Hydroponic Tomatoes Not Flowering? Having your tomato plants with no blossom can be frustrating, especially if you have put the right practices into place.
Tomato plants with no flowers are quite common, and there are many reasons why they do not start flowering at when due. Flowering is an important step for tomato plants for the sake of yielding red fruits.
When it comes to getting your tomato plants to flower, the first thing to do would be to identify the causes of tomatoes not flowering. When you know the actual cause, it would be easy to fix it from there.
Hydroponic Tomatoes Not Flowering: Likely Causes
Below are the most common reasons why your tomato plant is not flowering
1. Lack of Nutrients
One of the most common reasons why hydroponically grown tomato plants fail to flower is due to a lack of essential nutrients that are required for the plant to grow properly and produce flowers or fruits. With hydroponics, technical knowledge is necessary for success. Chance are you’re not giving enough nutrients to the plant.
In this case, the missing nutrient could be nitrogen. This nutrient is essential for the healthy growth of tomato plants. It can be found in almost all commercial fertilizers.
You might actually be providing the plant with an abundance of nitrogen which would ensure the healthy growth of leaves and foliage. If that is the case, then you need to get a fertilizer that is rich in phosphorus and potassium. In addition to the nitrogen, this will make the tomatoes produce flowers and buds.
2. Plant Diseases
For first-time gardeners, this could be the problem. While tomato plants don’t require much attention and maintenance due to their ability to grow healthy on their own, they’re not completely flawless.
Tomato plants are vulnerable to diseases just like any other plant which can stall or distort their flower and fruit production capability.
One of the most common plant diseases is bacterial spots, caused by the pathogens Xanthomonas Campestris Pv. Vesicatoria.
You can easily tell if your plant is suffering from this disease by examining the stem and leaves must be analyzed. If there the foliage shows lesions, has spots or is wilted. It means that the plant might be suffering from disease.
The only right thing to do at this point is to get rid of the plant to prevent the bacteria from infecting other plants.
3. Temperature Changes
Temperature changes are not really a problem with hydroponic tomatoes, however, they shouldn’t be overlooked. When the last frost of the year has elapsed, you will need to watch out for the temperature change. Tomatoes only grow best under warm temperatures. A sharp drop in temperature would stall the flowering of the tomato plant.
The same goes for extremely high temperatures. Hydroponics allows you to better adjust the temperature conditions but you need to ensure the tomato plants always get the optimum warmth to grow properly. The optimal temperature range for tomato plants is between 65F and 75F. If temperatures fall too low or exceed the range of 57 Fahrenheit to 86 Fahrenheit, you will need to take measures to protect the plants from damage due to the low or high temperatures.
4. Plant Not Properly Pollinated
When it comes to classic agriculture that involves planting your tomatoes on vines, your tomato plant has a higher chance of being pollinated. This is because plants are pollinated by factors like wind and natural pollinators.
With hydroponics, these factors do not exist and cannot affect the plant. This means you would have to find another method by which the plants can be pollinated. If the plants are not pollinated, it will experience a blossom drop and you will notice that the plant is not flowering.
5. Not Enough Sunlight
Another reason why your tomato plant is not flowering is that it is not receiving enough sunlight. In the same way tomatoes love heat, they need sunlight to blossom. These tomato plants would require about seven hours of direct sunlight daily for them to get the energy to blossom and produce flowers.
When it comes to hydroponics tomatoes, picking the right spot when you’re indoors might be tricky. Another problem could arise from the spacing of the tomato plants. Having your tomato plants would make them compete for the sunlight which might lead to some tomatoes not flowering.
Hydroponics Tomatoes Not Producing Flowers: What To Do
If you’re sure you chose a fertile variety that is in good health, you can try out these tricks to get the tomato plants to flower.
1. Provide Adequate Sunlight
Ensure that your tomato plants are getting adequate sunlight to get them to start flowering. Always check the location of the plants during the growing season. Another thing is to ensure that the plants are properly spaced so that they will not have to compete for sunlight.
Depending on the variety and size, tomato plants need to be placed at least 18 inches to two feet apart. If you have large plants, you need to place them up to two feet apart to ensure they receive adequate sunlight.
2. Water Adequately
Tomatoes need to be watered consistently to ensure proper fruit development. When watering the tomato plant, there are several techniques that you might have to put to use to ensure you provide the right quantity required at the right time.
These techniques would vary from variety to variety and depend on the size of the tomato. Ensure you have adequate knowledge about growing tomatoes and the variety that works best for you before getting started.
3. Always Check for Plant Diseases
Plant diseases are greatly reduced with hydroponics but not completely eliminated. You should always check for plant diseases even in a hydroponics setup.
Regular inspection should help you identify diseased plants quickly and remove them before it spreads to other plants.
Conclusion
If you noticed that your tomato doesn’t flower, you can perform the checks above to identify the problem. In some cases, it could be due to the variety of your tomato plant. Some varieties tend to be slower than others.
Once you’ve identified the reason for your hydroponics tomato plant not flowering, you can apply any of the fixes above to get it resolved.