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Extreme temperatures, poor pollination, excessive fertilization, or insufficient watering are just a few of the causes of tomato flowers falling off. To get your tomato flowers to produce fruit, you should give your plants a good amount of sunlight, water, and nutrients and create an inviting space for pollinators.
When the flowers of a tomato plant stem turn yellow and the flowers dry up and fall off, this is known as “blossom drop-off.” Homegrown tomatoes are 100 times better than those bought from stores and market stalls. These are enriched with proteins and sugar.
It is scary when you find out that your tomato blossom drop without developing fruits. In this article, I shall explain the causes of tomato flowers falling off and how to fix their causes.
Let’s find out how.
8 Causes of tomato Blossoms Falling Off
If you pay close attention to the tomato bloom falling off, growing tomatoes is a rewarding field. Every year, there are so many problems that every gardener faces during tomato gardening. Blossom drop tomatoes are common in almost all plant varieties.
But too many fallen flowers are an alarm that your plant is in danger. There are many reasons why flowers falling off tomato plants, and there are also many ways to fix each one.
Blossom drop are an easy task to handle. With just a few actions, you can protect your tomato plant.
There are eight reasons why tomato flowers fall off. These are described below.
1. Mild and frost temperature
Temperature affects the flowers of tomato plants. Temperature management is so important for growing tomatoes. Tomato plants require a mild temperature to survive. Extreme temperatures around 85 degrees or above cause the blossoms to drop.
Tomato plants can handle short periods of extreme heat, but if they are exposed to it for a long time, the blossoms will fall off. Protect the tomato plant’s flowers by planning and plotting. In the daytime, there is no need to cover the tomato plants.
Fixation
At night, when the temperature drops, you must cover the plants with sheets, a net, or shade cloth to prevent the tomato blooms dying. By doing this, your tomato plants will not curl and fall off.
2. Lack of pollination
The more your tomato plants get pollinated, the happier they will be. If your flowers are not pollinated, the blossoms die and drop off. Sometimes, the weather is on our side, but the flowers dry up and fall off.
In this pollinating process, all you need to do is gently shake the tomato plants and also tap the flowers. This is the easiest way to help with pollen. Another technique is to use a paintbrush to spread pollen.
Fixation
Avoid cross-pollinating and using the same brush for different plants. You can come up with this by planting companion plants around tomato plants. Companion plants include bees, lavender, sunflowers, and butterflies, which attract many beneficial insects.
3. Inadequate watering
Tomato plants do not need excessive amounts of water for growth. They just need the required amount of water for growth. You should water your blossom drop tomato daily with 3 to 4 inches of water, which will keep the soil moist.
When you water tomato plants too deeply or too much, you hurt the roots and cause the blossoms to rot. We water our tomato plants every morning because it is the most watering time of day. Avoid overwatering the tomato plants.
Fixation
You can do extra watering in hotter temperatures. When you see that your plants are dry, you can water them even twice a day. You can add a layer of mulch around your tomato plant, as it keeps the soil moist.
4. Improper use of fertilisers
The wrong amount of fertilizer affects the growth of tomato plants. Soil nutrients are essential for plant growth, and that results in tomato blossom. The soil nutrients must contain nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, but in the needed amounts.
Excessive nitrogen in the soil damages the roots of plants and also affects the growth of tomato plants. You should not tie the plants too tightly; it causes suffocation between them and does not let them grow.
Fixation
Nitrogen produces chlorophyll. Using less fertilizer also causes problems with healthy growth. So, you must check the amount of soil nutrients after 2 or 3 weeks. Proper use of fertilizers with balanced nutrients protects the flowers from falling off.
5. Low or high humidity
Sometimes, you cannot control nature. You just wait for them to correct themselves. Factors like temperature and humidity are not in our hands. You just have to be patient and wait for the right time. Humidity and extreme high temperatures can prevent pollination.
Fixation
- Use a humidifier or regularly mist tomato plants to control low humidity.
- Increase ventilation and refrain from overwatering in order to lower high humidity levels.
6. Excessive sunlight
Tomato plants need six hours of direct sunlight for proper growth. Also protect your tomato plant’s flowers from excessive sunlight. It may burn the leaves and flowers of plants and cause blossom rot.
High and dry winds also affect the growth of tomato plants. Wind gives stress to the tomato plants but also increases the rate of evaporation.
Fixation
Artificial light also plays an important role if direct sunlight is not reaching the tomato plants properly. If you are planting your tomatoes indoors, put them close to the balcony and near the artificial light source.
7. Nutrients imbalance
Because of nutrient imbalance, the petals of tomato plants are falling off,
Fixations
- Nitrogen: Avoid using extra amounts of nitrogen in fertilizers.
- Potassium; Potassium ensures that tomatoes must be ripe and produced in high quantities.
- Phosphorus; Phosphorus protects the flowers and leaves from dropping off.
- Calcium: Calcium causes blossom end rot.
8. Pests and diseases
When it comes to pests and diseases, prevention is always better than cure. Pests and diseases are major causes of tomato flower drop. Pests like aphids, snails, whiteflies, and hornworms eat the plant’s leaves and flowers.
Take immediate action to prevent the presence of insects and whiteflies in your garden. You can spray your tomato plants with lavender oil, neem oil, sunflower oil, and insecticidal soap.
Diseases like early blight disease, bacterial wilt disease, and verticillium wilt disease attack tomato plants.
Fixations
When you see that your flowers are affected by disease, you can prune the plants and use companion plants around your tomato plants.
Final Thoughts
Tomato blossom fall-off is not very concerning; with just a few steps, you can overcome this problem. Planting tomatoes in your garden is not an easy task. All you need is some great care to achieve amazing results.
By doing proper planning, maintenance, and care, you can easily enjoy fresh and healthy tomatoes. By reading this article thoroughly, you can easily deal with the problems mentioned above.
Thank you for reading this!
