Why Won't My Tomatoes Grow?

tomatoes are hit or miss. some years have have tons=some years none. Get away from heirloom variety-try a basic Roma. also-more than one plant seems to help. I do not know why. when we have a variety of tomato plants they all produce better than when we have just one. also-new soil. tomato plants are picky about their dirt.

First problem:

Black Krims are an heirloom. Heirloom tomatoes, while often lovely, are VERY prone to disease of many types, are specific to a certain weather/soil condition (on top of "tomatoes generally need x, y, z"). Krims, specifically come from the Ukraine, which are "steppes"... very, very dry plains prone to drought and heat and downpour -actually, that's any tomato's favorite way to grow... they won't grow well unless they dry out *completely*, and then are absolutely soaked... as well the steppes have very COLD temps. Super long growing cycle, and then *bam*, reeeally dry cold winter. I can't speak as to the soil comp of the Ukrainian region that grows sun loving veggies (melons, tomatoes, etc.), although I'd suspect that they're higher in calcium (more bone meal to add) than most places, and ash (the steppe fires are legendary, and have been happening for millennia). Commercially, heirloom tomatoes are nearly all grown indoors in sterilized soil to prevent the hoards of insects, fungus, and weather related problems (it's really easy to "force" plants indoors, but near impossible outside).

2nd Problem

No idea... it could be one of many many different things from lack of bees (I always use a paintbrush to make sure of pollination), to temp is too high, light/dark cycles not "right" to trigger fruiting, soil is too toxic (needing to be leeched... see below), too wet, too dry, spidermites... the list goes on.

In General:

Container tomatoes in general are a pain in the tucus, but very easy at the same time. You water them until the water comes out the side. This first time... wait for 10 minutes (dry soil will not absorb water very well, so you douse them, and come back later. Always, always always water tomatoes twice... but when figuring out:). Then you water them AGAIN, and then AGAIN, and then AGAIN, to make sure it is well and truly soaked. Each time, Pick it up and feel how heavy it is. When it is officially not getting any heavier, you've just figured out how much your pots weigh when saturated (usually 10-20x as much as when dry). Over the next few hours/days (depending on how hot and dry they are), pick up the pots again. You want them completely dry -but not for long, just a LITTLE limpness in your plants- before soaking them again. Dry, soak, dry, soak, dry, soak. If the tips of your leaves are turning brown "burning", there's too much water and you're not letting them dry out enough. If they're less than vibrant green and don't "spring back" from slightly limp an hour after watering... they're not getting water often enough.

Save your urine for a day or two (or if you're lucky enough to have boys... just tell them to go pee on the plants), and add pee to them at their rootbase at least once a week. ((Human pee is the best, it contains the perfect amount of nitrogen that is easily absorbable, the right acidity/pH, and what little isn't used by the plants, breaks down in the soil very quickly. You can use chemical nitrogen, but it burns plants very easily and "addicts" them to it (hard to explain in less than 20 minutes, but that's the best way I can, otw) so they don't grow or fruit as well. Avoid miracle gro like the plague. Ugh. Awful stuff.

Once a month, bring them inside and "leech" them in the bathtub... or just let a hose run and run and run (bathtub saves water). You want the water running out of the pots to run clear. You'll be *amazed* and the thick golden brown oily ooze that comes out prior. It's not dirt, and you can tell, because in an hour or 3, the water will run clear. Tomatoes release a lot of wastes into the soil, which inhibits their growth and fruiting. Leeching the toxins from the soil will make for MUCH healthier and more robust fruiting plants. (For very strong stalks, btw, when they're seedlings/sprouts... aim a fan at them. Hard enough to blow them over, but not uproot them. Turn them every few hours. Whereas before you'd have stalks the size of your pinkie, turning a fan on them will get stalks the size of a man's big toe. From a centimeter or less in diameter to 1-2.5 inches. The larger stalks not only support heavy fruit better, but they allow for a MUCH greater absorption of water and nutrients during both the vegetative cycle and the fruiting cycle. Don't be gentle with seedlings. Blow them around. Knock them about (stronger roots). Let them wilt (triggers water hoarding), overwater. Treat them BADLY when they're young, and you'll have "Whoa." plants by fruiting time.

To know (and I haven't looked up krims to check recently), MOST "purple" tomatoes are late fruiting. The purple color comes from their reaction to the sudden drop in temperature that happens in our area around halloween. Typically a 40 degree temperature change in the space of a week. The temp shifts, the nights get *cold*, and the plants turn purple. Commercial growers just turn on the refrigerator units for a few days.

My mix (not the be all, end all, but a good general 'base':

Black Gold potting soil
Bone Meal
Blood Meal
Worm Castings (liquid form, given periodically)
Pee (yes, you read that correctly)
Pearlite (for drainage)
Vermiculite (for drainage)
((tomatoes need VERY good drainage, and a lot of water. Which is an annoying combo. Even soaking them a lot as babies, to weed out the most succeptable and to strengthen the remainders, they still are pretty prone to root rot.))

Handy:
- Insecticidal soap (for spidermites, aphids, etc.)

I love Home Grown tomatoes. If I can't grow anything else I grow tomatoes.

Get the Ortho Book, "Tomatoes". It will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about tomatoes.

I'm in San Bernardino which is not that far from you. I've been picking tomaotes for almost a month. Tomatoes can be picky about trace minerals. I use miracle grow house plant formula on mine. Tomatoes are self polinating. The wind shakes the blossoms. The pollen moves with in the flower and pollenates the tomato. The pollen is within the closed flower. Bees or anything else cannot pollenate the flower unless you cut away part of the flower petal. The pollen is viable for 48 hours. I shake the branch with the blossoms on it to ensure good pollenization. If the flower is not pollenated the flower just drops off leaving a bare stem.

There is a product called "blossom set". I've never had to use that, but I've heard other gardeners say how well it works. Home Depot, Lowes and Walmart sell "Blossom set".

If your tomato plant gets too hot the flowers won't pollenate.

Good luck to you and yours.

Only thing I can think of is too much rain. Too much rain seems to promote leaf growth with little fruit plus the fruit that does grow tends not to mature as quickly.

Another problem is lack of bees, yup without those little creatures you will get nothing.

Ok, I don't know what the weather is like in California, but typically, when nighttime temperatures stay above 70 degrees, tomatoes won't pollinate.

Also, excessive fertilizer may encourage leafy growth, and the plant is putting the energy into the leaves, instead of the blossoms.

I had a great crop of tomatoes from my garden early on, but now that it doesn't go below about 75 degrees at night, the growing season is over for us for the summer. I see one now and then, but that is about it.

btw... I'm in central Texas, just north of Austin. We're at 30+ days of over 100 degrees in the daytime.... whew!

My tomatoes were not growing well initially this year.
We went from dry to super wet and fungus was the problem.
A spray of liquid copper fungicide fixed it and I've got tomatoes ripening up now.
Do enough bees or other pollinating insects find your plants?
That could be a problem but I'm not sure how you'd fix it.

I had the same problem last year! I went to Lowe's and purchased the Miracle Grow plant food specifically for tomatoe's and it work fine! It too about 2-3 weeks but they eventually grew! Also, maybe it's the soil? Try the Miracle Grow for tomatoes and hopefully it'll work..I was just at our local Walgreens and noticed they had it on sale for $2.99! which is a good deal! Good Luck!

I have just quit trying to grow tomatoes. I have them in pots out back.

My main issue is as soon as the fruit starts showing up the squirrels get them and I have a guard all around the plants. I don't know how they get in. I tried garlic powder, cayenne to no avail.

We had 1 small tomato from our plants so far. You are right, expensive tomato!!

I grow a garden every year. Tomatoes are tempermental. A lot depends on the temp, soil, sun, and water. For mine, I have to water them twice a day, and every week I use miracle grow. not sure what to do for yours as it seems like a special type of plant. I would try buying tomatoe plant seedlings at your garden store and just plant in the ground.

When the plants bloom, lightly spray the plants when you water, paying attention to the flowers, in the morning or late afternoon, after the sun has set is best so as not to have leaf burn from the sun. Or use a spray bottle and spray the blooms themselves. This "sets" the fruit. Don't ask me why, but it works....

I am sorry to disagree...putting human waste, pee, on plants can spread disease. You'll remember all the people sickened, salmonella for one, from field workers in Mexico and South America going to the bathroom among the plants. It's just not a good idea. You can buy plant food with proper balances of nutrients without resorting to 'self-fertilizing'. lol

I am having the same problem with all of my plants this year. I am doing container veggies and fruits. Now I got a book in the mail and this is going to sound wierd. It says give them a potatoe to retain water better and when it rots the plants take off. It also says give them oatmeal and a tums. which triggered my memory from along time ago when my house wasn't to hot to do house plants. I remebered coke just a swig whiskey just a swig and a prenatal vitamin.. I did all of these to my plants yesterday. My tomatoe plants had no flowers today they do. chance maybe or maybe not I am doing all of the above. chicken bones and egg shells crushed also. I add the coke and the whiskey to the water. don't want to get them drunk :) pick or chose from the list what you want to try if any. also epsom salt but I don't remeber how much or how to mix it so check the internet.. any vitamin will work but prenatals are stronger. more vitamins to them. See they got drunk on the coke and whiskey and got pregnant. :) but seriously that is what the book said besides the drunk and pregnant.

were growing tomatoes. our plants were growing really big but no fruit. So finally my husband read that you need to prune leaves off so that the main vine gets some sun to produce fruit. Once we did that we have been getting lots of fruit. My LO keeps eating it though so we have yet to actually make something from them.

Hmm - I haven't kept track this year, but last year I remember tomatoes came in ridiculously late around where I live - as in close to September. Don't give up quite yet.