I enjoy growing tomatoes and walking out to your vegetable garden in the morning and seeing tomato blossoms on the ground is never a welcome sight.
This makes you ask the question “Why are my tomato flowers falling off?”
Don’t stress. There are ways to fix and prevent your tomato flowers from breaking off and lessening the issue in the future. Let’s go over those in detail now.
Why are my tomato flowers falling off?
The prevention of proper pollination and fertilization of flowers causes tomato blossom drop. Falling off of tomato flowers is also caused by several factors including extreme temperatures, shortage of water, lack of nitrogen, over-pruning, poor genetics, high winds, insect pests, and disease.
What is Tomato Blossom Drop?
Tomato blossom drop is the loss of flowers on a tomato plant caused by a combination of factors. The tomato plant blooms but drops its flowers. Blossom drop also occurs on pepper plants, snap beans, and other fruiting vegetable plants.
11 Causes of blossom Drop on Tomatoes
What causes blossom drop in tomatoes and plant stress? Learn the ways why your tomato flowers break off and methods to prevent it.
1. Extreme temperature ranges
When daytime temperatures reach between 85°F and 90 °F and nighttime temperatures reach 75 degrees Fahrenheit pollen becomes unviable by becoming so sticky it does not fall.
Night temperatures below 55°F can also cause tomato blossom drop.
2. Lack of certain nutrients such as nitrogen
Poor soil can be common in certain areas. Make sure and test your garden soil and if you find it lacking nitrogen you can use a tomato fertilizer such as Dr. Earths Tomato and vegetable fertilizer which is a balanced fertilizer to fix the tomato problem.
You also add compost to your soil for questions on how to do so read my article on how to compost at home.
3. Low amounts or complete lack of water
Tomato plants must be watered regularly to ensure a healthy root system, proper flower production, and ensure soil moisture levels are maintained.
4. Tomato variety with poor genetics
Depending on the part of the world you live in certain tomatoes will grow better than others as certain varieties are better suited to particular climates. So make sure and grow tomato varieties suited to your climate.
5. Excessive high winds
You can’t control the wind but planting your tomatoes in areas that are somewhat protected can help with this issue.
6. Over pruning of tomato plants
When you over prune your tomato plants many issues can occur including blossom drop, sunscald and others.
Make sure you leave your plant with enough foliage to sustain itself with proper plant growth and produce higher fruit yields.
7. Foliar diseases such as the fungi botrytis
Infected plants with foliar diseases can cause a tomato blossom drop. Some of these diseases include heavy bacterial spot, fungi botrytis, and speck pressure.
8. Heavy fruit set with too many blossoms
A tomato plant can have too many blossoms competing for resources causing the plant to drop some blossoms but after the first harvest of tomatoes is completed the problem should go away.
9. Lack of pollination
Tomato plants are self-pollinating containing both male and female parts however they still need certain environmental conditions and temperatures for pollination to occur.
Pollinators such as bumblebees and other flying insects help with this process as does gentle winds.
10. Pests such as insects
Insects can cause stress to a tomato plant causing blossom drop. However, you should avoid using pesticides that can harm pollinators such as bees which are vital for your vegetable garden.
10. High humidity or low humidity range outside of 40-70%
If the humidity is too high or too low it will interfere with the tomato plant release of pollen with the Ideal humidity range being between 40% and 70%.
Can a tomato plant pollinate itself?
Tomato plants are self-fertilizing, or self-pollinating as they contain both female and male parts. Winds and pollinators such as bees are still an important part of the pollination process.
Why does my tomato plant have flowers but no fruit?
Excess nitrogen, insufficient amounts of sunlight, a heatwave causing high temperatures resulting in poor pollination, or lack of water are common causes for a tomato to not bear much fruit.
How do you stop tomatoes from dropping blossoms?
You can stop tomato plant blossom drop by growing a suitable tomato variety, watering regularly, have good solid drainage, controlling insect and disease while making sure to have enough nitrogen in your soil.
Why are my tomato flowers drying up?
When tomato flowers dry up and began breaking off the plant this is known as blossom drop and is caused by several issues such as extreme temperatures over 85 degrees Fahrenheit, lack of water, pests, disease, lack of nutrients, and pollination issues.
Are bumble bees causing my tomato flowers to fall off?
Bumblebees can bruise the stamen of the flower and can sometimes cause blossom drop but they are a vital partner in your garden for pollination purposes.
Extreme temperatures and inconsistent soil moisture are much larger factors contributing to blossom drop compared to Bumblebees.
Why are my tomato flowers withering rather than turning into fruit
Your tomato plant could have a disease-causing issue such as fungi botrytis or your garden has recently experienced extreme temperature and humidity levels.
Lack of certain nutrients in the soil also causes tomato flowers to break off the plant.
Can flowers fall off a tomato plant and not produce?
Tomato flowers can fall off the plant causing the plant to not produce. This can happen with all varieties of tomatoes including heirloom varieties.
Make sure the soil has the right mix of nutrients to produce the best possible tomatoes.
How long after flowering do tomatoes appear?
After your tomato first flowers, you will see a tomato in 25-30 days for smaller varieties such as cherry tomatoes and 45 to 60 days for larger tomato varieties such as Beef Steak.
Conclusion
There is no comparison to eating fresh tomatoes picked from your own vegetable garden.
Learning the issues that cause your tomato flowers to break off and preventing this in the future is key.
Hopefully, you can reduce your tomatoes from dropping flowers by following these methods. Happy harvesting.