Stressed

Several years ago I had a beautiful garden in Oklahoma. I had about 30 tomato plants that were watered by drip irrigation with fertilizer injected into the irrigation system. The tomato plants were huge, incredibly healthy and full of blossoms that wouldn't bare fruit, but eventually fell off. I tried everything. Finally I mentioned it to an old man working at a nursery. He said they were too healthy and happy. They didn't need to produce offspring and somehow knew it. He told me to take a stick and give them a good beating. Well, I was so frustrated with them by this time that I took an old fishing rod and proceeded to do just that. Within a week I noticed that the blossoms were no longer falling off until a nice little tomato was starting in their place. I produced almost 200 quarts of tomato sauce from that crop.

Offered by Ron.

I have grown several types of tomatoes, and it seems I always get much better yield per plant when I have several rather than when I just have one.

Offered by Martha.

Plants will literally kill themselves trying to out-produce their neighbors if they are a little crowded. Competition for resources and the need to reproduce. Of course this kind of competition isn't dependent on their neighbors being of the same species. Inter-planting with other varieties of plants produces the same general competition. Primarily, beating moves the plants, but one should take care not to damage the plants. Tomatoes are self-pollinating and like beans or peas, they need movement to dislodge the pollen. If your plants are too healthy (as represented by excessive foliage) you should really trim them up some. This sudden reduction in foliage will cause them to panic and bear fruit for self preservation.

Offered by Roger.