Why won't my tomatoes grow?

Question

The plant grew every tall. It is in a large pot on my patio. I tried giving it more water and plant food.

Answer 1

Not sure what your question is. It sounds like your tomato plant grew just fine.

If you're looking for fruit, though -- your plant needs to be warm and in direct sunlight most of the day.

Answer 2

From what you said, your tomato did grow, but I assume you mean that it is not producing fruit .... I don't know what kind of soil you planted it in, but tomatoes are what is know as a heavy eater. Tomatoes respond well to fertilizer applications, especially phosphorus. Excess nitrogen fertilizer can result in plants with extremely vigorous vine growth but little fruit production. Apply 2-1/2 to 3 pounds of a complete fertilizer, such as 5-10-10, 5-20-20, or 8-16-16 per 100 square feet of garden area. Work the fertilizer into the soil about 2 weeks before planting. An additional side dressing of a nitrogen fertilizer may be desirable after the first cluster of flowers have set fruit.

You'll have to do some math .... but that's the proportions you're looking for in the NPK - (N=growth, P= flowers K= root growth)


Below I found a good site full of the how to's and when to's. I was recently looking up tomato blight.

good luck,
green terra

Answer 3

In my area, tomatoes are not doing well this year. Like you, I have been doing everything I can think of to make the plant grow better, but nothing seems to help. We did have unusually high temps this month, but now that things are cooling down I'm hoping that the tomatoes will do better. I have three bushes and have had only about 5 tomatoes.

Answer 4

There are two types of tomatoes, determinate and indeterminate. The determinate only grow to a certain size, stop and start producing fruit (if their carbohydrate balance is correct). The indeterminate just keep growing and growing hopefully producing fruit as they go. Ideally container grown tomatoes should be the determinate as they don't require quite as an aggressive root system as do the determinate.

What are you feeding? Hopefully a vegetable type fertilizer that helps with the nitrogen/CARBOHYDRATE ratio. If too high a nitrogen the plant thinks it's grass and just keeps growing leaves, not flowers and fruit.

Answer 5

I don't know where you live, but it might be too late to grow tomatoes where you live. Next year do the following:


From:
http://ms.essortment.com/growingtomatoes_rxrb.htm

"Preparing Your Pot:

Proper drainage is important to prevent root rot. By drilling holes into the bottom of the container this allows for proper drainage. For pots this size a hole about ¾ inch in diameter is probably sufficient. By covering the holes with screen will prevent the soil from falling out of the bottom of holes this size. It is not a good idea to set the pot directly on the ground, so by raising the pot above ground level this will keep diseases from possibly entering your pot and destroying your tomato plants.

Location:

Be sure to set your pot in a sunny area. Tomatoes require approximately 6-8 hours of direct sunlight a day for optimum growth and production. When temperatures are high certain areas of the country it’s also beneficial for the plant if it gets some afternoon shade.

Planting, Care and Feeding:

Once your container is in place fill to within 2 inches of the pot with soil-less soil. Mix a controlled release fertilizer into the top 3 inches of the soil to feed your plants entirely through the summer. Feeding with supplements is recommended for longer growing season in different areas.

A good disease resistant tomato is recommended, for instance: Big Beef or Better Boy. The size of this container will allow you to grow most any full-sized tomato to optimum growth. Each container will house 2 plants with leaves approximately 6-8 leaves each. After planting your tomatoes then set up your cage to support them as they grow.

If plants are set out early in the season wrap a layer of plastic around the cage and over the top for protection but leave air holes for ventilation. When watering plants top should be dry 3-4 inches below top before watering. And stop watering when you see water drainage coming out of the bottom of the pot. When your tomatoes start fruiting water daily, especially on hot days. When the branches go beyond the cage tuck them inside the cage. Pruning is beneficial in cooler climates for maximum fruit production but in warmer climates it is not necessary to prune because the leaves shade the fruit.

When fall comes be sure and harvest all your tomatoes before the first frost. You can eat them as fried green tomatoes or set them in a box to ripen.

Happy harvesting!"

Answer 6

Tomato Plants need lots of direct sun. They are getting filtered sun and that isn't enough. Also, have you seen any bees? Remember that thing called pollination?

You can take a small paintbrush and go from bloom to bloom to cross pollinate the plant.

Answer 7

was there any Bees visiting your tomato plant?

a friend of mind had the same problem (she had killed the bee)