Blooms just stopped !

[nanae5]

Hello,
I am new here! I have just planted this year 12 tomatoe plants Celebrity and better boy. They grew great, they had leaves and massive blooms and made bunches a great tomatoes that are now getting ripe but all at once I have NO blooms forming and the few that were there are just hanging brown.

What could be my problem and how to fix it. I really need these tomatoes to live. My grandchildren are counting each tomato and enjoying them.

I live in South Ms. I have them in the yard good soil but neutral soil and I have put epson salts on them at the beginning and used osmocote when i planted them in the beginning. I had some yellow leaves at the bottom and used Deconcil in the once. That has been a couple of weeks ago. Did the poison affect the blooms?

Thanks for any and all help...
Nanae5 in South Ms.

[b54red]

Your problem is the same one everyone in the deep south suffers from and that is heat and humidity. I have been growing tomatoes in the heat of summer for years and have learned a few tips which are in the thread below. Most of my tomatoes are setting new fruit even in this oppressive heat but only because I follow do the little tricks mentioned in this thread. Once the heat sets in you will always experience lower fruit set and fewer blooms. Some of the large pink beefsteaks are especially sensitive to the high heat and humidity. Try growing Big Beef, Indian Stripe, Limbaugh's Legacy, Neves Azorean Red, Spudakee, Druzba, Frank's Large Red, Donskoi, Kosovo, Anna Russian, Carbon, Eva Purple Ball, and Red Brandywine (from Tomato Growers Supply).

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=36624

Follow the things mentioned in this thread and I think you will see a change in your fruit set for the rest of the summer. Oh yeah TTF stands for Texas Tomato Food which is an amazing product for helping with fruit set in the heat.

Bill

[nanae5]

Oh thank you to you all for your help and for the welcome. I do so appreciate the help.

Bill I will surely get some TTF. I do have a question you and others say you plant and have so many tomato plants.

We planted 12. 6 of the Better Boy and 6 of the Celebrity. We just wanted to try our hand this year as we had NO luck in the past due to the heat.

Okay other than this newest issue with the blooms we have massive amounts of tomatoes on these 12 but is it possible this time of year to plant some more tomato plants that will produce and we would have more tomatoes and maybe longer into the summer.
I am sure I need to change the kind of tomato if I do plant more but since I have learned on these 12. I want to try some more. Container gardening for me is almost out as I have no space or place to put them indoors. I have 15 acres to put them on outside.

Thanks for the welcome again, and the help to you and to all. I am so glad to found this group I have already learned so much in just a day.
nanae5 south ms

[b54red]

I set out seedlings right through July and sometimes into August but that is usually too late to get fruit before freezes hit lately. In years past I set out as late as the end of August and got ripe fruit.

My favorites for setting out this time of the year are Indian Stripe, Neves Azorean Red, Arkansas Traveler, Big Beef, Druzba, Spudakee, Frank's Large Red, Limbaugh's Legacy, Red Barn and Red Brandywine (from Tomato Growers Supply).

For setting out in July or early August for fall plants my absolute favorite is Carbon followed by Big Beef, Indian Stripe, JD's Special C Tex, Kosovo, Limbaugh's Legacy, Berkely Tie Dye Pink, Brandywine Cowlick's, Barlow Jap and Anna Russian.

You need to be careful when setting plants out this time of the year down here because the shock can kill them. Make sure your plants are well hardened off and I do mean well hardened off. Allow them to get too dry in the cups a few times and wilt which will increase root growth. Fertilize the seedlings well the day before setting them out. Make sure the soil is already watered well and mulched well before setting them out. I use a cypress mulch which does a nice job of keeping the soil cool. Definitely don't plant them deeper than they are growing in the cups because of the danger of damping off or bacterial wilt from the warm soil this time of the year. If you can set them out after a nice rain and preferably very late in the day. Don't water them after setting them out until they start showing signs of wilting a bit.
Keep them sprayed with a good fungicide like Daconil weekly. Start feeding them Texas Tomato Food as soon as they start blooming and keep them well watered until the fruit starts nearing the ripening stage. Limit the number of stems to increase air flow and encourage fruit set.

Bill

[nanae5]

Bill
Thanks for this great info I will save this for my reference for sure. i am going to get the plants you suggest. I am going to order the TTF as well, there is no where locally to buy TTF I dont think i can find it online at any of the stores. So I will order and get it in ASAP.

Thanks again for all the help.

nanae5 south ms