Beautiful plants but very few tomatoes.... - Page 2

CrazyAboutOrchids · July 20, 2012

I'm in CT as well like another poster on this thread who is also with out ripe tomatoes. I think the problem here has been weather related. I always have tomatoes by now, this year I have lots of green ones on the vines, but not a single ripe one yet; not even a cherry. I faithfully go out twice a day to shake my vines, but still continue to experience blossom drop. The problem here has been our on and off heat waves, IMO. Each time the plants get loaded up with blossoms, we spend a number of days with intense heat and humidity and no fruit set. In a typical year, we get this in August, but this year it's been on and off again since April.

That's my .02 although it doesn't mean much!

RayR · July 23, 2012

I don't think we can make the generalization that too much N leads to too much foliage growth and less or no fruiting. It's a bit more complicated than that, the type of N inputs in relation to other nutrients is a big factor. Plants utilize N in the inorganic forms of Nitrates, Ammonium and Urea and too much of one form can cause a reduction in uptake of other nutrients. Too much available Nitrates can cause an reduction in Phosphorous uptake is one example.
If a gardener is getting all leaves and no flowers and fruit, more info would have to be known to even make a guess at the root cause, the type of fertilizer used whether synthetic, organic or both, rate of application, the type of soil, water content in the soil and other things I suppose.

davidstcldfl · July 23, 2012

Hi, I just skimmed through the U of FL's link about nitrogen. RayR you sure are correct...it's very complex, how everything reacts and interacts together.
TLT, you weren't kidding, that is a long article. Hope what I'm about to share, will encourage you to spend some time reading it. I know I want to get back and read it all.
The 1st 55% of the article was just on nitrogen. They even went over how different watering techniques effected the nitrogen.
Here's a 'tease' of what I found...I listed the heading and some excerpts from it...

-Response to N Rate over all Irrigation Methods
There is an indication that N rates in excess of 300 lb/acre lead to reductions in yield.

-Research Investigating the Interaction of Fertilization and Pest Problems
....additional findings tie high rates of N application (>175 lb/acre) with increased populations of western flower thrips (Funderburk et al. 1997). Because western flower thrips is a vector of tomato spotted wilt virus, increased populations resulted in higher disease incidence in Quincy-grown tomatoes

-Interaction Of Fertilization and Fruit Chemical Quality
Increasing N rate resulted in a decrease in vitamin C content from 44 to 35 mg per 200 grams, and a reduction in titratable acidity from 0.47% to 0.38% citric acid. Lutein, beta carotene, and color were not affected by N rate.

-Nitrogen Summary
Often the grower N rate, typically more than 300 lb/acre N, resulted in lower yields compared with lower rates, often with lower first harvest yields and smaller sizes (the most valuable). More graywall disorder occurred with higher N rates
Studies in northern Florida showed that tomato yield did not increase with more than the recommended N rate but that leached N amounts did increase.

July 20, 2012	#16
CrazyAboutOrchids Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Zone 6 - CT Posts: 155	I'm in CT as well like another poster on this thread who is also with out ripe tomatoes. I think the problem here has been weather related. I always have tomatoes by now, this year I have lots of green ones on the vines, but not a single ripe one yet; not even a cherry. I faithfully go out twice a day to shake my vines, but still continue to experience blossom drop. The problem here has been our on and off heat waves, IMO. Each time the plants get loaded up with blossoms, we spend a number of days with intense heat and humidity and no fruit set. In a typical year, we get this in August, but this year it's been on and off again since April. That's my .02 although it doesn't mean much!

July 23, 2012	#17
RayR Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Cheektowaga, NY Posts: 2,466	I don't think we can make the generalization that too much N leads to too much foliage growth and less or no fruiting. It's a bit more complicated than that, the type of N inputs in relation to other nutrients is a big factor. Plants utilize N in the inorganic forms of Nitrates, Ammonium and Urea and too much of one form can cause a reduction in uptake of other nutrients. Too much available Nitrates can cause an reduction in Phosphorous uptake is one example. If a gardener is getting all leaves and no flowers and fruit, more info would have to be known to even make a guess at the root cause, the type of fertilizer used whether synthetic, organic or both, rate of application, the type of soil, water content in the soil and other things I suppose.

July 23, 2012	#18
davidstcldfl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Central FL zone 9b Posts: 96	Hi, I just skimmed through the U of FL's link about nitrogen. RayR you sure are correct...it's very complex, how everything reacts and interacts together. TLT, you weren't kidding, that is a long article. Hope what I'm about to share, will encourage you to spend some time reading it. I know I want to get back and read it all. The 1st 55% of the article was just on nitrogen. They even went over how different watering techniques effected the nitrogen. Here's a 'tease' of what I found...I listed the heading and some excerpts from it... -Response to N Rate over all Irrigation Methods There is an indication that N rates in excess of 300 lb/acre lead to reductions in yield. -Research Investigating the Interaction of Fertilization and Pest Problems ....additional findings tie high rates of N application (>175 lb/acre) with increased populations of western flower thrips (Funderburk et al. 1997). Because western flower thrips is a vector of tomato spotted wilt virus, increased populations resulted in higher disease incidence in Quincy-grown tomatoes -Interaction Of Fertilization and Fruit Chemical Quality Increasing N rate resulted in a decrease in vitamin C content from 44 to 35 mg per 200 grams, and a reduction in titratable acidity from 0.47% to 0.38% citric acid. Lutein, beta carotene, and color were not affected by N rate. -Nitrogen Summary Often the grower N rate, typically more than 300 lb/acre N, resulted in lower yields compared with lower rates, often with lower first harvest yields and smaller sizes (the most valuable). More graywall disorder occurred with higher N rates Studies in northern Florida showed that tomato yield did not increase with more than the recommended N rate but that leached N amounts did increase.