A riddle from OK (I think OK is in Zone 7). My tomato plants (”reborn” after the hellish June-July-August heat wave broke) still haven’t produced any tomatoes, just a multitude of blossoms. It’s been a few weeks, but the blossoms don’t produce fruit, nor do they shrivel up and fall off the stems.
Anyone have any thoughts? Do I leave them be, or go ahead and pull them up? It’s almost like they’re in “suspended animation”.
7 reasons Tomatoes do not set fruit
You could take a small paint brush and try to hand pollinate and see if you can get some fruit. Depending on your season--its late--you might get some of them large enough to ripen, or large enough to bring inside to ripen! Good Luck!
Fruit set still depends upon your temperatures, even if it has ‘cooled off.’
If your nighttime temps are still above 70, that’s part of the problem. Also, how’s the humidity? High humidity causes the pollen to become ‘grainy’ and that prevents good pollination, too.
If it were me? I’d leave them in the ground, keep them watered and give them a shot of fertilizer. You should still have plenty of time in Zone 7 to produce a late crop of tomatoes, I’d think.
I’ve noticed that sometimes when a plant “pauses”, it’s because the plant is working to establish more roots. Other times, it’s because the plant doesn’t like the weather and is waiting for less stressful conditions. I would leave them be.
Are they indeterminate or determinate tomatoes?