Nail everything with Organic fertilizers. Bonide has some good stuff- bloodmael, bonemeal, phosphate, ect. Right now fruit should be setting, so nail it hard with 12-0-0. I use phosphate (lots) when planting so roots are strong, then right about now high nitrogen.

Hi nnsgarden - other factors besides the day/night temps can cause blossom drop. The Blossom Drop FAQ here lists excess use of nitrogen fertilizers (not your problem apparantly ;), dry windy conditions, delayed planting, inconsistent soil moisture levels, etc. just to name a few. I have found that pruning will also stress the plant and cause it to switch gears back to growth.

But since your blossom drop is accompanied by no new growth too then my first suspect would be the need for some feeding. No new growth means no new blooms to set even when the temps and other factors fall into line.

"Going organic" doesn't mean no feedings - they need at least 2 additional feedings throughout the season - it just means using an organic product. Compost, fish emulsion fertilizer, Tomato Tone, etc. - lots of products out there to choose from. If you aren't comfortable with making compost tea for some reason then just place fresh compost around the plants and water it in - viola! lazyman's compost tea. ;) Or just put some compost in a 5 gallon bucket, fill it with water and let it sit for a day, then pour it around the base of the plants. Making compost tea honestly doesn't need to be as complicated as some make it sound.

But whatever you choose, it sounds like some feeding is in order. ;)

Dave

When I had this problem a few years back, it turned out the plants were only getting an hour & half of DIRECT sunlight (that's the short story). Didn't realize it until I actually timed it.

I haven't use fertilizer in over 2yrs now, just compost ;-)
I don't think nitrogen will help plants set fruit. More leaves, yea.

I don't think you can go wrong with compost tea....JUST DO IT. Fine tune your process later.

JUST DO IT,
Gumby_CT

Thanks for all the advice. I will give them a good feeding tonight and see if they perk up. That must be the issue, as they get plenty of sunshine, I water regularly, and it's not that windy here. I think I'll use your suggestion, Dave, and put compost around the base and then water. When I've read about compost tea, I see people arguing over how to bubble it and this and that and it just sounded over my head!

I am wondering if you can help me. I posted my problem a few weeks ago of the flower heads dropping off my brandywine tomatoes and I still haven't been able to fix the problem. Somebody suggested the humidity and heat, but that didn't seem to be it, and somebody suggested using an electric toothbrush behind the flower, and I've discovered today that that doesn't work, so I am at a loss to know what to do. Have you any suggestions?

nnsgarden - thousands of gardeners were making and using compost tea for our gardens looonnnggg before all this bubbling debate stuff came up. ;) Not that aeration of tea is a bad thing, it isn't, but it isn't required in any way either. Know how to make sun-tea? Same thing. A knee-high stocking stuffed with compost is the tea bag and when plopped into a 5 gal. bucket of water and set in the sun for 24-48 hours makes compost tea. Use it to water the base of the plants once a week or dilute it with more water to the color of weak iced tea, put it into a spray bottle and mist the leaves of your plants early in the morning (never in the heat of the day). It really is that simple. ;)

eileen_gardener - I'm not able to find your earlier post - was it a stand alone thread or a tack on to another? Sorry but I don't know what info it contained or what may have already been passed on to you so forgive me if I repeat here.

Likely you have already heard your problem is called "blossom drop" and that it is a common condition and a problem for all tomato growers at one time or another. I linked the FAQ here on it in the post above if you haven't had a chance to review it yet and there are also numerous discussions on it that a search will pull up to read. Just search tomato blossom drop. And, if you Google the same term you will find tons more info on it that will help. Unfortunately, blossom drop is a fact of life for we lovers of tomato growing. ;)

90% of the time it is air temps and high humidity that cause it so why do you feel that is not the cause? What have your your specific day AND night temps and humidity levels been? All it takes is one hot day or one extra cool nite while the bloom is open. What zone are you in? When were the plants transplanted to the garden? Transplanted early or out late? Or are they in containers? That is a whole other set of problems. Excess nitrogen fertilizer contributes. What have you been using to fertilize with and how much and how often? How and how much do you water as excess watering can contribute to the problem?

We just can't rule out the most common cause or ID what else may be the cause without alot more info I'm afraid.

If the temp/humidity is the cause then no amount of tapping, thumping, toothbrushing, cage shaking, or anything else is going to get you fruit and is a waste of time. Tomato blooms pollinate themselves but if the pollen is either tacky or so dry it's dead the blooms simply die. All you can do is wait until the temps and humidity return to an acceptable range for the plant.

In addition, some OP varieties are more prone to it than others and Brandywine (depending on the strain) is a late season variety so early blossom drop is normal for it to a degree.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Alright Dave, comparing compost tea to sun tea does make it a lot less intimidating! I will give it a try. Thanks for the help!