tomato blooms drying up

bwj721 · May 21, 2023

Hello all,

So excuse me up front, as this is my first post. My tomatoes look beautiful . I have some fruit that is growing nicely not ripe yet but getting closer. They are watered as needed, top dress with fish emulsion, added leaf mold 4 weeks ago. Plants are 4 foot tall, stems are 5/8inch, nice healthy green color. Then today I notice all of the blooms look dried up. see attached pictures. What happened?

I garden in raised beds, located in the Houston Texas area

Any thought or advise would be greatly appreciated

BWJ

KarenO · May 21, 2023

What have your temperatures been?

Barb_FL · May 22, 2023

Long time tomato grower and agree with KarenO that it is probably your temperatures.

Our daytime highs have been hovering between 82-85 but our nighttime lows have reached 75 for the last week and blooms look similar or just snapping off. We were at the beginning of the end a while back, but now the end of the season is upon us.

bwj721 · May 22, 2023

lows high 60's highs in 85 -90

MrBig46 · May 22, 2023

It's hard to judge. The picture shows flowers with withered petals. It also happens to me with some tomatoes, but when I carefully remove the dried parts, I can see that there is already a small fruit inside. I don't see any withered flower stalks. If you have the temperatures as you state, then I think they are optimal for pollination. The hitch may be that there is no plant movement to aid pollination. Then you need to shake the plant from time to time.
Vladimír

KarenO · May 22, 2023

90 is too hot for good pollination, especially if the plants are very sheltered or up against a wall for example where it may easily be hotter than a reported weather temperature.
In addition to temperature, both highs and lows, there are other factors. Most notably humidity either too dry or too humid, can really affect pollination as well.
Sometimes a bit of shade will help if it’s hot. Drought to the point of wilting even fairly briefly will cause a blooming plant to drop blooms.
Spraying blooming plants with things like copper fungicides etc can cause issues as well.
I think I see the yellowing behind the browning blooms that indicates these blossoms will drop. Long story short I think 90+ degrees with suboptimal humidity for pollen was the most likely issue. Prune that whole cluster off continue to care for your plants and hopefully the next ones will set for
you.
Good luck,
KarenO

Dark Rumor · May 22, 2023

I live in the same area and I see the same thing happening with my plants, lots of blossoms were bright yellow a couple of weeks ago and now they are dried up and falling off.

My guess was the recent hot weather has caused the blossom drop. Most of my plants have set fruit and hopefully we will get some milder weather and more fruit will set. It was a little early for 90 plus degree weather.

zeuspaul · May 23, 2023

They all look like they will drop except for one. The blossom lower right last image might have a chance.

bwj721 · May 23, 2023

thanks for the insight everybody

b54red · May 24, 2023

Since we are in almost the same weather pattern as Houston I am seeing some of the same things with a few days recently getting very hot with very high humidity. I am giving mine some TTF as it seems to aid in fruit set in hot weather. I just received a case of TTF and am starting to feed my plants weekly or every 10 days if possible. When I stick to the feeding it usually results in an increase in fruit set even in the not so favorable heat and humidity. I have good fruit set so far with most of my plants but not all. A lot can depend upon the variety as to fruit set in mid summer down here. I know that Brandywine Sudduths fruit set drops off a cliff as soon as temps and humidity get above 85 yet some others don't seem to slow down for a while.

What varieties are you growing this year?

Bill

JRinPA · May 31, 2023

That is what happens around here in mid July in the heat. Tomatoes from early trusses are hopefully putting on size and then the heat hits and there are lots of misses. They don't self pollinate well in those conditions.

One year, maybe two, I did a good job of getting past that. It was by using a C+ tuning fork in the morning while it was still cool. This was when I was florida weaving. I had a lot better recruitment that way, but of course I over did it and broke the thing. At that time they were like $4 shipped off ebay, just a junky cast tuning fork, but it is in the range of a bumblebee's wingbeat, and it surely worked for buzzing off pollen.

I ordered a replacement but kept misplacing it and haven't used one in a few years. I found it this year and plan to put it to use on single/double stemmed plants.

May 21, 2023	#2
KarenO Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Vancouver Island Posts: 5,931	What have your temperatures been?

May 22, 2023	#3
Barb_FL Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Indialantic, Florida Posts: 2,000	Long time tomato grower and agree with KarenO that it is probably your temperatures. Our daytime highs have been hovering between 82-85 but our nighttime lows have reached 75 for the last week and blooms look similar or just snapping off. We were at the beginning of the end a while back, but now the end of the season is upon us.

May 22, 2023	#4
bwj721 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2020 Location: Baytown,tx Posts: 4	lows high 60's highs in 85 -90

May 22, 2023	#5
MrBig46 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Czech republic Posts: 2,534	It's hard to judge. The picture shows flowers with withered petals. It also happens to me with some tomatoes, but when I carefully remove the dried parts, I can see that there is already a small fruit inside. I don't see any withered flower stalks. If you have the temperatures as you state, then I think they are optimal for pollination. The hitch may be that there is no plant movement to aid pollination. Then you need to shake the plant from time to time. Vladimír

May 22, 2023	#7
Dark Rumor Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Southeast Texas Posts: 287	I live in the same area and I see the same thing happening with my plants, lots of blossoms were bright yellow a couple of weeks ago and now they are dried up and falling off. My guess was the recent hot weather has caused the blossom drop. Most of my plants have set fruit and hopefully we will get some milder weather and more fruit will set. It was a little early for 90 plus degree weather.

May 23, 2023	#8
zeuspaul Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2007 Location: North County, San Diego Posts: 419	They all look like they will drop except for one. The blossom lower right last image might have a chance.

May 24, 2023	#10
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	Since we are in almost the same weather pattern as Houston I am seeing some of the same things with a few days recently getting very hot with very high humidity. I am giving mine some TTF as it seems to aid in fruit set in hot weather. I just received a case of TTF and am starting to feed my plants weekly or every 10 days if possible. When I stick to the feeding it usually results in an increase in fruit set even in the not so favorable heat and humidity. I have good fruit set so far with most of my plants but not all. A lot can depend upon the variety as to fruit set in mid summer down here. I know that Brandywine Sudduths fruit set drops off a cliff as soon as temps and humidity get above 85 yet some others don't seem to slow down for a while. What varieties are you growing this year? Bill

May 31, 2023	#11
JRinPA Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: SE PA Posts: 972	That is what happens around here in mid July in the heat. Tomatoes from early trusses are hopefully putting on size and then the heat hits and there are lots of misses. They don't self pollinate well in those conditions. One year, maybe two, I did a good job of getting past that. It was by using a C+ tuning fork in the morning while it was still cool. This was when I was florida weaving. I had a lot better recruitment that way, but of course I over did it and broke the thing. At that time they were like $4 shipped off ebay, just a junky cast tuning fork, but it is in the range of a bumblebee's wingbeat, and it surely worked for buzzing off pollen. I ordered a replacement but kept misplacing it and haven't used one in a few years. I found it this year and plan to put it to use on single/double stemmed plants.