Your tomato plant may be flowering but not bearing fruit for several reasons, including a pollination issue, inadequate nutrients, poor watering, and insufficient sunshine. Factors like disease or pest infestation might also stop your tomato plant from producing fruit.
In this guide, Find solutions for correcting tomato flowering but not fruiting. The tomato plant grows tall but has no fruit; find the answers below.
Why are my tomatoes not setting fruit?
When troubleshooting tomato plants not setting fruits, you may consider the soil nutrient imbalance, poor sunlight exposure, pollination, watering, moisture content in the soil, and any possible infections from pests and diseases.
1. Soil nutrient imbalance
Excess nitrogen in the soil is one notable cause of tomato plant flowering and not fruiting. This is because your plant needs nitrogen to grow green, and if there is too much nitrogen present, the plant could continue to expand rather than produce fruit.
If you notice excess nitrogen in the garden, here is how to reduce nitrogen. You can cover the soil with mulch to help remove some of the extra nitrogen in the soil. Cheap, colored mulch works very well for this. Cheap, colored mulch is typically created from leftover softwoods, which require more nitrogen to break down in the soil.
2. Inadequate sunlight
For tomatoes to fruit well, you must make sure they get exposure to enough sunlight during the day. Tomato plants convert sunlight into energy to produce fruits. So, without sunlight, your tomato plant cannot set fruit.
To correct inadequate sunlight for more fruiting, you can reposition the tomato plants if they are in pots. When they are not in pots, you may either remove any sunlight blockage around the tomato plants or find a suitable place next time when planting tomatoes.
3. Absence of pollination
Extreme temperature and excessive use of pesticides in the area can stop pollination in tomato plants, hence no fruiting. Pollinating insects will move away from the area when they detect pesticides and insecticides.
What to do when there is absence of pollination? The only option is to do hand pollination for your tomato plant to set fruits. Below is a video tutorial on hand pollination for tomatoes and fruit.
Tomato flowering but not fruiting
4. Dryness or lack of water
Overwatering will cause the roots of your plants to rot, which will ultimately cause the plant to die. Also, the plants will get stressed and unable to produce fruit if they don’t receive adequate water.
The best approach to ensure that your plants receive the proper quantity of water is to manually probe several inches of soil to see if it is too wet or dry. Additionally, you should monitor the forecast and refrain from watering when rain is predicted.
5. Pest and disease infection
Pests like tomato worms or aphids can cause tomato plants to become too stressed to produce fruit or survive. The surviving plants may grow healthier if you keep pests away from them by eradicating plants afflicted with aphids and tomato worms to stop further infection.
Buying tomatoes resistant to disease and rotating your garden crops each season so that your plants are not growing in the same spot year after year are the best ways to keep your plants disease-free.
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