[sharky]

Blasted tomato plants have been riddles with problems, can anyone tell me what the problem is here with dying flowers? It had happened to most of the  plants... :?  :roll:

[woodburner]

I'd have blamed damp but against a brick wall that is highly unlikely! Sorry, can't help

[sharky]

I'd have blamed damp but against a brick wall that is highly unlikely! Sorry, can't help

They have been in a green house. I thought with them being undercover it would prevent a lot of problems, although it looks like it has caused a whole lot instead.  :roll:

[Trillium]

You're positive there's no tiny tom beneath the dying petals?
For one thing, the pale, veined leaves tell me that the plant is starving. Whatever you're feeding them isn't adequate. Try to give them some manure tea, comfrey tea, or pelleted manure and water them in. You should notice a difference soon. Also, how are you pollinating the flowers in the conservatory? Bees? Brush? Wind? Unpollinated flowers do die off after a while. And watering must be very regular to keep optimal health.

[sharky]

You're positive there's no tiny tom beneath the dying petals?
For one thing, the pale, veined leaves tell me that the plant is starving. Whatever you're feeding them isn't adequate. Try to give them some manure tea, comfrey tea, or pelleted manure and water them in. You should notice a difference soon. Also, how are you pollinating the flowers in the conservatory? Bees? Brush? Wind? Unpollinated flowers do die off after a while. And watering must be very regular to keep optimal health.

Some of that advice is new to me!  :oops:
I have checked and the flowers are unpollinated so that could be one cause, although I read not to feed them until the first fruits were visible so I have not fed them at all yet, should I be feeding them now?

[tweeky]

Beegly.

No feed until the fruit has appeared. Spraying the flowers with a fine water spray can help.

Although nitrogen could help as a foliar feed.

Other than that, I would go along with what has been said already...watering at the correct time. Not too dry, not too wet etc.

That's why I prefer outdoor bush toms...much easier to deal with and more tasty.

[Trillium]

Definitely. The leaves say they're quickly depleting existing nutrients, so the flowers will take last place on the food cycle. A starving plant can't support fruiting flowers, let alone fruit.
By chance, are the plants in growbags?

[woodburner]

Didn't notice the leaves  :oops:

It could be that your compost was very low in nutrients, or that they have all been washed out.

Feed them with something general or nitrogenous like the manure tea, until they set some fruit, then change to tomato feed.

[tweeky]

Beegly.

Adding to my post. A tomato plant produces an abundance of leaves which reduce the food the fruit is receiving.

A tomato plant requires very little leaf once the fruit has set, so get rid of most of the extraneous shoots and leaves.

There bye leaving the fruit to receive all the goodness and nutrition.

[Trillium]

Tweaky, you normally don't feed toms until fruit appears, but first of all the plant needs to be healthy to begin with....which sharky's isn't. Something was definitely lacking in the conservatory soil and the whole plant is suffering. To not feed it something now means the whole plant will eventually die off as there'll be no fruit set at all to normally feed when fruit appears. Kind of roundabout but I think you know what I mean.

[tweeky]

Beegly.


Trillium, yup.

"definitely lacking in the conservatory soil"

Sorry I didn't know that. Sharky,have you used this soil before for tomato plants?

[Big Jen]

Try spaying with epsom salts to help green the leaves back up. I had some slight yellowing on mine and this worked wonders. Could very well be poor quality grow bags with not enough nutrients for these greedy plants. I agree not to feed before the fruit sets but you do need a healthy plant to start with.
BJ

[gobs]

If there is no fungal growth on the flowers/buds that are decaying, drought is a very likely culprit and can cause such damage in leaves in it's own right.

Good watering routine , as said , is very important, if the place is dry, misting , etc can help, also could have cought a bit of cold in the recent past.

BTW, you could tidy your tying in, so it does not rub the stalk and what are the black stalks like?

[puravida]

gosh - I never I had to brush pollenate toms.

[NYKnick]

I'm totally stumped and feeling a bit devastated at the onset of what I imagined would be a terrific season. The picture posted at the beginning of the post shows exactly the same flower die-off, but I'm pretty sure my plants' leaves are green, dark and not veiny. I use Miracle Gro (fertilized) soil for tomatoes and the nutrients are supposed to feed to 3 months. I'm about 2 months into it, so maybe the soil does need a little nourishment -- but "distilling" manure tea seems a bit complicated. Any other suggestions for feeding the plants? Honestly, I my wife isn't going to let me dump a pile of manure in our small yard to perform this experiment which, I'm assuming, isn't fragrant. Onto the manual pollination -- I've sprayed the blossoms with set spray and that doesn't seem to be doing the trick. How do I pollinate the flowers, or induce pollination? My cherry and plum tomatoes seem to be doing fine, but the bigger ones that are heirlooms are the ones with the dying flowers. I'm completely confused by this problem, and would feel much better if I knew it was bugs doing the damage since I know how to manage them effectively. Please help!

Thanks in advance for any assistance and advice you can lend me!
Mike