowers on the ??? plant

sooby77 · July 14, 2007

I'm not going to be of much help seeing I am newbie myself, but I have to say, nice photoshop editing job. Makes the pics pop!

chuxter · July 14, 2007

Thanks

I shot the tomatoes against a green background and everything was getting lost in the image. Figured it would help.

chuxter · July 15, 2007

I'm bumping this since it got moved to a new section

Rena · July 15, 2007

It looks like they need some food. When I plant in 5 gallon buckets I have to water twice a day.

chuxter · July 15, 2007

I'm keeping a pretty good watch on the water and the Mortgage Lifters look great. I just can't figure out why the odd one won't produce fruit. I know by looking at it that it isn't a Mortgage Lifter but I can't identify it w/o fruit.

Can anyone tell me why it won't produce? COuld it just be a late bloomer or do I need to add something to the soil?

Rena · July 15, 2007

Blossom drop can be due to heat not enough nitrogen and too much nitrogen.....

bcday · July 15, 2007

If Mortgage Lifter is the only variety you started seeds for, you will probably never know what the odd plant is.

If it's from a stray seed that came in the Mortgage Lifter packet, there is really no way of identifying it with any certainty just by looking at it, even with ripe fruit.

And if it was the result of a cross, it's a whole new hybrid that most likely won't come true from seed and will only have a name if you give it one.

Only if you started several varieties and the "not-ML" plant looked like one of the others would you be able to guess which one it might be. That could happen if you yourself had a seed from another packet slip into the ML spot, or if a label got switched.

As to why it won't set fruit, if all the pots were treated the same my guess would be that it's just a late bloomer.

July 14, 2007	#1
chuxter Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: West Virginia Posts: 4	Flowers but no tomatoes Hi y'all. This is my first year growing tomatoes. I decided to go with the 5 gal. buckets with a potting soil that contains a slow release nitrogen. I water about every day to every other day depending on how the soil feels to the touch. And I live in southern West Virginia. Finally I was fertilizing every 14 days or so with Miracle Grow for tomatoes until the tomatoes got about golf ball to baseball size (about 2 1/2 to 3 weeks ago) then I stopped. They are still green. The variety is Mortgage Lifters and I planted 8 of them. Hope that's all the info. Now, 7 of the tomatoes are obviously the same species because the leaves and tomatoes look the same. And on each of those are anywhere from 8-16 tomatoes. But there's one tomato plant that is very different from the rest. It's bigger, taller, more bushy and with larger, darker green leaves. It's got tons of flowers but no tomatoes. I'll include some pix. Hope soneone can help. This pic shows the leaves of the unknown species. Just on the bottom leaves do they have the yellow spots. This one shows the Mortgage's on either side on the ??? species Here's a ML tomato Here, the ??? plant leaves are on the left and the ML leaves are on the right This shows the flowers on the ??? plant

July 14, 2007	#2
sooby77 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2007 Location: NC Posts: 48	I'm not going to be of much help seeing I am newbie myself, but I have to say, nice photoshop editing job. Makes the pics pop!

July 14, 2007	#3
chuxter Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: West Virginia Posts: 4	Thanks I shot the tomatoes against a green background and everything was getting lost in the image. Figured it would help.

July 15, 2007	#4
chuxter Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: West Virginia Posts: 4	I'm bumping this since it got moved to a new section

July 15, 2007	#5
Rena Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Warm Springs, GA Posts: 1,421	It looks like they need some food. When I plant in 5 gallon buckets I have to water twice a day.

July 15, 2007	#8
bcday Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NY z5 Posts: 1,205	If Mortgage Lifter is the only variety you started seeds for, you will probably never know what the odd plant is. If it's from a stray seed that came in the Mortgage Lifter packet, there is really no way of identifying it with any certainty just by looking at it, even with ripe fruit. And if it was the result of a cross, it's a whole new hybrid that most likely won't come true from seed and will only have a name if you give it one. Only if you started several varieties and the "not-ML" plant looked like one of the others would you be able to guess which one it might be. That could happen if you yourself had a seed from another packet slip into the ML spot, or if a label got switched. As to why it won't set fruit, if all the pots were treated the same my guess would be that it's just a late bloomer.