Tomatoes not flowering

[DirtMechanic]

Thank you. I clicked the link in your previous post and my guess is in might not be warm enough and they might not be getting enough sunlight as well. I'm not sure if that NPK number made any sense...but I'm going to get some food for the tomatoes for sure and possibly move a few plants inside, under a controlled environment.

I also realized that it's only been just over a month since I planted the seeds. Maybe once the weather warms up a bit and I feed these guys, they'll bloom?

Now you are on it! It will take an additional 50-70 days to go from flowers to sandwiches so be patient.

 

[TomatoTango]

Those temps aren’t the problem. We’ve been between 45-85 for a month now and each of my tomatoes has 2-4 flowering sites and is already setting fruit at about 3’. Likewise too much nitrogen isn’t an issue with the compost/potting mix you used. It’s hard to over do N if you aren’t bombing it with synthetics.

They would benefit from their own large pot, more sun (if able), and then I would feed them a light bloom fertilizer to encourage flowering. Banana peels do have phosphorous but they won’t break down in time to encourage flowering. I recommend something cheap or easy to use, preferably organic if you don’t have experience. Dr Earth makes a lot of easy to use fertilizers that are effective. Dilute to 1/2 or 1/4 strength to start.

 

[headfullofbees]

When you repot your tomatoes, whatever growing medium you use will most probably contain everything they require until they start to fruit. It is only then that they become greedy feeders, and it is only then that you should feed them.
We don't give tomatoes anything but repotting, and the nutrients that come with it, until the first truss has set fruit, so you're some way off needing to feed them.

 

[TomatoTango]

It is only then that they become greedy feeders, and it is only then that you should feed them.

Lol with the strict rules. There are proven benefits to feeding tomatoes all sorts of things at various intervals including aspirin, humic and fulvic acids, yucca, seaweed/kelp, fish emulsion, micro and macro nutrients including silicone, worm castings, compost tea, carbs/sugars, and more. But don’t take my word for it, there are literally hundreds of online studies suggesting this.

 

[headfullofbees]

Lol with the strict rules. There are proven benefits to feeding tomatoes all sorts of things at various intervals including aspirin, yucca, kelp, fish emulsion, micro and macro nutrients, worm castings, compost tea, carbs/sugars, and more. But don’t take my word for it, there are literally hundreds of online studies suggesting this.

I'm not against remedial action for soil deficiencies, nor with protecting plants with aspirin or compost tea, I use almost all of the things you do. I just don't consider them feed, as we probably wouldn't consider aspirin or vitamin supplements as feed, nor soil remedies, like worm castings, fish emulsions, carbs etc.
On the contrary, I would expressly recommend using them, Epsom salts too.

I just don't consider them feed, like comfrey tea, or seaweed tea, or manures or their extracts.
If you do, then the conflict of view is merely semantic.

 

[TomatoTango]

I just don't consider them feed.

Misunderstanding then. I consider foliar “feeding” them to be feed or food but there are a lot of terms for it. Ditto for root drenchings. I limit my liquid applications to every other watering and foliar spray weekly, specific to the plant stage. But I definitely don’t recommend causal use of chemicals or full strength fertilizer without deficiencies and/or gardener experience. Bombing stuff usually causes burns/lockouts.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Lol with the strict rules. There are proven benefits to feeding tomatoes all sorts of things at various intervals including aspirin, humic and fulvic acids, yucca, seaweed/kelp, fish emulsion, micro and macro nutrients including silicone, worm castings, compost tea, carbs/sugars, and more. But don’t take my word for it, there are literally hundreds of online studies suggesting this.

You must have the most cosmopolitan garden! I have benefitted from your suggestions about silicone, and kelp. Flowers are now showing up. Well, edit for @Chuck with the kelp idea first and you pushing me over the edge anyway!

 

[TomatoTango]

You must have the most cosmopolitan garden! I have benefitted from your suggestions about silicone, and kelp. Flowers are now showing up. Well, edit for @Chuck with the kelp idea first and you pushing me over the edge anyway.

Lol, cosmopolitan? Like I walk around with a fancy hat and cigars or something, singing songs and petting the plants? Not saying that I don’t do any of that btw.

Are your tomatoes shadeclothed or are the nighttime temps the issue? The silicone and kelp will help, humic and fulvic acid too.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Lol, cosmopolitan? Like I walk around with a fancy hat and cigars or something, singing songs and petting the plants? Not saying that I don’t do any of that btw.

Are your tomatoes shadeclothed or are the nighttime temps the issue? The silicone and kelp will help, humic and fulvic acid too.

Lol if you were referring to me and not the OP, we had a late cold spring and planted late is all. Things are perky and flowering has started this week. Some few fruit has set, and the curcubits are gonna be out of control with squash. As usual it will be a good year for weeds but they are more or less under control.

 

[TomatoTango]

View attachment 38049
Lol if you were referring to me and not the OP, we had a late cold spring and planted late is all. Things are perky and flowering has started this week. Some few fruit has set, and the curcubits are gonna be out of control with squash.

Oh ok. How do you eat that many squash? I got 2 plants and can’t eat that with a family of 5. You’re gonna have like 600 fruits.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Its not just squash- it is currency to be traded for my neighbors Silver Queen corn and other neighbors produce. But I can put away an inordinant amount of squash cooked with vidalia onions of course. That is 2 rows of zukes and 2 rows of yellow summer squash.

 

[TomatoTango]

That I get. I give away lots of stuff too. We try to eat around what I can grow.

 

[natale]

Those temps aren’t the problem. We’ve been between 45-85 for a month now and each of my tomatoes has 2-4 flowering sites and is already setting fruit at about 3’. Likewise too much nitrogen isn’t an issue with the compost/potting mix you used. It’s hard to over do N if you aren’t bombing it with synthetics.

They would benefit from their own large pot, more sun (if able), and then I would feed them a light bloom fertilizer to encourage flowering. Banana peels do have phosphorous but they won’t break down in time to encourage flowering. I recommend something cheap or easy to use, preferably organic if you don’t have experience. Dr Earth makes a lot of easy to use fertilizers that are effective. Dilute to 1/2 or 1/4 strength to start.

I'm into Dr Earth products. Those outdoor plants probably all have a little Dr Earth soil in the pot with the food or not food (depending on your perspective), so I am giving them all the right stuff, as far as I can tell or what's within my control.

I've posted quite a bit on this forum with plant problems that all basically lead back to insufficient light. I'm going to have to find a sunny corner in my apartment building where nobody cares if I grow stuff. What a terrible thing to do, huh?

Or just move it all indoors and set up a heavy system with proper grow lights and irrigation and such. I'm into indoor set ups and want to learn more, but I just got rid of a fungus gnat invasion that drove me bananas.

 

[natale]

I appreciate all the advice, everyone! Part of my goal here is to make urban gardening more accessible and available to people. I guess I'm in the studying stage of that and making progress and messes...through trial and error...but really all I want to do is move back to a place where I can have a huge chunk of land for growing food.

 

[Jacobwilliams]

Hi, I feel sad to hear about your tomato plant. To troubleshoot these issues, use humic acid. It Enhances the Growth of Tomato and it Through the Activation of Hormone and Growth. It can also improve plant growth, health and act as it required low fertilizers