Happy to be of service.
Btw, do not spend your hard earned money on any of those chemicals they sell to spray on tomato blossoms to set fruit. I have found it’s a waste.
You can do two things to set fruit. Plant them in pots and move them to shade in overly hot weather (Moths will pollinate them at night!) or you can use that highly technical device known as a Q-tip (lol) and hand pollinate them, going from blossom to blossom.
Watering: I learned this from my Italian grandpa’s knee. But of course, I had to find out on my own. Tomatoes respond to “water stress.” Translation=if you have a choice of a little water every day or a deep water twice a week, choose the latter.
Fertilizing: Tomatoes are vines, remember. So here is what this means to you: Choose a fertilizer with a high middle number.
That is your PHOSPHORUS. PHOSPHORUS controls flowering and fruiting.
The numbers on your fertilizers are:
(in this order, always)
Nitrogen (controls greenery and growth)
Phosphorus (flowering and fruiting)
Potassium (getting established, overall plant well-being. Like the banana to cure your hangover! LOL)
If you have a plant that is growing a lot and looks beautiful, but refuses to flower or fruit, you are using too much nitrogen!
Btw, Miracle Gro changed their formula a few years ago and it’s high nitrogen and low phosphorus....a word to the wise.
Someone on another thread said that putting a cotton ball on a straw and tapping each flower will increase the yield.
If my tomatoes get big enough, that’s what I’ll try this year. It sounds easier than a Q-tip to hand pollinate each one.
You should come work for me! I answer that fertilizer question 20x a DAY at the garden center, LOL!
BIG SIGNS explaining exactly that, posted all up and down the fertilizer aisle go unread for some reason...
I've switched to a mix of 10-10-10 and bone meal. Makes it about a 12-19-10 overall. Mix it into the soil when planting and also side-dress every 3-4 weeks. The only thing I use my remaining Miracle Grow for is the corn, corn needs a lot of nitrogen.
Btw, Miracle Gro changed their formula a few years ago and it’s high nitrogen and low phosphorus....a word to the wise.
Wow! Who knew. I’ll bet they didn’t tell anyone, you had to read the label. Just like last year after becoming accustomed to Kraft regular barbecue sauce, I run out, as in empty bottle. Go to store get new bottle, don’t notice “better flavor” on bottle until poured on meat, artificial smoke, my most UNfavorite ingredient. So new and improved isn’t always.
do not spend your hard earned money on any of those chemicals they sell to spray on tomato blossoms to set fruit. I have found it’s a waste.
No to chemicals. Never had problems around here getting lots of fruit, but splitting fruit has been a problem.
Thanks for the fertilizer information. It got me wondering...I have wisteria vines that are 15+/- years old which have never bloomed. I’ve heard some varieties take many years before blooming. I was going to rip them out, but maybe I will apply some phosphorus and see what happpens. They’ve been there this long, what’s another year or two :)