What is going on here....?!

[Zenbaas]

So I was having a look at plants today while doing some light pruning and I noticed something going on with the blossoms on my plants. It's looks like a lot of them have "fallen off" or dried/died.

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So what is going on? What can I do to remedy it. It looks like the latest ones don't have as many problems as the early ones (blossoms) so I don't know if that had anything to do with it.?

[travis]

What are your daytime and night time temperatures?

[Zenbaas]

Originally Posted by travis

What are your daytime and night time temperatures?

The weather has been good. Night time is not cold at all and daytime hasn't been scorching either. Max daytime has probably been around 32 degrees Celsius. So there hasn't been any extreme temperatures lately.

[kurt]

On my cherry plants and since I grow inside a screened in environment and if there is not wind/breeze sometimes I have found out that the flowers will die and wither/fall off after a given time if not pollinated.I make it a point to vigorously shake the plant during after early morning dew tends to dry off.When trellis is connected together with a taught continuous line I can vibrate the whole row.Some posts here suggest good results with electic tooth brushes as a vibrator/pollinator.For my single type blooms I actually use a small artists paintbrush(different variety's get same brush each for no cross pollination)and it has good results for me.

[Worth1]

As Kurt said they are not getting pollinated.
I have found this to happen on smaller plants in perfect weather on maybe the 1st through third trusses.

With me the night temperatures may have been too low maybe in the lower 50'sF 12 C.
I have also looked at the weather for various parts of South Africa and see the temperatures are close to if not 90F which is pushing it for pollination of tomatoes.
Cherries being less restrictive than larger verities will set fruit at higher temperatures.
Humidity plays a big role also the more humid the more failed blossoms.
What ever the case may be the reason for the dropped blooms is lack of pollination.

Worth

[travis]

Possibly too much nitrogen available. Try stripping off some of the excess foliage. If there are modest breezes or trade winds, there should be no need to hand pollinate or hand stimulate, etc.

Also, you might try a mild dose of bloom booster type fertilizer to kick the plant into phosphorus mode.

[Zenbaas]

Some interesting replies in here.

We have had constant vigorous winds for at least the last month so it has me somewhat puzzled. The plants get blown around a lot. (and we stay on the 3rd floor so the wind tends to always funnel through the buildings)

I guess I can get hold of them with the electric toothbrush which should be easy enough. I can also water them with some bloom formula from my hydroponic nutrients for an extra kick.

Something that I didn't manage to capture in the photos is that the blooms that fell off (they were zactually still on and only fell off after I touched them) look they they never really developed or grew to a bigger size at all before they died.

Nervetheless thanks for the input. I'll get hold of them first thing on the morning.

[bower]

Zenbaas, sometimes genetics plays a part in blossom drop too. I have seen some varieties that always drop a few in any cluster, and other varieties that are very dependable setting every flower whether they're shaken or not.

But in this case, where flowers or buds don't fully develop before they drop off, I would suggest it is nutrient or water related, probably the best fix is fertilizer.

[Gerardo]

We all get greedy and want every flower to fruit, but on some varieties it just never happens. Even with appropriate hydration, fertilization, temperature (night and day), wind, etc, some varieties drop, drop, drop (they are 86'd from my garden promptly). And as others mentioned, the clusters can behave a bit different on the same plant, depending on the conditions.

The things you can control are which varieties you plant, irrigation and fertilization. So pay close attention to the last two. Give it a "bloom" dose, water carefully and see if that helps. I had a similar problem, but it was due to insect damage.

[Zenbaas]

I have given them a bloom dose and applied an old electric toothbrush to all of them

It looks like this has only happened to the Dr Carolyn tomato plants so far but they were also the earliest ones to bloom. Will be following them all closely..!