It’s been constantly raining unpredictably for the past week and is still drizzling now as I write this. The drippy grey clouds seem to match my mood of bewilderment. I don’t quite understood what happened to my first cherry tomato flower so I’m just going to write it as it is.
My first cherry tomato flower just wilted after a few days so I want to take a picture for my blog. On the left, beside the very wilted first flower is a second one that bloomed a few days after the first and looks as if it is in the proceed of wilting as well.
After the picture was taken, I looked up and @#&%*#! I see no flower!
The flower just simply dropped off immediately after the picture was taken and I didn’t even touch it. Darn is to put it mildly. I’m abit flabbergasted and disappointed. Where did I go wrong this time? Even the second flower is yellowing and looks as if it’s gonna go down the same path as the first. The worse thing is that I am totally clueless.
More cherry tomato flowers are appearing but instead of feeling happy, I’m kind of worried now that they will all share the same fate.
Don’t know whether to laugh or to cry. This blog should be retitled “Dummies Guide on How NOT to Grow Vegetables”.
Balcony Greens 
11 comments
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March 22, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Patrick
It’s pretty normal that fruits don’t set from most flowers, and the flowers just fall off and die. There could be many reasons for it, but the most likely is the flower didn’t successfully pollinate. It’s also just pretty normal that the first few flowers a plant produces don’t set any fruit.
Your tomato is probably an indeterminate variety, in which case it will just keep blooming and blooming until it dies. There’s no need to worry unless a long time passes without any fruits forming, and then you could start looking into the reasons why.
Tomato plants need either a little wind or insects for pollinating. If there are neither of these on your balcony, you might be able to help the plant set fruits by shaking it gently, as this will help move some of the pollen around inside the flowers. Tomato plants have closed flowers and are normally self-pollinating, so unless an insect moves the pollen from one flower to another, the pollen never leaves the flower. But again, you don’t need to worry about shaking the plants until you know there’s a problem, which there probably isn’t.
March 24, 2008 at 5:20 am
rowena
My first thought was that if your tomato plants have been getting a lot of rain/moisture due to the wet weather. When my dad grew cherry tomatoes in Hawaii, he always made sure that they were never “overwatered” as it affected the yield. Not sure if this in any way has something to do with your tomato blooms, but Patrick’s explanation sounds logical.
Don’t give up! There’s certain to be more flowers to come!
March 25, 2008 at 10:26 am
Kristi
I would take into account the other two comments. It may be too wet with all the additional moister from the rain etc. Has it been getting full sun? Mine started to do this in the fall when we got less sunlight and it got colder.
But don’t get too discouraged it’s still early!
March 26, 2008 at 10:26 am
myBrownThumb
Take heart! My mom’s capsicum plants also had flowers falling off but one thing I noticed is usually only one will be left and it will start to grow larger ( maybe concentrating the energy to turn into a fruit? =D)
I found that fertilising during flowering with a light potassium nitro based watering helps with keeping the flowers on… I also attempted to pollinate the flowers with a cotton bud…lol…
All the best on the little cherry tomatoes! ^u^
March 29, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Teresa
Hi Patrick! Thanks for taking the time to explain in detail. I’ve taken every word into mind and will continue to monitor it. You don’t know how calming it is after reading what you have explained.
Hi Rowena! Thanks for the encouragement. It has been raining erratically these past 2 weeks.
Hi Kristi! Yes, it’s been raining nowadays. I will continue to keep my spirits up!
Hi myBrownThumb! Thanks for dropping by! I sure hope so about the concentrating of energy to turn into fruit 🙂 I hope it’s one big fruit! Kekeke.
March 31, 2008 at 6:31 am
Gardenista
I have been growing tomatoes in my basement (tiny types, so they don’t grow out of my shelves) and of course, they can’t be pollinated by insects down there. I used a paintbrush to knock the flowers around a bit so they could pollinate themselves. I did this at the stage where they were looking their best, bright and yellow and in full bloom. I read that touching them with something that vibrates, like an electric toothbrush, works very well. I found that all the flowers on my peppers and tomatoes fell off unless I remembered to pollinate them.
April 1, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Teresa
Hi Gardenista! Thanks for sharing this tip! I’m going to keep a lookout for new flowers and try to pollinate them before it’s too late. Wow, there’s so much snow over on your side. I’m never going to complain about bad growing conditions again. Great work that you’ve done in the basement!
April 25, 2008 at 8:51 am
Mike
Thanks for posting this question, and thanks Patrick for the answer. I think Patrick has it. I recently purchased an AeroGarden. I quickly got addicted and bought another one and also 2-2&1/2 gallon self watering tomato planters. I have the same problem with my Polish Dwarf. My Polish grandfather loved tomatoes and I thought I would honor him and grow some Polish Dwarf tomatoes after he passed. Thank you Thank you Thank you
April 26, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Teresa
Hi Mike! Great that you got your answer from Patrick here. He’s always been a great help! I think it’s great that you are growing memorial Polish Dwarf tomatoes and I hope you have a yield soon! Do let me know if you have a blog address, I’ll love to read more about it!
June 9, 2008 at 2:08 am
lisakingsley
Hi. Thanks for visiting my blog.
I agree with your answers from above, but you also might want to check your night temperatures. When the temperature gets low at night you can have some flower drop. This can happen early in the season before it warms up or late in the season when it is getting cool.
July 28, 2016 at 10:34 am
James
Did you have any solution to this?