New member and a question

[mary_in_nm]

Hi everyone!

I just LOVE tomatoes and stubbled on this site while looking for a reason why my tomatoes have stopped setting fruit. I'm a real amatuer in the gardening field. I have one cherry tomato plant that has about 12 fruit (I've eaten maybe 10 so far) and another normal size plant. Sorry I can't remember their names. Anyway the cherry has stopped producing fruit and the other is blooming but has not produced any fruit at all.

Is this because it's so hot here -- over 100 for the past 1-1/2 weeks? They are on a drip system, getting water twice a day. They are both in pots, although considerably smaller than 5 gallon. After it cools down, will they produce fruit?

Our yard is brand new, just landscaped this spring/summer. I have another question regarding roses. Where can I get information as to why one is drying. Seems like half of the plant has dried up.

Thanks for your help. I'm looking forward to many tomatoes just for me ... my DF hates 'em!

Mary

[nctomatoman]

Hi, Mary - welcome, and happy reading! It is odd for cherry tomatoes to have issues with pollination, but your extreme heat may indeed be to blame, as well as your insufficient pot size. Are the plants wilting at all during the day? I wonder if drip rates can handle the heat with plants in smaller than optimal pots.

When things cool down, if the plants are healthy and happy, they should set fruit.

[mary_in_nm]

Thanks for the response. No, they are not wilting at all. They appear to be healthy. Just no fruit.

Also, they are fertilized every 2 weeks with liquid MiracleGro.

I would guess the pot sizes are maybe 3 or 4 gallon. Maybe next year, we'll try for a real garden plot but the soil would have to be super amended. It's full of caliche, rocks and sand. Lots and lots of sand. It was nearly impossible to get through the caliche... the phone company had to bring in special equipment just to lay the phone lines.

[Denise_in_MI]

Welcome Mary!

I wanted to say hello! You will like it here. Many experts to help with your questions, like Craig above. By next year you'll probably be growing hundreds of tom's!

Denise

[JerryL]

I too welcome you to our little tomato world.

One other possibility to add to the pot size and temp considerations is the MiracleGro. I’m not familiar with the rates of that product but if the nitrogen % is high you’ll get a lot more foliage then fruit.

I’m also not a pot grower so I may be all wet but it seems that every two weeks is a bit much. Hopefully someone who does a lot of pot will chime in.

[JBinKC]

Welcome to Tomatoville, it is a great community. Very helpful and fun.

JB

[mary_in_nm]

Hi everyone...

To answer some of your questions, no I'm not new to NM but this is a new home so no professional landscaping. Just a lot of backbreaking work. The yard is xeriscaped with the exception of some shrubbery and roses (one of which is dying). With the exception of the rose bush, everything is doing well with two daily drip waterings.

The liquid MiracleGro says it's for tomatoes, roses, etc. and to use it every 7-14 days. Nitrogen level is 5.8% ammoniacal Nitrogen, 9.2% urea nitrogen. I used MiracleGro potting soil, so that has some nutrients in it, too. I don't think I'm getting too many leaves, because there are a lot of blossoms, just no fruit.

I guess it's just too darn hot for those guys. I guess I'd be pretty miserable, too, if I had to sit in the desert sun for 8 or more hours a day, too.

[travis]

I've never lived in the S.W.

Are there things that you can do with cloth sun screening, fans, and that sort of thing? Especially with cherry tomatoes that are bred from wild forms?

PV

[elkwc36]

I'm not a pot grower either but might try moving the pots if possible in some afternoon shade. Even if it is on the east side of the house. Know here is SW KS my plants that get some shade say around 3 or 4 are doing better than those in full sun all day in this heat. We have cooled off here today. Hopefully you will also. JD

[spudleafwillie]

Mary,
I live in sw NM about 200 miles sw of Albuquerque and about 75 miles nw of Las Cruces. Our day temps in the last few weeks have been 95-102F with 5-10 % RH. Tomato growing down here is a real challenge but can be done successfully. I have done it since 1985 in NM.

It's a whole new ball game down here with a severe tomato environment routinely 100%F temps, RH of 5-10% and Summer UV levels of 12 to 16. Sometimes it takes varieties a year or two to adapt to the high UV levels and the 230+days of sunshine. Rainfall levels are about 8-10 inches a year with about 3/4 of it falling in the July-Sept. monsoon season.

So far this year we have had 0.4 inches of rain since 1-1-06, about 3.5 inches below normal. Our cows down here are now giving " dehydrated milk" !!!


I grow almost exclusively potato leaf varieties (97 different ones this year) plus 10 regular leafed ones (all black varieties) I'm interested in seeing if the real hot and dry weather down here will produce a very dark colored black tomato.

Just picked my first ripe Galinas cherrys this past Tuesday, with my Kimberlys just turning color and will be ripe next week,

I grow everything in containers from 2 to 26 gallon pots with the majority 5 gallon pots or larger. I have grown tomatoes in pots as small as 1 gallon but you have to monitor the water and fertilizer levels in 1 and 2 gallon pots VERY carefully on a daily basis to avoid heat stress and nutrient depletion with the 1-2 times/day watering necessary here in Hillsboro.

I finally got my 8 foot bamboo stakes in all 110 pots this morning and have started tyeing the plants up with 4 ply jute twine. Plant spacing is 4 to 5 feet in all directions to minimize cross pollination (currently about 2 % with this spacing) The place looks like a bamboo jungle with all the stakes.

PM me so we can exchange e-mail and ohone numbers to keep in touch about tomato growing here in the desert.

Best regards,
Bill Malin