Should I be panicking?

[Tapout]

Hiyas Tarheelchick, You say you haven't used any fertilizer? What was the NPK of your soil test you said the ph was 6.9 but ya what was the NPK. And btw for no fertilizing your plants look very nice the NPK values have to be pretty good.

[Gardeneer]

Your garden and plants look quite nice and normal, to ME

ON POLLINATION:
As already mentioned you don't need insects to pollinate tomatoes, peppers... Actually they might interfere and do cross pollination if you want to save seeds (From heirlooms/OP).

ON pH
Most garden veggies, including tomatoes, can thrive within a wide pH range.
OTOH most do better/best at a slightly acid soil ( pH << 7). Some argue that pH of 6.8 is almost ideal for most garden veggies. Some herbs like alkaline soil (pH 7 ++).

I am surprised that your soil has a pH of 6.9. Back East (GA, Carolinas ..) The native soil is acidic (pH <<6). I know it, b/c I have done gardening in North GA for a number of years.
As I said, pH of 6.8 is near perfect and so is 6.9. I would take any pH from 6.0 to 7.0 and not worry about it.
Reducing pH is very easy in your area : Pine straw, leaf mold, manures ... all are acidic. Soil acidifiers are sold in garden centers, including HD, if you want to take that route.

You seem to be doing quite well for a rookie. Good Luck !

Gardeneer

[James_57]

In the OP second post she said small blooms gone the next day. That sounds to me
like somthing is eating the blooms.
I would go out at night with a flashlight and look.

[Kikaida]

I got a Belgian Giant that's taller than me and the rest of the plants...Everyone has heavy fruit and I just saw three baby ones on the BG. It drops flowers like crazy while the other don't. Just a genetic thing I think.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Kikaida

I got a Belgian Giant that's taller than me and the rest of the plants...Everyone has heavy fruit and I just saw three baby ones on the BG. It drops flowers like crazy while the other don't. Just a genetic thing I think.

Give it a lot more water. It is one of those varieties that is especially sensitive to lack of moisture causing blossom drop. My BG had been doing the same thing up til a few days ago. We had been in a very dry hot period for several weeks and then last week 6 days in a row of rain. What did I see on my BG today but new fruit and more blooms.
The same was true of some of my other large pink varieties. During a long dry spell I find it hard to keep enough moisture in the raised beds for some of the more sensitive plants which require a little or a lot of extra water during times of heat stress in order to set fruit. The danger of too much water is splitting fruit or tasteless fruit so I usually sacrifice new blooms and fruit set on older plants by allowing them to be more dry during the ripening phase on the first few trusses but doing that means you will definitely have a gap in fruit development later on. That is one of the main reasons I like to continually set out new plants. My last tomato bed was planted on May 22nd and I plan on setting out more plants in a small bed this week if the heat takes a break. I already have the bed mulched and the trellis ready and am just waiting for a little cool down.

Bill

[tarheelchick]

I'm at work right now and don't have access to my soil report, but I remember that all the numbers outside of the pH were good. Not really my doing, other than having had the soil brought in late last year in anticipation of doing this garden. Having read everyone's thoughts and opinions, I am going to attempt to remain patient (not my best quality) and stay the course. I will likely start to water a bit more as was suggested. I have been using my soaker hose and running it about 2 to 2 and a half hours around every five or six days depending on any rain that we've had. This week, we're probably not going to have any rain and the temps are going to be 90's and lots of humidity. I have to say that all my plants (tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, etc) look extremely green and healthy to me. I see no evidence of any pests. I can see actual beginnings of squash and cucumbers forming and continue to have tons of blooms on those plants. I also have a few cherry tomato plants that have a few, but not tons, of tomatoes growing. It's just these darn big tomato plants that are stressing me out.

I do think I likely have too many branches per plant. I have been to afraid to pinch any off other than the ones that touch the ground. I read that there are a couple of different camps on the virtues of removing suckers, but I'm afraid I can't tell the difference between a sucker and regular branch. So....I have done virtually no pruning. This may be my problem. If I try to prune now, will it cause too much stress on the plant? The primary stems are pretty thick and solid. If I prune, should I only do one or two branches per day to limit stess? per week?

I have also been going out to the garden early morning and evening, giving a tiny shake to each branch hoping that helps. I feel fairly creepy doing that, but I don't think anyone is watching me.

Lastly, as of this morning I had a big magnolia tree taken down that you might have seen in my first picture that loomed in the background. It limited the morning sun a little bit and it drove me nuts always dropping its messy leaves so it is now gone. Maybe that will help in some way.

Thanks again for the help. Any and all suggestions are much appreciated! If I ever do actually get tomatoes to grow, I estimate that they will be worth approximately $350 each with all the funds I have thrown at this garden.

[b54red]

Don't worry about removing suckers anytime but if you need to remove large limbs or stems it is best to do just before you are going to water them. You can usually just break off a sucker at the juncture and it is best to go ahead and remove them when they are small unless you want to Missouri prune to get more foliage. You don't usually need to Missouri prune if you are allowing more than 2 main stems to develop which is usually the case when using cages for support.

Stems that fork which are common with some indeterminate tomatoes are best pruned after you see which side will produce the first flower cluster then clip off the other one an inch above the fork. This usually means cutting off a small stem that is between 6 and 9 inches long.

Basically you want to remove enough extra growth so that all the energy of the plant isn't going into new growth tips. Doing this will encourage more fruit set. Another reason for doing this is to encourage better air flow thus reducing disease activity. If you are new to growing tomatoes I doubt you will over prune.

Bill

[Dewayne mater]

Lots of good advice. I would at the P of fertilizers, phosphorus, is considered vital is causing more blossoms. If you think you don't have enough blossoms, considered a P only fertilization, water in very well and see if that helps. Good luck.

Dewayne mater

[UFXEFU]

Plants look nice and healthy. What was the plant out date? Here in the south by the middle of June you should have fruit set. You said that it was hot and humid, that's most likely why the blooms are falling off. If temps are above 90 very little fruit set. Plants look a little crowded. I like to set plants 3 feet apart with CRW cages.

[tarheelchick]

It seems like I may have done several things incorrectly when planting my tomato plants. They are likely too close together, I failed to prune them early on, and might have chosen the wrong type of tomato for the heat and humidity that we have here in central NC. I am learning lessons.

I had a little time this morning before work so I went out and pruned. I have no idea if I was doing it correctly, pruning enough, or not. I tried to prune limbs that seemed like they had no interest in producing a bloom. When I was finished I soaked them with the soaker hose for 2 1/2 hours. I have to tell you, it was very hard to cut off some of those nice pretty branches. Time will tell if it helps or if I killed my plants.

Of my 8 plants, I saw the tiniest of 4 small tomatoes and a few blooms. Our temps this week are going to be all high 90's and humid as you can imagine. I saw on another thread where someone was thinking of using a fan on the tomatoes. Maybe I should consider that also.

Someone asked when I set my plants out...I think it was the weekend of Mother's Day but can't swear to it. They were all about 5 inches or so high at that time. Now I would say they are well over 4 ft.

[Kikaida]

Thanks B54Red...I think you're right, I noticed the sets after I upped the water. This plant is truly getting enormous.