Why are my green tomatoes falling off the plants?

Question

I am growing Gardeners Delight and Tumbling Tom in pots (12 inch ones ) in a Polytunnel.
The plants were doing really well, the tomatoes setting well until the last few days, when they have suddenly started to fall off the plants.
I have watered them consistantly, and feed them with Tomorite once a week.
The polytunnel has doors at both ends which have been consistantly open. There is not an obvious problem with Botrytis.

The tomatoes are set - they are the size of ten pence pieces, and are detatching themselves at the junction of the fruit and truss, leaving the fruit "stalk" still attached to the tomato.
The Gardener's Delight have been consistantly deside shooted, but the Tumbling Tom have not as they are a bush variety.
The Gardeners delight are staked, to bamboo canes attached to a wire.

Answer 1

doh, you just said it, its in the name 'Tumbling TOm,............... tumblin of the plants.. hee hee

Answer 2

1. If you smoke, make sure your hands are cleaned before handling the tomatoes. 2. They may not be fertilized properly. Get yourself a soft brush and dust the flowers as soon as they appear. We used to use a Rabbit's tail. 3. Get yourself a fine spray can, and fine spray the flowers with plain water. Don't be greedy and have too many trusses on each plant. Settle for four or five, maximum six and pinch out the top of the plant. I hope you are 'side-shooting', picking out the shoots from the sides of leaves.............. All in all, I believe the 'dusting' is your problem.

Answer 3

Fruit drop is usually caused by sap sucking insects, or slugs or snails eating around the sappy stems near the fruit. Have a close look and see if you can spot any obvious culprits.
Try googling for "tomato + fruit drop" and see what comes up.

Answer 4

The definition of fruits has different meanings depending on context.

Answer 5

My tomatoes are falling off as well. Is this usual? I have been growing tomatoes for 36 years and have never had this before.

Answer 6

Do U give them support,my dear!

As thr fruit is too heavy,U might need to insert a rod inside the soil irst,then use something like wire or a line to tight th egrowing tomatos to th erods tha tcould give support to your furit,otherwise it might fallen down. Then U feel lose that after so long growing ,and @last not success. Try it! Do help!

Answer 7

My tomatoes are all right this year, it's the apricots and plums that are falling off for no obvious reason. I sympathise, but unfortunately have no satisfactory answer to give you. Sorry.