I am growing 5 different tomatoes in containers - cherokee purple, black krim, red pear, pink brandywine and sweet 100 cherry. They were all planted in the same mediums, ferts, and on the same watering schedule. All are about the same size, except for the brandywine which was a late add. All but the brandywine are blooming like crazy, but so far only the red pear and cherry are setting fruits. I started the "shaking" method today. Are black heirloom varieties slower to set fruit? I water thoroughly every other day (been hot as hades the past 2 weeks, with no rain) and although they aren't mulched, they all have water saucers under them and the soil is completely shaded by the plants. The soil never gets overly dry - they have never wilted or shown any signs of heat stress. I'm at a loss as to what is going on. I planted them with mater magic in miracle gro, and have yet to re fert as the mater magic is a 3 month slow release, and the miracle gro feeds for "up to 6 months."
Black Krim, Cherokee purple not setting fruit....
- Thread starter southernfried
- Start date
Shaking method? Does that involve grabbing the plant and shaking it while screaming "SET FRUIT YOU PRICK!!!"
HAHA. We aren't cursing yet, but we might get to that point. They don't need pollinators per se - Shaking them does what the wind does but more effectively.
yo southern dude,
some old wives tale i have heard
states "to get some 'maters to set fruit, one has to pinch the top"
and it seems to "help"
good growing
elaborate? do I trim back the tips of the top of the plant?
hmmm, I have a Cherokee Purple growing in a 7 Gallon nursery pot with Pro Mix, just flowering now, I will let you know if I have any troubles, I hear the Cherokee Purple is a finicky plant. I have 4 plants fruiting out of my 20 or so.
I would blame the heat here in alabama (mid 90's plus for the past two weeks, lows in the high 70's for the most part) but the cherry and red pear are setting fruit. I have also heard that the cherokee purple is finicky. I went with the black krim because it is supposed to be a hearty plant that does well under rough conditions, but still no fruit. Who knows. I may resort to the apple juice method I saw using google searches, but am very skeptical about putting that in containers. I wonder if adding cal mag every two weeks might promote fruit setting?
I grew a whole bunch of toms last season including the cherokee purple. The one I had in the ground only set two or three fruit total. I have another in a small pot that I have totally ignored and thought it would just die off (cos its winter here now) . The stubborn thing won't die! It's really starting to get cold at night here and every other tomato plant has long since withered but the cherokee purple's old leaves are withering and then its putting out new leaves. Strange variety indeed.
I just purchased and applied blossom set spray. Guess we will see how that goes. My plants are all indeterminate and I'd rather not prune any growth, yet. I'll let everyone know how the blossom set experiment goes. We should be getting sporadic rain storms for the next few days (finally!) so I will hit them with a cal mag fert whenever the rains go away, hopefully within the next week.
the elaboration is grasp the small growing tip between thumb
and forefinger and remove the small almost undifferentiated growth
by pinching and/or twisting
http://gardening.about.com/od/growingtips/tp/Tomato_Tips.htm
see tip #10
have tried and seems to work have some overwintered cherokees at my industrial patch
and forefinger and remove the small almost undifferentiated growth
by pinching and/or twisting
http://gardening.about.com/od/growingtips/tp/Tomato_Tips.htm
see tip #10
have tried and seems to work have some overwintered cherokees at my industrial patch
the elaboration is grasp the small growing tip between thumb
and forefinger and remove the small almost undifferentiated growth
by pinching and/or twisting
http://gardening.about.com/od/growingtips/tp/Tomato_Tips.htm
see tip #10
have tried and seems to work have some overwintered cherokees at my industrial patch
Ahhh yes ok. I may try that. Temps have cooled a bit now, I'll give it a few days.
Well, got three little black krim tomatoes showing up now. If your problem is not blossom end drop, but just that the flowers aren't setting fruit (in my case b/c it has been too hot), I can now endorse blossom set spray with the plant hormones in it.
Can you tell us what your temps are like? Many tomato varieties will not set at temps over 90 and if they have flowers will drop them as soon as the flower dies. A lot of southerners have trouble with the regular strain of Brandywine setting fruit at all because of hot humid temps.Some are having better luck with a strain called Cowlicks Brandywine and it is indeed a good large slicer and can reach 2 pounds or more. There may be some on this forum that have seeds for it. Also I know some folks in Alabama , Mississippi and Texas that have had luck with Cowlicks when the other Brandywines produced nothing.
Kevin
It's getting down to 6C (42F) at night and about 21C (70F) during the day here, and raining a lot. Just checked again today and my Cherokee Purple looks like a bright happy seedling still. It isn't putting on a lot of growth but it's not dying away. I'm beginning to imagine it surviving until spring!