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Western PA

I lost around 4 of my best megablooms last week. It looked like the stem was chewed or pecked in half by a bird possibly.
Has anyone had this happen ?

If they dont get pollinated, will you still see a small green tomato if you peel the brown flower off ?
I am trying to figure out if they just did not get pollinated or possible bird damage.

7/6/2014 8:12:16 AM

Allentown, PA

Hello fellow PAer,

I have never seen bird damage on a bloom mega or otherwise.

Did the bend in the truss holding the mega bloom have a yellow color to it?

The reason why I'm asking is because blossom drop occurs during times of heat stress. It's a way that the plant attempts to conserve energy when it's under environmental stress. Did any of your blossoms break off or would break off at the stem bend area?

A way to minimize this is to remove all single bloom flowers both open and closed that are growing on the same truss as the mega bloom is. Those other blooms are taking nutrients away from your mega bloom this increasing your chances of blossom drop.

If a blossom does not pollinate at all it will dry and fall off the plant. If there is even partial pollination you will see part if not all of the very small tomato begin to grow.

I have had five mega blooms abort on me this season. It appears that they set, I see growth begin to occur then the growth stops not to begin again.

Pollination percentages increase if you manually vibrate the bloom at various times. I use an old electric toothbrush with very good success.

7/6/2014 10:05:19 AM

sevierville, Tn

I agree, the toothbrush works wonders. It should be standard equipment for tomato growers. I was amazed to see a cloud of pollen when i used it the first time on a ripe female !

7/6/2014 12:15:01 PM

Western PA

Thank you pa J. We had a lot of heat the past week and yes some of the stems got yellow right above the blossom.

7/6/2014 9:43:57 PM

Allentown, PA

Your welcome. Just remove those other blooms around the mega bloom and know that that's about all you can do. :O)

7/7/2014 6:28:28 AM

valparaiso, in

I have lost a few this year myself. Most looked like they set, and then they fall off right above the blossom. Always happened around the days with high heat. I think next year I will use some shade cloth that I have left over to help protect them on hot days.

7/9/2014 10:15:44 PM