Why won't my tomato plants bear fruits?

Question

I am new at growing tomatos. I have two cherry tomato plants in newly potted 12" containers - not ideal, I know but I live in a condo and have only a small balcony. I water them everyday and keep the soil moist but not dripping wet. My balcony is facing west so they get about 4 hours of sun each day. They are flowering like crazy. But for over a hundred of flowers I only saw three tomatos. Most flowers just die out without bearing fruit. Why is that happening. Thank you for your help.

Answer 1

Feeding the tomatoes is important and for hearty fruit/blossoms add some fertilizer heavy with phosphorus which helps plants to bloom.

Watering them every day is ideal as long as the soil drains well; tomatoes like warm, moist soil since they are originally tropical plants.

Tomatoes need at least six hours of good sun a day, but I am wondering if either your tomatoes are not getting enough sun, or too HOT a sun.  Tomatoes will drop their blossoms and wilt when the outside temperature goes over 85F-90F for several days or more.  

Cherry tomatoes are great to grow and they are some of my favorite.  But tomato plants have deep, thick roots and your pots may also be too small.  I saw three-gallon plastic pots at WalMart yesterday for under $3.

I feed my tomatoes coffee grounds (placing them on the soil surface; watering will disperse the nitrogen) and crushed egg shells for calcium.  I even pour old coffee on the soil for added acid.  The plants love that stuff.

Answer 2

If it is flowering like crazy, and only a few flowers are setting fruit, your answer is simple.  Many of the flowers are not being pollinated by insects, or by you.

If there are not insects to go from flower to flower, then pollination would have a difficult time occurring.  You can remedy this problem by taking your finger and rubbing the inside of each flower as they are open.  This should help pollinate enough of the flowers that more will set fruit.

Also, I'd recommend that they get more than 4 hours of sun a day.  Most vegetables need quite a bit more than that.

Answer 3

You need to feed them - get some Scott's Miracle Grow or Jobes plant spikes then watch for your bumper crop. Good Luck!

Answer 4

Don't forget that the U.S. has had a major die-off of honey bees.(not kidding)If your area is one that lost most of its bee population then your blossoms are not getting pollinated. There are sites that detail how to perform this yporself if you are willing to take the time.

Answer 5

Are you using store bought bagged soil? Check to see if the bag specifically states "for container gardens" some soils are not for containers and only meant to be used in the ground, which means it has too much fertilizer in it (meant to supplement the ground dirt).  Are you feeding your tomato plants? Just get some miricle grow plant food for veggies.  Do the plants have any blight on them, like aphids or powdery mildew? Maybe you could cut back on the watering to every other day too.  Just some 'ideers' that might help. Good luck!  :)

Answer 6

well are you sure there tamatos because ive grown roma tomatos and not once on them or  any other tamato plants ive seen have ever really produced tomatos but im not so sure myself

Answer 7

your plants are not setting there fruit a trick I learned f is every time you walk by the plant shake dont do it violently just shake like a 15 mile an hour wind-do two or three times a day and the blooms will start setting-it worked for me-good luck!

Answer 8

Fertilize them. Tomatoes stop setting fruit once the temperature gets above 85 degrees, so it may be too hot for them right now.