Blossom Drop

Howdy,

Welcome to my Dubai based container vegetable gardening blog.

As many of you know we have had some rather cool weather lately.  Some of you may have noticed some of the flowers on your tamaters and peppers have fallen off  or have not been producing as many since the start of the cool weather.  Both low & high ambient tempertures can cause Blossom Drop resulting in lower yields.  However, temperature is not the only cause of  Blossom Drop  But, it is the one factor I am going to blog about today.  If you would like more info about "Blossom Drop" and it causes then click here & here.

Daytime temperatures above 32°C ( 90°F)  and night temperatures above 21°C ( 70°F) result in reduced flowering and fruit set. There is considerable evidence that night temperature is the critical factor in setting tamater fruit, the optimal range being 15°C (59°F) to 20°C (68°F). With night temperatures much below or above this critical range, fruiting is reduced or absent. Low temperatures reduce the production and viability of pollen. High temperature, especially if accompanied by low humidity and moisture, hinders fruit set through failure in pollination and/or fertilization. 

So what can be done about it?  If it is a temperature problem and not some of the others problems that can cause it ... what are they ... you should have click on the above link already ... then there is not much you can do.  If the flowers drop off just leave the plant alone ... maybe feed it a little bit ... and it should come back with more flowers when the temperature cools or warms up again.

Speaking of tamaters ... let's see what Mater is up too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Bubba