My (OP) container plants were doing really well and then all the flowers dropped off them a while back! I think the night time temperatures dropped too low as they are doing fine now, so it could be that.

How is your soil? Are you using a fertilizer with a lot of nitrogen? One to two tomatoes on heirloom varieties is way too low. Mine have a lot more greenies than that. You don't say how your hybrid tomatoes are doing. I don't really see that there would be all that much difference in fruit set though

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I also wonder if it could be all the rain. We've had a ton this summer, but at least the pollen has had some time to dry out in between showers.

Which varieties did you choose? Some are definitely worth growing over the regular old beefsteak varieties. I find that others are too late for our growing area, and I don't care to wait all summer long to get only two amazingly tasty tomatoes.....

Linda

"Heirlooms" can mean many different things so specific variety names please? And "heirlooms" just like "hybrids" are thousands of different varieties, some good, some bad, some just so-so. So one cannot rule out all heirlooms anymore than you can rule out all hybrids. ;-)

The problems you are experiencing, depending on the cause, could happen with ANY tomato and are far more dependent on growing conditions than on variety. But yes, the two most noted advantages to growing so-called "heirlooms" is their greater flavor and the ability to save seeds from them.

That said, unusual weather has been a common complaint in many part of the country this year, not just for tomato production, but many other vegetables too.

Dave

I am referring to Kellogg's Breakfast and Brandywine Sudduth.

They are getting minimal fertilizer after planting and the Golden Rave and Jet Star I planted aren't having any issues.

I grow almost solely heirlooms. Brandywine Sudduth has very good flavor, but quite low yields compared to other similar heirlooms. As has been said though, saving seeds is my biggest motivation. There are hybrids with good flavor, but they come at a price. Try a few others before you give up on heirlooms. Although, what one person likes, another person doesn't, there are some that aren't as good as claimed. I personally don't care much for Cherokee Purple... ironically, it's from the region I live in and it has good taste, but I have trouble getting it to ripen well. Perhaps it does better up in the mountains from where it originated than down here in the valley. Striped German was another - I didn't find the taste to be to my preference, but others like it quite well.

I enjoy the yields of Amish Paste, and it's flavor is pretty good. It can get a bit mealy if you leave it to ripen fully on the vine, but that easily managed by picking slightly early. Another benefit is that, for a paste tomato, it has a very low incidence of BER.

I also like Rose. Great flavor - especially when fully ripe - great yields, good sized fruit, extremely vigorous plants.

Next year, I'll try another dark tomato - carbon is the one I'm leaning towards - and I'm thinking of adding an heirloom oxheart.

Agree that unfortunately both the varieties you chose are pretty well noted for low production but also highly flavor rated. If you like the black tomatoes try Indian Stripe or Black Krim. If you want red/pinks try German Johnson or Marianna's Peace. Much better production and great flavor.

Dave

Heirloom vs hybrid should have nothing to do with tomatoes setting when flowers are present. Pot size vs strain can tho. Heat, water available, amount of tomatoes already present, root bound, and nutrients available can have major effects tho. Some strains will cap at X amount of tomatoes in X pot for instance and will remain to have tomatoes set but not form. Others won't set in high Temps or if nutrients or water isn't available at time of pollination. Also others will end their cycle early depending on indeterminate vs determinant.

A tomatoes goal is to reproduce. Sometimes when they get a tomato set they will realize they either can't grow X number of tomatoes or water available isn't there to allow them to. So they will abandoned everything. Usually the flowers will still be there when this happens but in a dormant state. An experienced grower should be able to tell that the tomatoes did in fact set but the plant is reluctant to grow them for the factors mentioned.

I am not growing in pots, and they are not setting fruit. My hybrids are having no issues and I am getting my first ripe fruit now.

When I said heirloom, I meant true heirloom.. not any OP variety. I am not writing off all OP tomatoes.

There are heirlooms known as great producers and others known to be stingy. In general, a tomato variety does not stand the test of time if it's stingy unless it's capable of great flavor (or has some kind of odd trait that tomato enthusiasts want to preserve).

I'm growing mostly OPs this year. All are producing well with dozens of fruits on some of them. If we're going to be strict, probably the only true heirlooms among them are Anna Russian and Pantano, and they're both very productive.

Green Giant may not qualify technically as an heirloom, but lots of people think of it as one, and I've been pulling 1-pound beefsteaks off of it, with many more on the plant and new fruit continually setting.

I'm also growing Bali, an OP of unknown provenance/age, and Japanese Black Trifele, which is a Russian commercial OP variety, and both have fruit set comparable to productive hybrids.

For cherries, I'm growing Maglia Rosa, a dwarf plant bred by Fred Hempel of Artisan Seeds, Galina's, a Russian commercial OP variety, Esterina F1, and Apricot Dream F1. The Maglia Rosa almost seems like it's more fruit than foliage at this point, and has terrific production for a small plant. Galina's is outproducing both the F1s, which is a surprise to me.

So it's really a matter of choosing the right varieties for your area and garden, and sometimes your growing conditions will affect how different varieties perform. But in most gardens, KB and Brandywine will be among the least productive plants. In some gardens, though, they'll produce the most delicious fruit.

I have 2 heirloom/Op that have been producing for 2-3 months now and keep pumping. They are :

Indian Stripe -PL (Mid season )

Cuostralee (Mid - Late season ).

Those are real winners in my garden out of 32 varieties that I started with.

On the cocktail size, Stupice ( Early ) is a good producer too.

Brandywine Sudduth didn't do well for me. I will just grow Brandy Boy in that class.

Have to try various varieties to find out which ones do well in your climate/garden. I have don that for 10 year. Next year NO EXPERIMENT. I have found enough good ones.

sey

I've reached further into the heirloom pool this year and have been pleasantly surprised with some, and disappointed with others. My Cherokee Purple and Pink Brandywine are absolutely loaded with green fruit - Id say over a dozen fruits (pushing a lb each) on each plant right now. They are slow to turn though (I just picked my first blushing BW yesterday, and have only picked 2 or 3 CPs).

Homestead and Yellow Pear are my two disappointments so far. Both are similar to what you describe yours doing Peter - lots of growth but very little fruit set. I think I've gotten a total of 4 ripe yellow pears (when my other hybrid cherries are going gangbusters). Homestead has got more fruit on it but they are all small. They also seem to pick up septoria with any moisture on the leaves. Very disappointing because I had high hopes for it and planted 6 plants.

I agree with Seysonn that you just have to experiment to see what does well in each persons climate/garden. I will not be growing homestead in my garden next year. And whatever plants I choose to grow as experiments will not receive 1/4 of my total plot size. That space will be allotted for proven winners (CP and BW are quickly going on that list - along with hybrids Giant Garden Paste and Big Beef).

Not sure if this really helps or not, but I've seen a few tips suggesting that when the plants flower, rattle their cages some to vibrate the flowers. It supposedly helps pollination occur.

Not sure how true that really is, but I suppose it can't hurt.

GB - Galinas is out producing my F1 cherries as well. It's been a really good year for Galinas.

I find the flavor disappointingly mild, though, Kansas. They say Galina's starts to shine late in the season when others are losing quality. We'll see.

Ours are steadily improving in flavor (my taste buds). Our customers are asking for "the yellow ones". The demand is just as high for our Galinas as it is for our Sungolds. We've also got Sunrise Bumblebees that are just starting to come on. Our Sunchocolas are producing as well. This is our first year for them. I was a bit surprised at the size of the Sunchocolas .... they're quite large. Husky Cherry Reds are just now producing in volume. We've got 3-4 plants of each variety.

Fruit set is dependent on the variety and heavily influenced by temperature. Too hot or too cool and you don't get fruit. I have a brandywine in the ground and got 10 tomatoes in one day (not every day). We've had ideal tomato wetaher this summer. My success in containers is more limited, although I know people who get a good yield in a self-watering box using hybrids.

Anyone growing yellow oxheart? mine is just flowering but no fruit. This is my first time growing them so I am not familiar with them. Plants are like 6 ft tall and no tomatoes yet.