Are these tomato flowers dead?

[GoDawgs]

I'm having problems with fruit set. I'm thinking it's a heat issue but not sure if there's something nipping off the blooms. The shade screen is up but that doesn't affect the ambient air temp.There's lots of this:



Then there are a lot of blooms that just look brown and never produce a fruit.



The problem is with all of the tomato plants down in the garden and is not an issue with those up at the house which receive some shade later in the afternoon. The plants at the house are setting more fruit than the ones in the garden.

All flowers on garden plants get buzzed with the toothbrush but not the ones at the house, The plants in the garden receive the recommended dose of Espoma Tomato Tone every two weeks. The ones at the house get Miracle Grow every two weeks and don't have this fruiting problem This is the first time I've tried the Tomato Tone and am wondering if that's an issue.

We're heading into highs of 99 starting Monday, lasting about a week so I don't expect any pollen to be viable for a while.

Any input will be welcomed!

[Labradors]

Can you rig up some shade for the plants in the garden?

Linda

[worth1]

Things like tomato tone take quite some time to be of any use.
I would suspect that it is a heat problem.
And the reason I really don't bother with growing tomatoes anymore.
I simply got tired of growing plants with no fruit because of this early heat we have every year.

[MissS]

It most likely is a heat issue. You could wait until this hot front moves through and give the plants some MG instead of your Tomato Tone and see if they start to set fruit for you. I agree about trying to find some way to shade them.

[Shule]

What's your soil like? What's in it? Are there any wood chips, or anything like that? Is it alkaline, or have you added calcium to it? Are you container-gardening?

Are those tomato leaves in the picture representative of what the whole plants look like?

The reason I ask these questions is because the leaves look like they could use more nitrogen than they're getting, for some unknown reason. A well fed plant should be darker and glossier, unless it has chartreuse foliage (not that tomatoes really get that glossy, but glossier), unless something's wrong, like wood in the soil sucking the nitrogen out of it, or too much calcium for how much nitrogen you have.

Anyway, too much or too little nitrogen are said to be able to cause blossom drop (although there are other things that can cause it, of course, such as inappropriate temperatures--not just extreme heat; I'd also look at your nightly lows--they may be too warm or too cold).

Tomato Tone is a low nitrogen fertilizer (3-4-6 with 8% calcium). Miracle Gro is pretty high in nitrogen (if you mean All-Purpose 24-8-16 Miracle Gro, which has 0% calcium). So, if low nitrogen is the problem, that might be why the plants at the house are having fewer issues.

With normal soil (in the ground), Tomato Tone's NPK should be more than fine for tomatoes (even no fertilizer at all should be fine), since tomatoes don't need a terrible lot of nitrogen, normally. So, that's why I suspect there's something going on with the soil (if the pictures' leaves are representative).

[Shule]

I'm just offering up ideas. My plants aren't actually that dark of a shade, either, now that I inspect them. So, I think I'll take my own advice and fertilize them!

[GoDawgs]

I appreciate all the help! Some additional information:

Shade - I put up shade on them earlier in the season so they're benefiting from that starting around 3-3:30.

Containers - I only grow the tomatoes in containers after bacterial wilt appeared in the garden soil about ten years ago. It only affects the tomatoes. The plants get nice and big, set fruit and as the fruit gets near to turning, the plant starts wilting and pretty much collapses over three to four days. A cut stem stuck in a jar of water indicates the bacterial streaming from the stem as is common in this problem.

Soil - I've been using this mix bought from a place that makes bulk planting soils. I've been using it a long time now and have never had any problems with it. Per Bricko Farms, "...it starts with our premium original plant food, Compostost. Then it is enriched with Kricket Krap, and dolomite lime. All of this is mixed well with composted pine bark, and aged before selling." It was originally developed by several horticulturists and a leading grower in the area.

Fertilizer - This is the first time I've used Tomato Tone after reading some comments in here about how well it does. But because not everything does well for all soil types and climate conditions, it was used on just half of the tomatoes. Agree on how the foliage color should be a deeper green. I think I'm going to substitute some Miracle Grow tomorrow as it's fertilizing time again.

[slugworth]

oy so humid
you have no control over that

[worth1]

I always felt plant tone was a better option.