Why Tomato Blossoms Fail to Pollinate and Produce Fruit

The following is adapted and condensed from the book Let’s Grow Tomatoes, by Dr. Jacob R. Mittleider.

In addition to the 13 essential mineral nutrients man can provide, plants require water, exercise, anchorage, sunlight, warmth, living space, and protection from extremes in weather, disease, and insects. This would indicate that there are many possible causes for your garden to fail at producing a crop, and this is true. However, there are a few common problems which deserve special attention.

Nematodes – Soils everywhere are infested with these tiny eel-like worms that eat into the roots of plants and live off the plant juices. Infected roots have irregular brown-colored swellings which appear like rough knots. Infestation can be serious without affecting plant color or other visual appearance. Failure to set fruit is usually the first indication the grower has of the problem. Producing fruit places a heavy load on the plant, and if nematodes are present the plant will abort the fruit in order to stay alive. Because the plant cannot expel the nematodes it continues the same process, with new stems, leaves, and flowers, and being unable to support the burden of producing fruit, it aborts the new fruit at or near conception.

Lack of complete and balanced fertilizer – A proper balance of all 13 nutrients is essential for optimum performance, and a deficiency in even one nutrient can result in crop failure. See the 3 volume set of The Garden Doctor books by Jacob R. Mittleider for details on deficiency symptoms and solutions.

Insects and soil maggots – Tomato fruit worms eat the new fruit as it is formed, and thrips eat the pollen and prevent pollination. Soil maggots eat the stem below the soil surface and weaken the plant similar to nematodes. A regular dust or spray program is necessary to control the first two, and a Diazanon drench will eliminate the soil maggots.

Weather Problems and air movement – Temperatures above 95 degrees Fahrenheit will cause tomatoes to stop setting fruit, and below 50 degrees there is almost no plant growth, so protecting against those extremes is very important.

Heat can be reduced by using shade cloth, and plastic coverings can increase temperatures – at least during the day. However, care must be taken to avoid losing essential sunlight, since that is the number one law of plant growth. Fruiting crops will not produce without direct sunlight for 6-8 hours each day. 25-35% shade cloth that shades the plants during the hottest part of the day is recommended where daytime temperatures are consistently above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Some growers believe that greenhouse-grown tomatoes may fail to pollinate if there is no air movement. They try to resolve this by vibrating the vines occasionally. Dr. Mittleider has never experienced difficulty from this source, and our experience has been that pruning, guiding plants up the baling twine strings, and removing sucker stems provide adequate movement for self-pollination to occur (the flowers are self-pollinated because tomato flowers are “perfect”, including both male and female parts).

Diseases – If your tomato plants are suffering the effects of disease the symptoms are usually very evident, and are not limited to pollination or fruit set to know that something is wrong. Rotation is sometimes recommended to minimize problems, however the family garden is rarely large enough to allow the separation needed to be very effective. Fungus diseases can often be controlled by a good and timely spray or dusting program. The chapter on Diseases in Let’s Grow Tomatoes is recommended for a more in-depth discussion of this subject.

Let’s Grow Tomatoes is available as a digital download at Food For Everyone Foundation – http://www.growfood.com/Shop.

Using Greenhouses in Tropical Versus Temperate Growing Conditions

The question has been asked whether or not the height of greenhouses should be greater in warm climates – to allow for better/more air circulation, and to allow the plants to grow taller in a longer growing season. The answer really depends on how it is being used.

To get free plans for building several excellent styles of greenhouses visit and join the FREE MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com, and go to the Photos and Files sections.

The height of the structure does not really affect air circulation. The continuous ventilator along the entire roofline of the permanent seedling greenhouse lets hot air escape quickly. Also, in warm climates the plastic on both sides is designed to roll up , to give excellent side ventilation.

The height of the structure was chosen to accommodate standard lumber lengths plus the reach of most gardeners. Seven feet is about as high as most of us can reach comfortably.

It’s also about the same height that tomato plants will grow before the tops should be cut off 8 weeks before the first expected frost in temperate climates – where tomatoes and other warm weather crops are most likely to be grown in greenhouses – so they can mature all the fruit they have set.

For longer growing seasons such as in the southern belt of the United States of America, as well as Central & much of South America, Africa, the Pacific Islands, and the Caribbean, you can build the greenhouse taller if you want. I have a greenhouse that is 12′ tall in the center, with 8′ side walls. If you build your T-Frames taller than 7′ you may need ladders or stilts to prune and harvest your fruit. Or you can let the plant sag by extending the baling twine. This will require pruning leaves off the lower branches when fruit has been picked. Or you can just let the plant turn over and come back down. Testosterone injections is the perfect method Testosterone Replacement Therapy https://buytestosteronemd.com/nebido-cernos-depot-testosterine-udecanoate/ Cernos is best generic Nebido

The in-the-garden greenhouse would be built the same in hot humid climates as in temperate zones, the way it shows in the YahooGroups pictures, except that you don’t keep the plastic all the way down except during a bad storm.

Rather than protecting plants from cold weather and frost, in warm climates the in-the-garden structure is mostly used to keep heavy pounding rains and hot direct sunshine from hurting tender plants.

In warm climates – and during mid-summer in temperate zones – roll the plastic up to the top and tie it in place.

For additional shading if needed during the hottest part of the day, either throw a 30% shade cloth over the top, or if the shade is needed for a long period of time consider splashing white-wash on the under side of the top plastic. Use material that will wash off when water is applied.

For more information on building and growing in greenhouses study the Mittleider Gardening Course book or go to the FAQ section of the Food For Everyone Foundation at http://www.growfood.com

You Can Live on What You Produce – On Less Space Than You Ever Imagined!

While you endure the cold winter months why not plan for a really great vegetable garden next spring. Maybe even one that could provide some income in addition to the food you eat yourselves! Does anyone have children who need responsibility – and spending money?

To illustrate the potential, I’ll describe the yields achievable by growing one crop in a quarter-acre garden. I realize that most of you may only want or be able to grow a garden of 10 or 20% this size, with multiple crops, however let’s tickle your imaginations! I’m aware of many Mittleider gardeners who are growing commercially – some with multi-acre gardens.

The Method is often called “the best of organic gardening” and “the poor man’s hydroponic method”, and with good reason. The best elements of many gardening disciplines have been blended and adapted for the home vegetable gardener, to maximize your yields in a truly sustainable garden.

Consider this: Just a quarter-acre of tomatoes grown properly using Dr. Mittleider’s instructions, and selling for only $.50 per pound, would yield $25,000 per year! Have I got your attention? Let’s see how it’s done.

A quarter-acre, or 10,390 square feet, will accommodate 78 30-foot rows of plants, grown in 4′ X 30′ Grow-Boxes, with 3 1/2′ side aisles, and 5′ end aisles. Planting 9″ apart gives you 41 plants per bed or 3,198 total.

By growing a tomato that averages 8 ounces (some varieties are even much bigger), and growing vertically, each plant should produce 16# of fruit from July through October. How? Good varieties produce a cluster of 3-7 tomatoes every 5-7″ up a 7′ stem in 4 months of production. Using 4 per cluster and 12 clusters gives 48 tomatoes, and at 8 ounces each, your yield would be 24# per plant. Let’s reduce that by one third, to be conservative.

This amounts to 51,168 pounds of tomatoes (16# X 41 X 78) – or $25,584 at $.50 per pound. Who says you couldn’t live out of your garden! And similar results can be achieved growing right in the soil.

Now there certainly are costs, including labor, as there are in any serious endeavor. Start-up costs include 1) making and filling the boxes, 2) making T-Frames, 3) wires or pipes, and baling-twine strings, and 4) automating the watering. However these are one-time capital expenditures and will be more than recovered in the first year.

Next, suppose you’d like to increase your yield even more. After all, commercial hydroponic growers can produce 660,000 pounds of “plastic,” tasteless tomatoes per year on one acre. Of course, they have multi-million dollar investments in year-round greenhouses, automated systems, etc. By simply putting an inexpensive “in-the-garden greenhouse” or arched PVC roof over your Grow-Boxes or soil-beds, (see Appendix C of The Mittleider Gardening Course book, pages 276-282) and covering them with 6-mil greenhouse plastic, and then adding a little heat on cold nights, you can lengthen your growing season by another two months (1 in spring and 1 in fall), or 50%!

Now you’re looking at 75,000# of tomatoes per quarter-acre, or almost half the yield of the expensive hydroponic growers! But you’re growing “in the dirt”, because your boxes are open at the bottom, so your plants get all the natural nutrients available from the soil (producing better flavor). And you only use the plastic covering on cold nights during two or three months, so your plants benefit from direct sunlight as well, further improving their flavor.

Do you think these numbers are hard to believe? Just visit a greenhouse tomato operation and see tomato plants that are 20′ and 30′ long – still producing after more than a year!

Now let’s see what your family can do. And let me help guide you through the process – read the website FAQ’s at www.growfood.com or email me at jim@growfood.com.

Invite Spring Early – Grow in Your Basement

Now’s the time to get ready to grow your own seedlings! It’s not really difficult, and can extend your growing season by many weeks. For example, by planting brassica’s (cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower) in February in your basement under grow-lights, you can put large, sturdy transplants into your garden by the end of March or early April, and be eating them when others are just seeing them come up! However, remembering that photosynthesis, using light, heat and moisture causes plant growth, you must follow a few key natural principles very carefully, or you will be disappointed.

First, seeds must have moisture to germinate and grow. And the soil mix must be moist, but not soggy, or you’ll drown the new plant, since it must also have oxygen!

Second, while heat is essential, temperatures must be maintained in a narrow range for ideal germination to occur. Most vegetable seeds germinate quickly between 75 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. After plants are up, many of them will grow in cooler temperatures, but most all will become dormant (stop growing) at temperatures below 50 degrees.

Third, light is not necessary for seed germination, but as soon as your seedlings begin to emerge from the soil, maximum light is required immediately for proper development. Therefore, to grow in your house, make sure your plants have a strong (but not hot!) light source directly on the plants, for up to 16 hours per day. Pictures of two grow-light shelves can be seen in the Photos section of the free gardening group at MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com. The metal one is 6-shelf Commercial Chrome Shelving, from Sam’s Club costing only $70, and will hold 20 flats of plants. Suspend shop lights with 2 cool and 2 warm 40-watt tubes 2 to 4″ above the plants.

The fourth principle relates to feeding. A balanced nutrient mix of 13 minerals is essential to plants immediately after germination. Those nutrients are mineral salts and must be very dilute in the soil moisture, otherwise osmosis will cause the salt to draw the life-giving moisture out of the plants, and they will die. To ensure you never burn your plants, water seedlings daily using the “Constant Feed Solution” of one ounce (2 level tablespoons) of Weekly Feed dissolved in 3 gallons of water. For the Weekly Feed formula, go to Lesson 5 of The Mittleider Gardening Course book – www.growfood.com/shop

Next, it is important to separate your small plants before their leaves begin to overlap with others’, or the tiny stems will become very weak and spindly as the plants all stretch, looking for more light. By the time the plants have their first or second true leaves, this step should be completed. Failure to transplant them now, even waiting a few hours can result in spindly, weak plants, which never recover. Transplanting seedlings into 2″ 6-paks or pots or into 18″ by 18″ Flats or trays will provide adequate space for them to grow an additional 2-3 weeks, depending on variety. If it’s still too early to put them out into the garden by the time plant leaves are again beginning to overlap, prune the leaves, transplant again into larger pots, or separate pots, so the plant leaves always have maximum light.

Before transplanting into the garden, “harden-off” your plants outside, off the ground for 2 to 3 days, to acclimate them to direct sunlight, temperature, wind, etc. This is important so the plant doesn’t have the shock of a new environment added to the shock to its root system caused by transplanting. If the weather turns cold at night, bring the plants back in the house. The temperature adjustment needs to be gradual.

For many of your plants, the pruning process does double duty. In addition to assuring maximum light, it shocks the plant mildly, causing it to pause in its growth and produce a thicker, sturdier stem. This process makes the plant much better able to endure the vicissitudes of the outside environment, such as cutworms, ants, etc. that often quickly decimate plants with weak, spindly stems.

For tall-growing plants, like tomatoes, by the time they are 12″ tall, provide small stakes tied to the plant stem to prevent them from falling over. And with tomatoes, begin immediately to remove all sucker stems as soon as they appear, to assure a single, strong stem and maximum production from your plant.