Excellent picture.

Had you not said that you see small fruits inside the blossoms one would think that it was strictly a case of blossom drop, which is usually due to high temps daytimes, over 70 at night and also clumped pollen from high humidity conditions not allowing for pollenization.

But you said that fruits did set and then aborted, for that's what the yellow behind the bud indicates. That yellow also appears with just straight blossom drop.

Reasons for fruit abortion are many, including both environmental and infectious reasons.

Are the plants otherwise in excellent condition with no sign of leaf or stem lesions or wilting or change in foliage color?

Carolyn

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, by and large, the plants appear to be in good condition. There are some 'cuts' in some of the larger leaves that look as if they were made with a knife, but I've read elsewhere that that is normal for some types of plants. The Beefsteaks each stand about 3 feet tall while the three Golden Jubilees are each about 2 feet tall. All of the plants were planted near the end of April where they suffered through an unusually cold spring. The weather turned unusually hot about a week ago (mid 90's with night time lows in the mid to upper 70's) but has now become more typical (highs in the 80's and lows in the 60's). I am hoping this is a result of the odd weather, but since my other plants as well as my neighbor's are doing well, I didn't think it likely, unless some varieties are more affected by the weather than others.

The two Beefsteaks have a deformity that has me puzzled. On both plants, there are sections where the 'blossom clusters' are stunted. The bud stem and all of the buds are contained within an area the size of a nickel. These buds remain small and eventually turn brown and fall off without opening. Both plants have two of these stunted sections, one after the other. The upper sections seem to be growing normally now, except for the retention of fertilized blossoms.

I have been giving one of the two Beefsteaks water with Epsom salt mixed in the past two weeks to see if that would make a difference. If it has made a difference, I haven't noticed it.

SFGagnon, is this still happening to your tomato plants? Did you figure out what's causing it?

This is happening to my cherry tomato plants that I'm growing indoors under lights. There are 3 buds on one that have those yellow bands/bud stems. I brushed against one yesterday and the bud and stem fell off up to where the yellowing starts. Other "green" buds around it are being pollinated and forming fruit. I have noticed that the flowers aren't opening fully, but still get pollinated.

At first I wondered what was going on, but after reading this post I assume they are just aborted blossoms, for whatever reason. I suspect warm temps with this heat wave we're having. The plants seems healthy otherwise.

This one is partially open.

An unopened bud.

Yeah, those plants are pretty much a complete loss. They did finally set a few tomatoes (maybe 10 total between the two beefsteaks) but they are all horribly deformed. The blossom ends are not sealing at all (half dollar sized holes) and many are 'rotated' (the blossom end is at the 2 o'clock position, rather than at 6 o'clock). Happily, my cherries are doing well and the two surviving orange tomato plants (Golden Jubilee) have produced half a dozen so far (it's better than none...). Still have no idea what's causing it. The weather has been hot lately and the spring was unusually cold.

Maybe next year...

Did any buds turn yellow or drop on your cherry tomatoes or this was only on regular tomatoes? The fruits on mine appear to be developing normally. I think it's just the heat causing some of the buds to abort. Sorry about your tomatoes, I hope you have better luck next year.

The cherry tomatoes are doing very well. They have dropped a few blossoms lately, but the heat has been wicked here recently. New tomatoes are starting to set on them, so I'm not worried about them.

The beefsteaks have had hundreds of buds but nearly all of them have shriveled before opening or have aborted with the yellow band problem.

Being a numbers kind of a person, I keep records on how much each plant produces. As of a week ago, the three cherry tomato plants and one grape tomato plant have brought in about 300 tomatoes in total and there are at least that many still on the plants. An additional 10 were lost due to various factors. The two yellow tomatoes have brought in a whopping 8 with an additional 2 lost. The two beefsteaks have brought in 0 with 5 lost so far. I may yet get 3 or 4 from one plant. The other looks like a complete loss. The plants themselves are physically doing well, other than their inability to produce a crop. They are both pushing 8 feet tall.

Good luck with your plants. I hope all goes well!

I keep good records of everything like you do, but this is my first time growing them so I have no idea how many tomatoes to expect. So far I only see maybe 8 or 10 unripe tomatoes, but there are still lots of buds and tiny fruits forming. I look at it like you do, some tomatoes are better than none. :) 300 tomatoes doesn't sound bad to me, I doubt I will get even close to that with 2 dwarf plants growing indoors, but I hope you get many more!