Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have a question for the more seasoned and informed gardeners on here about Homestead Tomatoes. The problem is that my tomato plant is flowering, but the bloom dies and no tomatos. With that in mind, here is a quick summary of my setup.

I have a 30 gallon tote with 8 solo cup cutouts. one hole I use to run my water pump and feed my 5 goldfish (thicker biggers ones, not feed goldfish). The fish are fed goldfish feed from Petco. I use clay pebbles as my grow medium. I started this late spring/early summer. The only other plants in the system are Snow peas, Spinach, Rocky and Romaine Lettuce, Wonderberries, and Strawberries. Right now the fartherest along plants are the tomatoes, peas (flowering), and spinach. I have not checked the nitrate levels nor other nutrient levels of the water (haven't got a tester yet). The system gets flushed with rainwater every couple of days (not enough to completely replace the water in the tote) and gets a fair amount of sunshine throughout the day (the joy of FL).

The tomato plant has reached a height of about 2 ft+ and is flowering all over the place. The blooms never seem to decide to create a tomato. I came across a post about Potassium, but in the same thread it implied that my plant wouldn't even be flowering. Any advice would be welcomed. This is my first system and very simple, I intend to expand as money allows it.

My heirlooms have done similar in the past and I found manual pollinating helped.

Theres a few threads about tomato's that may assist you.. search.php?keywords=tomato*&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=titleonly&sk=t&sd=d&sr=topics&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

I am not a pro by any means and have not tested this theory out yet (I just read about it yesterday) and as with any 'home remedy' the results may be imagined. But I put it in my file for future reference should i find myself in the same predicament...

It could be a pollination issue. I hear tapping the plant will help with that if there are no insects to help with pollination.

The other was to spray the bloom with 100% apple juice. It had something to do with methane tricking it to fruit.

This is NOTHING I have tried yet but it is worth a shot... maybe someone with more experience can help.

I just started recently tapping the plant, and I do have one promising bloom at the top....I will consider the apple juice trick after a little research. I will read through that forum Charlie, by manual pollinating did you mean tapping the plant or something else?

It's a new system and small. Is the temp getting below 70 at night? From what I research.....be patient the first year with fruiting veggies.

A lot of heirloom varieties have exposed stamens in the flowers and so are harder to pollinate than flowers that have enclosed stamens. Tappiing a likely looking flower about mid morning while holding a finger under the flower should drop some pollen on your finger, you should see it. Then gently dab this pollen on other flowers stamens.
Shade cloth over your plants in summer can help too

I live in central FL, so that isn't a problem. I will do the manual check and transfer as described. Thanks everyone, I will post updates and pictures when I am able to.

Floridas climate would make it even harder to get good pollination as high heat and humidity cause blossoms to drop
Manual pollination may be your only chance

also, flushing with rainwater may be taking away the nutrients required to set the fruit.

Probably the high temps in Florida as Mantis mentioned. Here's a link to a site with some additional information.

http://gardening.about.com/od/problemspest1/a/BlossomDrop.htm

Thanks everyone for the info. Looking at my plant this morning I had noticed all the blossoms have dropped. I picked the homestead tomatos because they were recommended for fl. After careful review of the info provided, I think my nitrate levels are too high. This weekend I will acquire the means to check.

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i doubt it is your nitrates. my toms grow like mad and my nitrates often get over 500ppm.
potassium is important for fruiting crops especially toms and capsicums. you could look at a potassium spray as well as all the other suggestions here. i spray my toms and capsicums frequently during the growing season with potassium bicarbonate as well as adding it to the beds every now and then to increase the pH.

+1

My Dad also mentioned this when I talked to him this weekend. Of course now, I am getting rain in my area almost everyday. Hopefully soon I will be able to report some success, time will tell. I will look into the Potassium Spray though, thanks for the tip.

It's been a while, but I do have some good news. Over time I was able to purchase a stock tank to create a grow bed and I purchased some premium fish food. Since then, my tomatoes decided to kill all my other plants...but...I am finally growing tomatoes! Soon I will be able to enjoy them in my salads.

On a side note, for a beginner with minimal system upgrades I am very happy with the results. When I am in my own place, I will be setting up separate grow beds so my toms don't go on a murderous rampage again.

For anyone who reads my thread hoping for similar answers, remember patience is key.