What percentage should I expect when self pollinating?

[Stainless]

I've been going out about every three days and self pollinating my different types of tomatoes. I've noticed that a lot of my blooms still eventually die and fall off without pollination.

Am I naive to expect at least an 80% successful pollination? I want to get as many tomatoes as possible even if requires me to go out and do each individual bloom.

I've also noticed a few bloom stems actually falling off about an inch from the bloom.. What can cause that? I just noticed it in a few spots but was curious as to why.

[Patihum]

Exactly what do you mean by you're self pollinating? Are you talking about buzzing the blooms with an electric toothbrush? A lot of things can influence whether tomatoes set or not - especially the temperature and the humidity.

[Fiishergurl]

I had two tomatoes set out of hundreds of blooms on two beefsteak plants. I didnt think they needed help pollinating because we have so much wind. I planted these the first week of feb. All other plants (small to med size fruited plants) had plenty of tomatoes. Then in early may out of desperation I started buzzing the blooms three times a day (lol) every day with an electric toothbrush and got pretty close to 100% fruit set. I tried to count them but theres too many but probably between 80-100 tomatoes on the two plants combined. And they grew like crazy for a while then slowed down. With all that fruit I started to worry they didnt have enough fertilizer so I gave them a boost and that worked so well I gave them another and then another and now blossoms are dropping again. Too much fertilizer probably vecause temps and humidity are still the same as when fruit was setting. I'm a newbie... :-) but all is well because im in Florida and the rainy season is around the corner so im not sure new fruut at this point would ripen before the diseases wipe out the plants. But point is, electric toothbrush took my two beefsteak plants from almost 0 fruit set to almost 100%.

Ginny

[Stainless]

Originally Posted by Patihum

Exactly what do you mean by you're self pollinating? Are you talking about buzzing the blooms with an electric toothbrush? A lot of things can influence whether tomatoes set or not - especially the temperature and the humidity.

I've been using a small paint brush. I may see if I have an old electric tooth brush sitting around to try from here on. We have had a lot of humidity here lately and lots of rain.

[Patihum]

Stainless - tomatoes are self pollinating - when conditions are right pollination has taken place BEFORE the bloom opens.

[Lee]

Originally Posted by Patihum

Stainless - tomatoes are self pollinating - when conditions are right pollination has taken place BEFORE the bloom opens.

Yes, they are self pollinating, but I don't know how much (if any) pollination takes place before the bloom opens.
Typically the unopened blooms are the ones you emasculate in order to make crosses.

I've heard many reports of good success using the electric toothbrush. I used it successfully to gather pollen for the crosses I made last year. I suspect though experiences could vary across the country with different growing conditions.....

Lee

[OkieDan]

I am growing a few Black Crim tomatoes this year. I am wondering if anyone else has a hard time getting them to set tomatoes. I have been tapping the vines and using an electronic toothbrush on them, but they seem to be the worst thing in my garden to set fruit. With the extra large size of the blooms you would think it would be easy.
Purple Cherokee, Wild Fred dwarf, Super Fantastic, and others are setting over 75 percent.
Here in Tulsa, OK WE DO HAVE A LOT OF HUMIDITY.

[OkieDan]

I am growing a few Black Crim tomatoes this year. I am wondering if anyone else has a hard time getting them to set tomatoes. I have been tapping the vines and using an electronic toothbrush on them, but they seem to be the worst thing in my garden to set fruit. With the extra large size of the blooms you would think it would be easy.
Purple Cherokee, Wild Fred dwarf, Super Fantastic, and others are setting over 75 percent.
Here in Tulsa, OK WE DO HAVE A LOT OF HUMIDITY.

[kurt]

I live in extreme S Florida and learned that growing in the wild was almost fruitless without pesticides,fungicides and whatever other "cide" they have.So I moved inside our pool screened in enclosure.We grow cherrys as a mainstay since it is the wife and I now only and the constant harvest was perfect for us through our season.The wife wanted some large round maters for sandwiches,BLTs etc.So years ago I started some determinates.Found out since I am enclosed I had no natural pollinators and was not getting any fruitset,the cherrys since there are so many and in close proximity of each other did great.So I resorted to hand pollinization of each flower either by paintbrush or sacrificing one petal as a brush(one brush,petal /variety)and finally got 90/95% fruitset .In a pinch a Q Tip with the cotton pulled out works also.Late morning 10-12 seemed to be the optimum times for a nice dry loose pollen.

[Fiishergurl]

Kurt - what kind of determinatnes do you grow and when do you grow them? Does anything grow for you during the summer heat/rains/humidity?

I'm not too far away in central florida (near New Smyrna Beach) and this is my first year. Most everything is growing well right now, but wondering what the next couple of months will bring.

Ginny

[kurt]

I have been growing(now F-6,7,8)Kumatos(Canadian stock,non Mexican)KBX for Blts,and the Black from Tula.After the heavy rains and 90 plus heat during the summer months everything seems to shut down.Since I do containers(with drain pans/saucers) they get waterlogged.Plus after the last mangoes turn and are sold we shut down,board up,pack up the motor home with our mutts and enjoy cooler climates up in PA at our family farm in he Alleghenys.Usually filter back down in October.At this writing I shut down the growths at least a month ago.We do have a wild Everglades cherry growing in some areas around the two sheds and on fence line that seem to grow all year long.It is not a individual plant but a combination of several that drop fruit,grow,die and crawl their way here and there.