Q. This year my Early Girl tomato plant had an abundance of blossoms all summer but did not produce one mature ripe tomato. Another tomato plant in the same area did fine. Walter Lachnit – Gig Harbor, WA
A. Tomato blossoms are self contained with male and female parts so usually the wind or insects will pollinate them. I sometimes getly tap the flowers or the cage to jostle the flowers which will help pollinate them. If it is not a question of pollingation then there are two main factors that determine the success of a tomato to produce fruit – nature (its own genetics) and nurture (the environment that the plant finds itself in). The major environmental factors that will influence the tomato are water, fertilizer, sun, heat units and culture. Irregular irrigation usually shows up as blossom end rot in many tomatoes because calcium isn’t absorbed as well in dry soils and calcium is necessary to make plant cell walls. Make sure the soil stays evenly moist. Fertility of the soil can be a double-edged sword. Too much fertility can result in excessive foliage growth at the expense of fruiting. Sun duration should be at least 8 hours a day, and more is better. Heat units are at a premium in our cool growing season so we look to genetics of our tomatoes since there is only so much we can do beyond growing them on a south facing wall (the other option is to grow tomatoes in a greenhouse). Usually in our area we look for cool season varieties that have the genetic capacity to produce with fewer heat units. Another genetic factor is the growth habit of the tomato. There are determinate and indeterminate types (actually there are some intermediary hybrids but let’s keep it simple for now). Determinate tomatoes are bushy and tend to produce their fruit in a more condensed period. This is because the flower buds terminate growing points. These are usually grown in cages. Indeterminate tomatoes tend to be taller and more vining in nature because the flower buds do not terminate the growing points and the plant just keeps vining along sending out flowers from the sides. The fruiting period is spread out and not as condensed. These plants are usually pruned to a stake and trained to one or two stems. The ideal in our region is to get a short season determinate tomato. Early Girl is a short season indeterminate but is still considered a reliable producer in our region. An example of a short season determinate variety is Oregon Spring. When I grow indeterminate tomatoes I always pinch out top growth and any lateral branches before they make a run for the top. On all my tomatoes I start pinching out all new flower blossoms after the end of August. This makes sure the plants energy goes into the existing fruit to develop and ripen them. I am curious if the other plant you mention that did fine was also an Early Girl. If the environment of both plants is identical then we may have to chalk it up to genetic variation within this cultivar of tomatoes. Every plant is an individual even in a fairly uniform hybrid like Early Girl. Or perhaps a rogue seed of another variety made it’s way into your seed pack or if you bought it as a plant it was mislabeled. Hopefully understanding the factors will help you to determine what may have happened and help you in your future tomato growing endeavors.