Tomatoes and Eggplants Flowers Fall Off

[ferice]

My eggplants and tomatoes plant flowers are fallen off. Over the past 3 weeks, I've seen several new flowers on the eggplants, but they'll fall off a week later. Also, I noticed that some of the lower leaves have some discoloration.

The past 2 weeks, I've noticed some flowers on the tomatoes tree, but they turn black and fall off too.

 

[ferice]

Here are the tomatoes pictures:

 

[Beth_B]

Looks like blight to me, a fungus in the soil that attacks lower leaves and works its way up. At least in your second set of pictures.
http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/pests/plant_pests/veg_fruit/hgic2217.html
The top two, I'm not sure, have you checked the undersides of leaves to see what might be causing those holes?

 

[Chuck]

View attachment 8451 View attachment 8450 Here are the tomatoes pictures:
View attachment 8450

Let's start with the tomatoes. Tomatoes, with the exception of the cherry varieties are extremely sensitive to the temperature when it comes to setting fruit. Most tomatoes will only reliably set fruit when the nighttime low temperatures are between 68F-74F. Many varieties have been bred that will set in cooler temps but no varieties will set fruit in temps much above 78F except for cherrys. Horticulturists, botanists and commercial growers have been trying for decades to breed a heat setting tomato with only limited success and even these do not set reliably plus they usually have one or more traits that many of us do not like such as very thick skins or oversize cores. The temps in Florida at this time of year are way too high for tomatoes to set fruit. The blooms will open up, look great for a day or two and then the stem of the bloom will turn yellow and in the next day or so the bloom will fall off.
Eggplants usually drop their blooms because of inconsistent watering, either too much or too little and excessive heat. If you live in the part of Florida that has been getting all of the non-stop rain this is the reason. Eggplant doesn't like to have wet feet at all, nor do they like it dry. Mulching helps greatly with them in conserving moisture in dryer areas

 

[ferice]

Thank you. It's been raining in my area lately, at least twice a week. As far as the temperature, it's gotten as low as 75F and as high as 85F in my area during the night. I am going to continue to monitor them and make adjustment as necessary.

 

[ferice]

I tried to clean and remove as much of the contaminated leaves as I can. Below are some new pictures.

 

[Chuck]

I tried to clean and remove as much of the contaminated leaves as I can. Below are some new pictures.View attachment 8519 View attachment 8520 View attachment 8521 View attachment 8522 View attachment 8523 View attachment 8524 View attachment 8525 View attachment 8526 View attachment 8527 View attachment 8528 View attachment 8529

Looking good. Keep watch on the underside of the leaves for eggs and insects.

 

[ferice]

Thanks Chuck....I will continue to check on them weekly.

 

[headfullofbees]

That mulch looks very, very, very dark.
If you get high temperatures and a lot of sunshine, the temperature of your growing medium will rocket, due to the low albedo of your mulch.

THAT is why your flowers are falling off.
Cover that mulch with anything white, or very light-coloured, that you can lay your hands on.
Old sheets would be ideal.
They will reflect a lot of the heat, and this should help solve your problem.
In the Mediterranean countries, like Spain, Greece and Cyprus, they use polytunnels to keep heat OFF their tomatoes.
I strongly suspect that's your only problem of note.

 

[Chuck]

That mulch looks very, very, very dark.
If you get high temperatures and a lot of sunshine, the temperature of your growing medium will rocket, due to the low albedo of your mulch.

THAT is why your flowers are falling off.
Cover that mulch with anything white, or very light-coloured, that you can lay your hands on.
Old sheets would be ideal.
They will reflect a lot of the heat, and this should help solve your problem.
In the Mediterranean countries, like Spain, Greece and Cyprus, they use polytunnels to keep heat OFF their tomatoes.
I strongly suspect that's your only problem of note.

Excellent advice

 

[ferice]

I laid this mulch down last Saturday. I don't have old sheets, but i can get some red mulch on top of the black one.

 

[headfullofbees]

Red is not reflective enough.
If you cannot cover that mulch, lift it, or as much of it as you can.
The best mulch for growing tomatoes and aubergines in your climate is pale sand.
Highly reflective and the best possible drainage, your plants will send air-breathing roots into it, allowing you to dampen down in extreme heat with less risk of rotting the roots.
I suggest putting down a 4 inch (100mm) layer.