If the humidity is too low the air is dry , then the male part of the flower will release pollen, but it will not stick to the female part of the flower. Both of these situations will prevent pollination, and can eventually cause the plant to drop its flowers. Even if the temperature and humidity levels are spot-on, a lack of pollinators can prevent your tomato flowers from being pollinated. Usually, this ends up being some type of bee, although other insects, birds, or even wind can do the job.
Unfortunately, bee populations have taken a hit in many areas in recent years. The use of pesticides will kill or repel the bees, so if you use pesticides in your yard, then consider using other methods to bring the bees back.
You might also have to politely ask your neighbors to refrain from using pesticides, especially if they notice a lack of bees. Planting plenty of flowers near your garden will also help to attract bees to your yard, where they will hopefully pollinate tomatoes and other plants in your garden.
Of course, you may not have success in bringing bees back to your yard to pollinate your tomato plants. In that case, you will have to do it yourself.
You can also use a tuning fork if you want! You will know it is working when you see a puff of pollen released from some of the flowers. You can also use a toothpick, pencil, stick, or cotton swab to pollinate. Simply use the toothpick to push the flower out of position.
The movement will cause a vibration and the male part should release pollen. As mentioned above, temperature and humidity are factors in pollination, so make sure that you go out to hand-pollinate when the temperature and humidity are right. Again, the weather forecast is your friend!
The best time to pollinate is within a couple of hours of noontime. If the forecast calls for hot and humid weather, go out to pollinate in the morning or evening, when temperatures are cooler. You may be in the situation where your tomato plants have already been properly pollinated, and some of the flowers are starting to produce fruit. It is possible to have too much of a good thing, and if this is the case, then some of the flowers may start to drop off the plant.
First of all, your tomato plant can only support so much fruit in a season. There is a limit on how much water and nutrition the root system can pull up from the soil to the fruit.
There is also a limit on how much sunlight the plant can absorb for photosynthesis. In short, a tomato plant can only produce so much energy in a season, and this will limit the amount of fruit that it can support to maturity. If too many flowers are pollinated, then the plant will drop some of them off. The reasoning is that twenty perfectly ripe tomatoes are better than forty half-ripened ones.
Water and nutrition are not the only limits for how much fruit a plant can produce. The fruit is held by branches off the main vines of the tomato plants. If too many fruits on one branch grow large, then the branch can bend or snap, which will cause all of the fruit to be lost. Too much fruit can even cause the whole plant to fall over or snap the stem.
To learn more, check out my article on how to support your tomato plants. In short, if you are losing flowers but have fruit on your plant, then take comfort in the fact that your tomato plant is too successful, and so it needs to slow things down a bit.
If you want to allow your tomato plant to set even more fruit, there is one way to do just that. When you see some of the early flowers blooming, pinch them right off the plant.
This will encourage the plant to focus its energy on root and vegetative growth, resulting in a stronger plant. Stronger stems and branches will be able to support the weight of more tomatoes, and stronger roots will be able to provide the water and nutrition for those tomatoes.
It is a short-term sacrifice for a long-term gain. It is possible that the flowers are falling off of your tomato plant because of a nutrient imbalance. Sometimes tomatoes with very heavy fruit production will decrease producing additional flowers.
What can a home gardener do to help prevent blossom drop? If blossom drop is a consistent problem in summer, try to provide some shade in the after-noon during the hottest periods. It might also be worth a try to grow some early maturing varieties such as 'Early Girl' or heat-tolerant varieties such as 'Heatwave'.
Peppers also show blossom drop under similar conditions. Just remember that the frustrations of issues like these are far out-weighed by the taste of those homegrown vegetables!
Master Gardener Program. So what are the causes of lack of pollination? Kim, I would suggest going out at night with a flashlight and see if you can spot what is eating your blossoms. Close search. Lack of Water or Too Much Water Not Enough Light Excessive Wind — dries up the flower or physically damages the flowers Improper Nutrition — Over fertilizing with nitrogen can also cause your plants to have lush growth at the expense of setting fruit.
Under fertilizing will lead to plants that cannot supply enough energy to grow fruit. There is a fine line between over fertilizing and under fertilizing. Usually happens in the initial fruit that is set on the plants. Suzanne May 18,
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