tomato blossoms drying up, not setting fruit

[Annie]

I am in Northern Colorado (Zone 4-5). This year I planted a
Brandywine tomato for the first time. This heritage plant is
flowering well enough, but is not setting fruit. Rather, its flowers
turn brown and fall off. Is this one of the diseases to which older
tomato varieties are susceptible, and to which modern varieties are
now resistant? is there any thing I can do?

Other Tomatoes nearby (other species) are doing very nicely, so i know
i have enough pollinators. I water about every 3-4 days, in a trench,
so the foliage does not get wet. We have had very little rain, and a
lot of heat--mid 90s, which is hot for northern Colorado. Can anyone
tell me what is wrong?

[King Pineapple]

Annie <eppe...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:e6f18378.01071...@posting.google.com...

>
> Other Tomatoes nearby (other species) are doing very nicely, so i know
> i have enough pollinators. I water about every 3-4 days, in a trench,
> so the foliage does not get wet. We have had very little rain, and a
> lot of heat--mid 90s, which is hot for northern Colorado. Can anyone
> tell me what is wrong?

Sometimes certain varieties will not set fruit if it's too hot. Try waiting
a couple of weeks, after that your average daytime temps should start to go
down.

Craig

[Carla]

Another thing you might try is putting up a shade cloth on your plants for
afternoons. That will drop the temp a little bit around the plants.

Carla

"Annie" <eppe...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
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[MK]

I'm growing a lot of heirlooms myself this year with similar problems; not
growing Brandywine but am growing Caspian Pink, Pineapple, Box Car Willie,
Anna Russian, Druzba, Old Brooks, Eva's Purple Ball, Opalka, Mule Team, etc
etc, blah, blah, blah(over 40 plants this year.) Seems there are tons of
flowers but for every bunch/cluster, only 1 or 2 sets fruit, the rest turn
yellow & shrivel up & fall off. There are lots of bees, & I've planted many
companion plants like borage, calendula, chives & garlic, etc to attract
them & even watched them jump from the borage to the tomato flowers. Temps
are in the 70's & 80's and nights are in the upper 50's to upper 60's. I
only so far concluded that the fruit set problems are occurring on the
indeterminate large fruit plants; I'm also growing some determinate
heirlooms that are acting just the opposite--8 or 9 of every 10 are setting
fruits on these plants, especially Mountain Princess (heirloom, NOT part of
the N.C. Mountain series of hybrids,) Rio Grande, Glacier, etc. In fact,
Mountain Princess has over 50 fruits on 2 plants, and some are 2-1/2 to 3".
Most of the cherry or small tomatoes, whether heirloom or hybrid, are doing
great--the only missing flowers are ones I broke off accidentally. Also,
don't know if it makes a difference but I often pluck the dried yellow part
of the flower off exposing the fruit.

Maybe it's not just the indeterminate plants but the large fruit plants. I
just finally got a fruit set on Trip-L-Crop, but have been eating Glacier &
some incorrectly labeled cherry toms for about a week now...

--
korney19 AT adelphia DOT net
http://server3001.freeyellow.com/bowtiesupply/img/garden/
Zone 6a, Buffalo, NY

"Annie" <eppe...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
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[Frankhartx]

>From: eppe...@yahoo.com (Annie)

>Brandywine tomato for the first time. This heritage plant is
>flowering well enough, but is not setting fruit. Rather, its flowers
>turn brown and fall off. Is this one of the diseases to which older

Highj temperature may inhibit fruit set--that and possibly Brandywine might
resent heat more than other varieties and is not a heavy setter in the first
place. Pollinators are not necessary, tomtoes are self pollinating.

[Penny Morgan]

It could be more susceptible to the high temps than the other tomatoes you
are currently growing. I've heard that high or low temps can cause blossoms
to drop, but I've never experienced it for myself.

Penny
Zone 7 - North Carolina

Annie <eppe...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
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[2bux]

Here in Seattle where we have weird weather sometimes, we grow Brandywines and
although it usually doesn't get too hot here, it can drop below 50 at night
almost any time, and Brandywines don't set fruit at all if the temperature
gets below 50. Ours have not set one fruit yet, and it's been near 80 for a
week or more, but a few nights have been under 50. <sigh> Our Stupice have set
nicely, though.

Rick

In article <Tq237.115978$Md.29...@typhoon.southeast.rr.com>,
PMOR...@nc.rr.com wrote...