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Tomato flowers
cathy paget
Posts: 36
The majority of the flowers on my tomatoes have turned brown and look dead. Will they recover and make new ones and will my plants still produce fruit?
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Posts
Can you post a photo?
The flowers go brown after pollination and the dried up flower drops off of the small tomato as it grows. If the entire area is going brown it may be a rot of some sort.
There is no fruit yet where the dried flowers are and no rot on the plants. The yellow flowers are now brown and dry but I can't see signs of baby tomatoes
Give it a week or so. You should see marble size tomatoes by then.
Ok cheers for the advice
Cathy - it sounds exactly as fidget describes. You're just at the 'limbo' stage with them
Always exciting when you see the toms start to form, and it happens very quickly after the flowers fade and drop. Hopefully there's no other issue, but come back and ask if there are no obvious signs of the fruits forming in a couple of weeks
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Thank you fairygirl
Might not have been pollinated properly. Are they in a greenhouse?
Yes they are
If they're not getting much wind movement, try shaking/tapping the plants regularly to help the plants self-pollinate.
I always use an artist's brush to pollinate all yellow flowers as there can be a shortage of natural pollinators. Tom's need bees to pollinate wind is not sure enough. If the leaves behind the flower are dying then it lacks pollination. Do not leave stems of flowers that are brown and dying on the plant as this encourages sooty mild or blossom end rot. If fruit sets gently brush off flower as leaving it will also cause blossom end rot. I go around my Tom's every day doing these two things. Hope this helps.