Lots of blooms - no tomatoes.

This situation is usually caused by a condition called 'blossom drop'. We have a FAQ here all about it and many discussion about it it and I have linked some of them for you below.

The primary causes are excessive air temps - too hot or too cool - and the excessive use of high nitrogen fertilizers.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Blossom drop FAQ and discussions

Timing of planting is critical in N.TX. When did you set out your plants?

We had a mild spring early but heat came early and stayed. Once it gets consistently over 90ish for high temps and, especially if there is some humidity, the blossoms will not set on anything I've grown in DFW. I put out 4 inch or so plants on March 15 and had a very nice first round of fruit setting, but by mid June, these were all picked and nothing new set on those plants. Yanked 'em by July 15 except for one in a container that I moved to mostly dappled sunlight so it survived and is producing again (sun gold).

I'm thrilled to report that so far though that new plants put out on August 1 are all 3-5 feet high and setting like crazy with the largest beef steaks at about golfball size right now.

I planted around the end of March. It kept growing and blooming and became the tomato plant that could have eaten all of Fort Worth....finally yanked it last weekend blooms and all. Very disappointed! Last year I planted later and got tomatoes around September so I thought there was some hope. Maybe next year!

From your description - could have eaten all of Fort Worth - it sounds like it was fed way too much nitrogen. That always leads to huge plants but little or no fruit. Next year consider using less fertilizer or at least a low N one.

Dave

I planted 2 plants this year as well. Live in NW Houston. One plant was chopped by the landscaper (don't even get me started!); the other one has lots of flowers but no fruit. I use organic products only, so there is not a huge amount of nitrogen. I planted them in July...guess it was too hot.

It's best to pull up the Spring plants and put out healthy transplants around the middle of July. They can take the heat if you keep them well watered during July and August. If they get direct afternoon sun all evening you may want to shade them a bit. Also heavily, heavily mulch the plants when you put them out to keep the soil moist and cool.
It's ok to feed them nitrogen to get them going but by late August or September I would hold off on the nitrogen and fertilizer in general.
If you have black clay like I do, then you have plenty of phosphate and potassium in your soil.
Tomatoes are wind pollinated so give your plants a shake every now and then.
Also try earlier varieties for Fall crops so you can get mature tomatoes before the cold weather hits. This year I tried black cherry, stupice, rutgers, and eva purple ball. I have many black cherries and stupice some ripe and many close to ripening. The rutgers and epb are around golf ball size. This is probably my best crop yet, but it took me a couple failures. Tomato gardening in North Texas is challenging. Good luck and you always have next year!

Pete

I don't know if this will help with your location, but growing up, my grandparents grew the most beautiful Award winning tomato plants and tomatoes. One thing that grandpa told me was, "Always keep in mind that Tomatoes are surface feeders". He went on to tell me that the more stem that could be placed in the ground meant a healthier plant, because they would grow roots anywhere the stem touched the dirt. He also explained to me that this did NOT mean to plant them deep. Given that, he explained that the stem needed to not be planted deep, but along the surface of the soil. He would break off the lower branches, dig a fairly deep and large elongated hole, line the hole with chicken manure then cover it with soil. He would then lie the tomato plant down into the hole, parallel to the ground and cover as much of the stem as he could. He would then use a small stake to prop up the upper portion of the plant. Within a couple of days, the plant was growing straight up. When he fertilized, he would scratch the ground over the elongated root stem prior to fertilizing.

We use Grandpa's method and we use only fish as fertilizer. Don't know if that would work there, but our Tomatoes LOVE fish. We also use the lasagna gardening method which utilizes only rich leaf mold and other mulch for soil...but all organic.

We live on a game preserve, so we can ONLY use Organic types of fertilizers, but they work. Our garden was the talk of the community. Unfortunately, the deer had a field day with it when it first started to take off, so we had to re-plant 4 weeks later than the late that we first planted...hmmm. But the plants thrived.

I was amazed at how many frogs we had. There was at least one frog per plant...sometimes two. Guess the lack of pesticides and petro chemicals as fertilizers makes a difference. Heck I don't remember this many frogs when I was a kid. Was also amazed at finding praying mantice in the garden. I'd never seen one on this side of the mountains.

I use organic products only, so there is not a huge amount of nitrogen. I planted them in July...guess it was too hot.

Too many make the false assumption that you can't over-feed if you use organics. Sorry, but that isn't true. It is still very easy to over-feed using "organic products only".

And there are many other factors that contribute to blossom drop. All of them are discussed in the FAQ mentioned before.

Dave

This is only the 2nd time I've tried growing tomatoes since moving to North Texas...last year at least I got some tomatoes and even got to eat a couple before the first freeze. This year - NOTHING! What went wrong?

Spring and summer '07 was cooler and rainier than normal, and what you've experienced in '08 is more typical of what to expect.

The UV index is pretty good here, so (generally speaking) 6 hours minimum of full sun is sufficient for spring crop. More can be better (say, up to 8-10 hours), but in the heat of summer, plants tend to appreciate some relief from the mid and late afternoon heat. An ideal siting is to have plants where they get excellent morning sun.

Planting early in Texas is important, and I would encourage you to do so, even if you have to protect the plants a couple of times. In general, a good spring planting time for the metroplex is March 1-15. Even a week or so earlier might be worthwhile if you just have a few plants and are willing to protect. Close to April or in April is frequently too late. In addition, a few early container plantings are always good if you want to make your window of harvest as long as possible.

Also, try to plant 6-8 week old transplants (8" to 12" plus in height) if you can for the best results - no itty bitty transplants from 6 pack cells. Our window of fruit set is usually pretty short here.