Why are the Tomato Plants Growing Tall & Spindly?
As Guy Clark sings, there's "only two things in life that money can't buy, and that's true love, and homegrown tomatoes." Sadly, while many of us do find true love, most of us have a much harder time growing a decent tomato. One common problem is that transplants grow too tall and spindly and never set fruit. There are a few reasons for this that are easily preventable, so tomato lovers everywhere, take heart. Does this Spark an idea?
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Root Causes
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Struggling tomato plant A tall, spindly, tomato plant is a stressed tomato plant that has gone into survival mode. It is not setting fruit buds because it is just trying to maintain basic life functions for itself, before it even thinks about reproduction. There are many causes of the stress, such as inconsistent water/feeding, inconsistent sunlight, and/or poor soil conditions and pests.
Too Much? Too Little? Just Right?
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Roma tomatoes ripening in sun Whenever a tomato plant grows too tall, relative to a healthy width, it is reaching for the sun. Even if your plants are in full sun for most of the day, they may be reaching for more to compensate for poor soil or irregular watering. They are trying to make up for circumstances beyond their control (soil, water) with something they can control: access to maximum photosynthesis.
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How Much Water?
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Just-watered tomatoes With tomatoes, inconsistent watering can be fatal. Any plant gets stressed quickly with an undependable amount of irrigation, and tomatoes are especially sensitive to water stress. Whether it's two drops a day or two gallons, tomatoes depend on a reliable amount of water, otherwise they may experience spindly development.
How Much Fertilizer?
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Healthy heirloom tomatoes Usually the golden rule with fertilizing tomatoes is "feed, feed, feed, feed, and feed some more." Feeding inconsistent amounts makes tomatoes grow tall and spindly. Tomato plants need nutrients they can rely on to grow lush and full, and set out rich, wonderful fruit.
The Elements
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Wind is another bugaboo of tomatoes that can result in tall, spindly, non-fruiting stalks. Unfortunately there's not a lot we can do about sun and wind. If your area is plagued by wind, planting tomatoes inside rows of vegetables such as corn and beans, which act as windbreaks, could help.
Consistency
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Luscious cherry tomatoes on the vine Whether we're talking about sunlight, water or nutrients, tomatoes are particularly sensitive to fluctuations in the amount of each. Because the cause of lanky, fruitless tomato plants is likely inconsistency, then the cure is being consistent in your tomato-growing practices.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit tomato plants image by Gina Smith from Fotolia.com tomatoe plant image by Coralie Palmeri from Fotolia.com Tomatoes Closeup image by John Walsh from Fotolia.com Ripening Tomatoes covered in water droplets image by Chris Lofty from Fotolia.com fresh vine tomatoes in a greek garden in santorini image by Antony McAulay from Fotolia.com tomato vine image by Horticulture from Fotolia.com
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Comments
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hsumeilang
Jul 27, 2010
I have planted 13 tomato plants, all but one(Brandywine yellow) is tall and not fruiting, it seems fit what you wrote about,flower comes and dried out, is it too late to encourage it , to be consistent?
