In order for the tomato harvest to be good, and the fruits and the plant themselves to be healthy, you need to carefully care for the plant “from the cradle” - that is, from the seedling stage. It is during this period that the foundation of a healthy, viable culture is laid. But it often happens that tomatoes begin to lose flowers and ovaries overnight. Why this happens and how to prevent this phenomenon, we will consider further. Moreover, there may be several unfavorable factors, and in order to correct the situation correctly, it is necessary to understand all possible reasons.
Prevention
- For greenhouses, the prevention of diseases and pests is very important, so sanitization must be carried out every season: in a closed space there is a danger of the formation of a stable pathogenic environment.
- In open ground, tomatoes must be protected from harmful insects and various means of combating them must be used.
- Seedlings that are grown for planting in open ground must be hardened off - take the boxes out into the open air for 5 days before planting.
- It is very important to organize feeding correctly. Potassium is added in the fall, it improves the taste of tomatoes and increases the plant’s immunity, promoting better adaptation to open ground. When the ovary forms, you need to pay attention to nitrogenous fertilizers - organic matter in the form of an aqueous infusion of cow manure is indispensable. Mullein contains not only nitrogen, but also phosphorus and potassium. You can replace this fertilizer with a three-day infusion of green tea.
Treatment with boric acid (a teaspoon per bucket of water) prevents the color and ovary from falling off on tomatoes.
Reasons for the fall of ovaries on tomatoes in a greenhouse
Tomatoes are a rather capricious crop that requires timely and proper care. Even experienced gardeners are faced with the fall of flowers on tomatoes, let alone novice gardeners.
If, nevertheless, such a disaster occurs with our vegetables, then it is initially necessary to find out why this is happening. And here are the corresponding reasons for this.
Temperature
Tomatoes are very capricious when it comes to temperature. They develop poorly in the cold, and in the heat they may even die. This is one of the reasons why loss of ovaries may occur. Ideally, to grow the crop, you should aim for a temperature of 20 to 25 degrees. Indicators below or above these values affect the development of the plant.
Humidity
It is very important to monitor the humidity inside the greenhouse. Vegetable seedlings tolerate both drought and humidity, but everything needs moderation. With very high humidity, in it or in a greenhouse, the risk of fungal diseases that will destroy all plants increases. If there is little water in the soil, the ovaries will begin to fall off the tomatoes.
Pollination
Without pollination, flowers also fall from the plant. This is especially true for greenhouse-grown tomatoes. It is necessary to constantly monitor the situation, and when the bush begins to actively bloom, the door to the greenhouse must be opened and pollinating insects lured inside.
These reasons are the main ones, but there are others. So why else would tomatoes drop flowers? Several options are possible.
Small distance between tomato seedlings
If vegetable seedlings are located close to each other, then sunlight cannot illuminate all the ovaries on the bush.
Excess nitrogen
If there is an excess of it in the soil on which the bushes are planted. Most often, this problem occurs in tomatoes due to frequent feeding of seedlings with manure.
Lack of mineral fertilizers
The ovaries may fall off if the soil lacks the necessary components (or none at all), such as phosphorus, magnesium or potassium.
Disease
If the culture is completely affected by any disease.
Chemical exposure
Frequent treatment of bushes with chemical preparations.
Useful tips
To avoid problems with lighting, you need to find a bed in the greenhouse that will be illuminated throughout the day. When planting different varieties of tomatoes, it is worth placing the beds so that the low-growing determinate bushes stand “in front”, in a bed more exposed to the sun, and the tall indeterminate bushes a little further away.
Although it is best to take into account such details only when starting to plan a greenhouse: it should transmit sunlight well, and the beds on the territory of the greenhouse complex should be maximally adapted for growing future crops.
If there are a large number of flowers, you need to gently shake the tomato bushes every day so that the excess color falls off. You can remove excess flowers at an early stage so that the plant does not waste energy on further empty flowers. And in order for a good ovary to form from the remaining flowers, you need to feed the bushes with a superphosphate solution.
Maintaining air humidity
Tomatoes do not tolerate excessive moisture. It is recommended to maintain the value of the important parameter at 70%.
As the humidity of the environment increases, the pollen of tomato flowers loses its volatility. Plants lose the ability to self-pollinate. This leads to shedding of pollen and death of “empty” flowers without an ovary.
Why do tomatoes lose color? - video
Dropping flowers and ovaries on tomato bushes indicates that the plant does not feel comfortable and seeks to preserve a supply of nutrients for better times. It is necessary to find out the reason as quickly as possible and begin to correct the situation, otherwise you may not wait for the harvest.
Prevention and proper care of seedlings, selection of tomato varieties intended for cultivation in a given area are very important. The golden rule of vegetable growers is that it is better to leave fewer ovaries on the crop, but they will produce healthy large fruits in the future, rather than growing a large number of barren flowers and collecting small tomatoes with mediocre taste.
Irrational crop care
The basis for high-quality growth, flowering and fruiting of any vegetable crop is proper care, which includes watering, applying fertilizers and fertilizing, maintaining temperature balance and air humidity levels.
The causes of impaired growth and falling of flowers can be a sharp cold snap or temperature change, lack of moisture in the soil or prolonged rains, or a violation of soil acidity.
Upon careful examination, you will notice that the flower on the plant is deformed (the stigma of the pistil protrudes beyond the stamen, making pollination of the plant impossible). Prevention of such situations lies in organizing optimal care for vegetable crops.
Tomatoes do not bloom: gardener mistakes and preventive measures
It happens that not only external factors provoke a lack of flowering on tomatoes, but also summer residents themselves, due to inexperience or ignorance, make a number of mistakes.
The most common ones are:
- Growing some hybrids from your own seeds - such tomatoes will not set;
- Treating plants with pesticides when they bloom;
- Incorrect location of the greenhouse and, as a result, lack of heat;
- Planting seedlings too densely – plants should not interfere with each other’s development.
In order to prevent the flowers of tomatoes from weakening, they need proper care:
- If various insects or fungal formations appear on the leaves of the plant, you need to immediately begin to fight them;
- There is no need to “feed” plants with nitrogen fertilizers when they bloom - it is better to do this after the flowers appear;
- To ensure that tomatoes have enough vitamins, before flowering begins, you need to fertilize them with double superphosphate and potassium sulfate, adding 15 g of each substance to a bucket of water.
The most comfortable living conditions for tomatoes are:
- 60% air humidity in the greenhouse;
- +20 – + 25 – optimal air temperature;
- Water abundantly a couple of times a week for plants in the flowering phase;
- Frequent loosening of the soil and mulching of the soil.
What to do
The measures taken must be adequate to the current situation. First of all, you need to eliminate all the reasons that led to the falling of flowers without further formation of the ovary.
Feeding
If the plants show signs of deficiency of essential elements (lack of nitrogen - yellowing of the bush starting from the lower leaves, lack of phosphorus - purple tint on the foliage, little potassium - leaves turn brown and dry out), it is necessary to feed the tomatoes with appropriate fertilizers.
For this, superphosphate, potassium sulfate, potassium chloride, and potassium salt are used. You can apply a complex fertilizer; it additionally contains elements such as magnesium, iron, zinc, calcium, boron, and sulfur. Tomatoes also respond well to organic feeding.
On a note! For spraying, you can use an iodine solution. Tomatoes will enjoy watering at the root with herbal infusion and yeast solution.
Regulation of temperature and humidity conditions
Sudden temperature changes inside the greenhouse should not be allowed. When the temperature drops, the building must be additionally heated using electric infrared heaters, small stoves, buckets of smoldering coals, heated bricks, and containers of hot water.
In hot weather, the temperature is reduced by ventilation, covering the roof and walls of the greenhouse with chalk solution, dousing the outside with cold water, and watering the paths inside the building.
On a note! During prolonged heat, the chalk solution is applied from the inside of the greenhouse, otherwise it will be washed away by the first rain.
With high humidity, ventilation and watering less often will help. If the air inside the greenhouse is too dry, you need to spray the tomato bushes and walls of the greenhouse, and place buckets of water inside.
Help with pollination
When growing tomatoes, you need to provide insects with access to the inside of the greenhouse. To do this, during the flowering period, keep the windows slightly open, plant honey plants in the bed with tomatoes, set baits with honey water or spray the tomatoes with it.
Some techniques are used for artificial pollination. You can tap the central stem with your finger, use a fan to simulate wind, shake the tops of the shoots in the morning, and transfer pollen from flower to flower with a brush. After 3 days the procedure will need to be repeated.
On a note! It is very simple to distinguish pollinated flowers from unpollinated ones - in the first case the petals will be bent, and in the second they will be closed.
Additional measures
You can increase the number of ovaries using stimulating methods. Experts recommend using the following:
- remove some of the leaves, side shoots and tear off all weak ovaries;
- turn the tomato branches towards the sun, securing them with garters or supports if necessary;
- increase the concentration of carbon dioxide in the greenhouse by placing open barrels with manure, compost or grass fertilizer there;
- spray the brushes with buds and flowers with a solution of boric acid (3 g of substance per 3 liters of water), the treatment is carried out twice - at the beginning and in the middle of flowering.
If an excess of nitrogen fertilizers has been allowed and the tomatoes are fattening, you need to feed the plants with wood ash, carry out abundant watering to wash out nitrogen from the soil, and sprinkle the soil with sawdust (during the process of overheating, they will absorb nitrogen).
On a note! By tearing off 2-3 leaves at the bottom of the bush and a couple of leaves at the top, you will force the plant to experience stress, which will eventually push it to bear fruit.
Ways to fight
All work related to the fight to eliminate the problem of falling flowers in tomatoes in a greenhouse is carried out after determining the cause. It is possible to correct the situation, but you will have to try.
It is possible to solve the temperature problem by installing protected greenhouses. For this purpose, you can install autonomous heating in the building, then the optimal temperature regime will exist in the building.
If the air temperature in the greenhouse drops below 15 °C, you can correct the situation by watering with warm water. It is recommended to use daytime heat accumulators, painting them to match the color of the water barrel.
A lot of flowers is not very good, since in fact, abundant flowering makes the plant roots work more actively. As a result, the crop, unable to cope with the load, begins to shed its ovaries
In this case, it is important to do everything to maintain balance. To do this, shake the tomato daily, then the dormant ovaries will be removed
Next you will have to spray with superphosphate extract. 50 grams of product dissolve in 10 liters of hot water. In addition to this mixture, you can use boric acid or Ovary.
How to preserve inflorescences on tomatoes indoors
If the problem was identified quickly, when the loss of tomato ovaries is not yet catastrophic, then you can try to correct the situation and save the harvest.
1. Monitor the changing weather. With the impending cold snap, you need to take care of heating the shelter. You can purchase an electric heater, and if the greenhouse area is large, then a potbelly stove or autonomous heating will do.
2. In case of light frosts that occur at night, you can increase the soil temperature by simple watering. That is, moisten the soil with warm water. Or pour boiling water into plastic bottles and spread the containers around the greenhouse.
3. When watering the crops (how to properly supply vegetables with water), you can use only the water that has had time to settle.
4. When the weather is hot outside, you need to ventilate the greenhouse. This stimulates the timely ripening of flowers in tomatoes.
5. Wilted tomato flowers must be removed immediately so that the bush retains its vigor.
6. If the weather is bad outside, there may be problems with plant pollination. This problem is completely solvable: you can purchase special products, such as “Bud” or “Ovary”, which stimulate the formation of flowers, and treat the tomatoes with them.
Causes of flower falling
Even if vegetables grow without shelter, the problem of ovaries falling off is no less pressing for them than for their sheltered counterparts. The reasons are similar:
Ways to solve the problem
All these problems during cultivation can be solved if you listen to the recommendations of experts, namely:
If you follow all the recommendations, then the question: why the crop loses its ovaries will no longer bother the summer resident and there will be no troubles when growing the vegetable.
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