Tomato plants:lots of leaves, lots of blooms, few tomatoes..

[silvercaster]

Hello,
I have three tomato plants in a raised garden.
I have 4 tomatoes.
Not enough sun? Temp?

All suggestions are appreciated.

[dragonfly]

Tomatoes are generally wind pollinated and the temperatures have to be in a fairly narrow range. Try to help pollinate them by hitting the cages or stakes with a stick every day. The purpose is to try and make the plants "vibrate" like they would on a windy day. I just make a few taps on the tomato cages with a small 1x2 every day or two.

[silvercaster]

We live on a hill in San Diego, so we have a pretty good breeze every day, from morning til night. Yet, few tomatoes... Are there any other ways to increase pollination?

Could it be something else? Pruning?

Thanks a lot.

[jmeier]

How long have they been in the ground?

[dragonfly]

What are your day and night temperature ranges lately? Tomatoes won't set fruit if it's too hot during the day or too cool at night. How much sun do they get? You might consider adding some bonemeal to your soil, and some coffee grounds. Just a thought.

[silvercaster]

They have been in the ground for about 7 weeks now. They're in a soil, mulch and compost mix around 2 feet deep.
The temp here in San Diego has be low 50s at night and low-mid 80s in the day. We did have a heat wave in the high 90s for a week.
There are a few, nice looking tomatoes, but low in ratio to the number of blooms I have...

[Gar]

Have you tried to folair feed with compost tea. I had the same problem last year and Kathe Kitchens convinced me to get a folair feeding program started. It work like magic. I started out with 3 tomatoes on 6 plants. Approx 1 week, after the first folair feeding, I began to see many blossoms on the plants. I ended up with so many tomatoes I started to give them away to the neighbors. I also explained to them about the benefits that organice have over the nasty chemicals. The neighbor behind me saw all of my progress and was impressed with the results.
Hope this helps. Give it a try and let us know how it is working.

[silvercaster]

Thanks a lot for your suggestions. We'll give it a try.

[greenacres]

From what I have read, tomatoes really like warm nights and my guess would be it is temperature related. They prefer nights in the 75 degree range. You might see more blooms when the evening temps get a little higher. Maybe you need to move to Texas! - Susan