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My tomato plants are getting huge but not producing fruit. I have read noumous things on the subject, from shaking them, to trimming the "suckers" (I have no idea what they are) and spraying them with blossom set. Any tips from fellow Arizona ap people would be greatly appreciated .


Oh it's not letting me attach pictures of the plants, they are perfectly green and full. Only problem is I have just one tomato total .

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It's probably too hot to set fruit.

I hope that is not the case. If it is I will have to wait 3-4 months before I see new tomatos. Maybe I will build a misting system on a time to help cool them.

are you getting flowers ? .... if so try gently pinching the flowers one after the other ... helps with pollinating .

This is a sucker...

 I pull both axial suckers and the fruiting stem suckers off all 300 of my tomatoes at least once a week (they come back fast). They definitely "suck" energy from the main fruiting branch. Through their vigor you can sort of gauge how "strong" your veg phase is, but you should snap them off regularly if you have an indeterminate type variety. On determinate tomatoes you can pretty much let the suckers go at it...  

I like to prune mine (indeterminate types...which just means they grow like a vine...determinate types grow like a bush) to one fruiting branch, sometimes two if I've overlooked a fruiting stem sucker, I'll sometimes just let it (the fruiting stem sucker go into fruit production...for the heck of it...

Now, your temps may be a part of it (personally I've never had that luxury :)...some shading might help... or it may be phosphorous....or a combination of the two...

Keep a tomato plant on a high nitrate diet without adequate phosphorus (or potassium) and watch it grow into a giant bush of a plant with no or little flowers or fruit...regardless of temps.

The temps are definitely a factor here in AZ. We're having consistent temps well above 100, and tomatoes tend not to set above 100.

Our AP plant is getting a few flowers, but it sits in a greenhouse where the temps are around 90 because we use a swamp cooler. Outside, in our soil garden, where the temps are higher, we're enjoying the fruit of earlier blossoms, but nothing new.

The mister might help, just be careful about it getting too wet.

Keep in mind, if you wait for a few months, you'll get great fruit, but your roots will take over the world because they keep growing. We keep ours in a half-barrel, separated from everything else. If your Operation Cool-Down doesn't work, it might be better to pull the plant and start fresh as the heat subsides.

I tell ya, Vlad, there are times when it would be nice to trade places! :)  Thanks for the great lesson on pruning!

My grandma use to take her broom and beat on any tomato plant not producing and they would look like crap but then they would perk up and fruit like crazy. lol maybe a bit of trauma would do them good.

Ditto. Too hot. Hot weather kills the pollen on many fruit. I had a few set two weeks ago when the weather turned cold for a minute, but after that, none. That includes aquaponics and earth raised. 

Note: One tomato plant is setting a few. Seems to be more heat tolerant than the other varieties. Don't know what kind it is however. It was a gift.

Thanks for all the suggestions . I will try them all.

Wow, "consistent temps well above 100"... "optimum" daytime temps generally for tom's is like 70-82F...while anything above 86F and flowering starts to become affected...above 100 would certainly make it very tough for fruit set...

Well at least your temps are consistent I guess. Here (yesterday) we went from cold and raining to "scorching" (for us at least) 90's back to cold and raining all in one morning/afternoon.

Sheri Schmeckpeper said:

The temps are definitely a factor here in AZ. We're having consistent temps well above 100, and tomatoes tend not to set above 100.

Our AP plant is getting a few flowers, but it sits in a greenhouse where the temps are around 90 because we use a swamp cooler. Outside, in our soil garden, where the temps are higher, we're enjoying the fruit of earlier blossoms, but nothing new.

The mister might help, just be careful about it getting too wet.

Keep in mind, if you wait for a few months, you'll get great fruit, but your roots will take over the world because they keep growing. We keep ours in a half-barrel, separated from everything else. If your Operation Cool-Down doesn't work, it might be better to pull the plant and start fresh as the heat subsides.

I tell ya, Vlad, there are times when it would be nice to trade places!  Thanks for the great lesson on pruning!

Yeah, no surprises here. It's either really hot or blistering hot.  Everyone has their bad season, and during the summer here we work to keep things alive & prep for the fall. Anything beyond that is an added benefit. :)  "Optimum" just isn't to be had here during this time of year!

We've had very good luck with Better Boy, Brandywine, and Roma tomatoes up into the mid 90s. My yellow pear tomato plants are beautiful, both in the AP & the soil garden, but only the AP has flowers & is fruiting...a little anyway.

Both Better Boy and Brandywine (from Burpee) were real solid performers here the 3 years that I had planted them...This time around I've opted for some more local type varieties...except the Yellow Pear seeds I bought from Johnny's Seeds, those things are friggin champs! Of the 7 or 8 varieties of tomatoes I have this year, the Yellow Pear are absolutely bursting...From veg to flowering and now fruit set...so far, they are hands down, the best of the bunch this year. Hope they taste as well as they seem to grow :)...but it has been a pretty weird year weather wise here (cold and wet)...maybe they are more tolerant to both extremes hot/dry as well as clod/wet?  

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