Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi there,

Looking for some advice. I have noticed in the last week or two that my tomato plants have began to struggle. They started very well, nice thick stems, healthy foliage and the first setting of fruits was great, however the most recent growth is very spindly, flowers are dropping off without setting fruit and the plants seem to be going backwards.

I've been feeding them with Maxicrop weekly and they are set up on an automatic irrigation system and also in a greenhouse with autovents.

I am a KG on a private estate providing for a very busy kitchen and so any advice, pearls of wisdom or troubleshooting ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

I’ve had a similar problem over the years and put it down to lack of Nitrogen in the compost. So now I always add chicken manure pellets to the compost, and then start feeding with a liquid feed when the first truss of tomatoes has set and this seems to have cured the problem.
I grow my tomatoes in large pots, I would say they hold roughly 20 litres of compost!

I can't say I have tried it but am going to as it arrived today as my toms are behind. Several members on a site recommended it to someone who was having similar problems which is simple Epson Salts, 1 tab per foot of plant height via watering cane or sprinkle. It provides magnesium & I have just had a look online to check amount & it says 'it helps with seed germination, chlorophyll production, fruit development, strengthens cell wall, improves uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus & sulphur', so needs a balanced tomato feed as well.

I hope this helps wake mine up but only time will tell. Good Luck!

I’ll second the use of chicken manure pellets, all my crops are really growing for it this year!

I use 6X rather than pellets, but when I prepare the bed before planting the tomatoes I also add farm yard manure first, to feed the soil with a slow release feed, then use seaweed extract liquid feed. This year has been an odd one weather wise with extremes of temperature, which tomatoes don't like, I have some plants 7 feet tall and one only 2 feet, but there's fruit on them all. What varieties are you growing?

Do they look like these? They are the two against the South side plastic of my polytunnel, the rest of the bed is OK. I've put it down to heat as I don't shade. Pretty sure it is not food or water; they are in a soil bed well prepared with compost and fertiliser, watered every day and fed twice a week.

I nip the tip out once the plants get to about 5 or 6 foot, but I do grow anything between 12 and 20 plants, so I don't need masses from each plant. I might tidy up the dead bits, but other than that, a couple of mine look a bit gangly too.

I am growing Supersweet 100,Orange Pixie,Sungold,Ailsa Craig,Roma,Sparta and Skykomish a variety from the Real Seed Company, old seeds which I found in my "seed box"took a chance on, and two germinated but only one is growing away.The others were chosen by my son in laws seven year old nephew from the local garden centre,
Growing outside against a south/south-west facing wall they are struggling too.Plenty of flowers but,it seems, hardly any insects about to pollinate them.Still time yet get a decent,but maybe disappointing,crop compared to earlier years.