My tomato is flowering .. =(

Ivan wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@v23g2000prn.googlegroups.com:

yes, it's fine. it's happy & the day length is such that it wants to flower.

then don't add fertilizer. fertilizer will make it grow more leaves,, but it won't help make more fruit.

good. keep up with the drip irrigation.

that's ok. too hot & the blossoms drop without setting fruit. lee

innews: snipped-for-privacy@v23g2000prn.googlegroups.com:

I was going to use the seaweed fert once a week. Should I not do this now? The 'roma' variety is the only one which is flowering. The rest are growing but very slowly . Should I fertilize them?

Ivan wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@i13g2000prf.googlegroups.com:

what is the nitrogen ratio on it? i put seaweed in/around the tomatoes when i plant them, then don't fertilize again. with the mushroom compost, i think you're probably set. over fertilizing will get you lots of growth, & leaves, but few blossoms.

they've been in for only a week. patience is a virtue. wait a few more weeks. lee

Oh, I was actually pointing out the fact that it is flowering only after a week -- I wasn't expecting it to for at least three weeks to a month. Perhaps this is normal .. The rest are beefsteaks and thus am assuming will take a lot longer to mature.. Not sure what the NPK rate is, I will check tonight when I get home and post it here..

So, Melbourne would be something like the coast of California between Los Angeles and San Francisco in late March. The ground is still fairly cold and night time temps are about 50 F (10 C). Did you start the tomatoes or were they purchased at a nursery? If they were purchased, then I would suspect that the plants were forced to bloom in green houses and not to worry about the fate of the first flowers. What you probably need now is vegetative growth. If you grew the tomatoes from seed, then just keep on doing what your doing.

This is early in the season for you. I'd suggest that you side dress with aged manure and bone meal and then give seaweed fertilizer or fish emulsion every 3 - 4 weeks until flowering begins. Then stop feeding and cut back (not stop) on the watering.

Roma are mid-season tomatoes (great for sauces). Your larger ones are probably late season and great for eating fresh.

Not sure what to compare the temperature of Melbourne to the US, but the temperature at night does reach the low 10s. I will continue to do this (watering and feeding with liquid seaweed fertilizer) for the next month or so as you are right, this is a bit too early for anything to happen.. I bought seedlings from the nursery and I think they were a bit too big when I got them, but unfortunately they were the last ones there .. Still, keeping my hopes up. Next year I'll start from seeds and hopefully will have good results ..

Should I expect these flowers to drop, and/or start wilting after some time? Will the flowering stop the plant from growing or promote fruit growing? I don't think the plant is strong enough to sustain the tomatoes growing as yet. .

I extrapolated by latitudes as to the weather. I would expect that the tomatoes will lose their flowers because of the coolness (maybe not) but they should be setting fruit by late Dec. or January at the latest (but you know how gardening goes, it's all weather dependent). If you are using drip irrigation (a good thing, you might consider a timer to make it even easier), cover your side dressing with a little dirt to help it break down and penetrate to the roots.

Good luck, mate.