OT - Gardening Anyone? -Update

** Update **

I now have tomatoes in my greenhouse.

I followed the advise given by some of you, ie epsom salts, no nitrogen fertilizer, pollination. I left the greenhouses open for a week and made sure lots of insects were in. I shook the plants and made sure the flowers were pollinated.

All the branches with blossoms down low died and fell off but the upper blossoms have now turned into little tomatoes so it seems that they will be ok after all.

Thanks to all for the advice.
** end update **

Are there any gardeners out there?

I've got a beautiful veggie patch this year but I have a couple of things that are bothering me.

My tomatoes - It's generally too cold here for them to be grown outside so I have 3 small greenhouses full of beautiful, healthy looking tomato plants covered in blossoms.

In the spring I had too many tomato plants for the greenhouses so I put the extras in the ground at the edge of the veggie patch thinking they'd never survive. However, it's been the warmest, sunniest summer in decades and the outside plants haven't gotten very big at all but they do have some small tomatoes on them. Now I know those tomatoes aren't going to be very good, that's not the problem. The problem is that the ones in the greenhouses have NO tomatoes at all on them. I started looking closely and it seems that the blossoms just die and fall off without forming fruit.

The water levels seem fine. It can't be temperature related (too cold) since the outside ones survived. I've let insects in to do the pollination (hopefully). Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong?

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I think they must be getting

I think they must be getting enough light. The leaves are bright green and healthy looking. I have jalepenos and chilis in the same greenhouses and they are doing great - full of fruit.

I grew 2 tomato plants upside down 2 years ago but I grew them indoors at my back wall (mostly glass). I only got a few tomatoes off the plants but tomatoes are notoriously difficult here because of the weather.

Thanks Would it help if I

Thanks

Would it help if I invested in a grow light for the greenhouse do you think?

Actually, I forgot to mention

Actually, I forgot to mention that the ones in the greenhouse are in pots - with good soil - Miracle gro plus loaded with my own compost.

The pots are very large but I know tomatoes can have really large root systems.

Do you think they've run out of room in the pots? Wouldn't that also cause wilting or yellowing/dying leaves?

Yeah, I used to live in the

Yeah, I used to live in the south of the usa and growing tomatoes and peppers was as easy as tossing seeds out and watering it every now and then.

Now I'm in Ireland - weather like Seattle but about 10 degrees cooler year round.

What bothers me is that these plants look so healthy and the blossoms are full and plentiful - just no tomatoes.

I feel like crying!

OK, next year I've already

OK, next year I've already decided that I'll grow them in the ground inside the greenhouses.

I'm determined to grow tomatoes here. It is impossible to get vine-ripened tomatoes in this country.

I don't think I'm over watering. The leaves are healthy.

I bet it's the pots, the roots are crying for more room.

DH does tomatoes. He grow

DH does tomatoes. He grow them in buckets on the back deck to keep deer, rabbits, etc out of them. He used the Miracle grow several years ago & they didn't do great. He got a few, but they didn't have a really good taste. Since then, DH has been mixing his own organic soil. He still grow in pots, & they do really really well.

I stick with flowers myself. For some reason, I can have beautiful flowerbeds, but I've never had enough interest in a vegetable garden to put the effort into it.

I do prune off the branches

I do prune off the branches that try to grow in the 'elbows'.

Thanks for the tip on the potassium. I'll do that tonight.

I think my fertilizer is high in nitrogen. I've used it sparingly because I really wanted to be organic but thought I'd get there gradually.

I live in the south and we

I live in the south and we have two growing seasons. This is my third year to grow tomatoes in this location. I am a late starter and seem to never get motivated to plant until end of May. I've discovered that my tomatoes pretty much go dormant while it's hot (100 plus degrees daily in July) and then I'm bursting with tomatoes at the end of the second growing season in October.

I kind of doubt the temp being too high is your problem though. My mother-in-law had a problem with something eating her buds, but you said yours are just falling off. Have you considered some kind of bug problem?

I just had to sevin dust the heck out of mine yesterday because we've got a plague of grasshoppers going on here. Completely consumed all of the leaves off of my neighbors gigantic mulberry tree.

It's not bugs. There aren't

It's not bugs. There aren't any to speak of in the greenhouses.

Our biggest pest problem here is with slugs but I've gotten that under control.

I'm going to try the potassium and hope it's not too late for this season. My tomato plants are taller than I am and some are scraping the roof of the greenhouse. I'd hate for it to be all for nothing.

Thanks crayon. After reading

Thanks crayon.

After reading that site I think my problem is probably too much nitrogen.

Our nighttime temp is less than they recommend, (Below 55 / 13 C) - I'd say most nights we get down to 11 C at least but the plants outside have tomatoes so I don't think that's it.

I'm going to lay off the fertilizer completely and hope some of the blossoms that are still there survive.

But EVERYBODY grows potatoes

But EVERYBODY grows potatoes here! They are growing out of my compost bin. There's no challenge to that.

Potatoes, lettuce, broccoli, turnips, carrots - no problems at all.

Tomatoes and peppers require tender loving care though.

I'm growing them for the

I'm growing them for the first time. You do mean swede, the turnip?

It was nothing, they grow so well here. I planted late, probably mid-June so I haven't harvested any yet. The rule of thumb is to pull them when they are a certain diameter at the top and you can see the top poking out of the ground. I'd say I'm still a month away from harvest.

It's probably much warmer where you are so you'll have to water and maybe try to keep the ground a little cooler.

I thinned mine when they were about 2" tall to about 20cm apart and ate the pulled bits in a salad.

You are in the southern hemisphere aren't you? I guess then you'd probably plant in early spring, what would that be September?

Hi LeiaSolo, I notice you are

Hi LeiaSolo,

I notice you are in Florida but your avatar is a pint of Guiness. Are you Irish or do you just like Guiness?

Come on then! The flights are

Come on then! The flights are cheap if you buy 3 months in advance.

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OT - Gardening Anyone? -Update

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