Causes of Flower and Fruit Drop in Cherry Tomatoes and How to Prevent Them
Cherry tomatoes are often called small tomatoes, and the plant can grow up to 2 m tall. The fruit has the effects of promoting salivation and quenching thirst, strengthening the stomach and aiding digestion, clearing heat and detoxifying, cooling the blood and calming the liver, nourishing the blood, and stimulating the appetite. Flower and fruit drop can occur when growing cherry tomatoes. How to prevent and control flower and fruit drop in cherry tomatoes is a problem many fruit growers ponder. Let's take a look together below at the causes of flower and fruit drop in cherry tomatoes and how to prevent them.
1. Causes of flower and fruit drop in cherry tomatoes
1. Insufficient light
Cherry tomatoes need plenty of light to grow. If there is long-term rainy weather, it will cause poor development of cherry tomatoes, thus affecting their growth, and all of this can cause flower and fruit drop in cherry tomatoes. However, you should also pay attention to the light intensity at noon in summer to avoid sunscald. Shade nets should be used for shading to reduce light intensity, which is helpful for retaining fruit.
2. Too much watering
Flowering and fruiting in cherry tomatoes are continuous. After entering their flowering period, you must pay attention to watering. Watering should follow the principle of not watering when dry and watering thoroughly when you do. Soil that is too wet will cause pest and disease problems and root rot, and this very easily causes flower and fruit drop.
3. Unsuitable temperature
Temperatures that are too high or too low can both lead to defects in the flower organs, thus causing flower and fruit drop. When the night temperature for cherry tomatoes is lower than 15°C or higher than 22°C, or when the daytime temperature is higher than 35°C, it will cause a large amount of flower drop. Throughout the whole growth period, daytime temperatures higher than 32°C or lower than 12°C, and nighttime temperatures higher than 20°C or lower than 12°C, will cause flower and fruit drop.
4. Boron deficiency
Boron plays an extremely important role in the growth of cherry tomatoes. It can effectively promote pollen germination in cherry tomatoes, stimulate pollen tube germination, stimulate pollen tube elongation, and increase the fruit-setting rate. Boron deficiency can also cause a large amount of flower and fruit drop in tomatoes, so during flowering you should pay attention to supplementing boron fertilizer together with foliar spraying.
2. Prevention and control methods
1. Starting from the seedling stage of cherry tomatoes, begin cultivating strong seedlings to increase the stress resistance and disease resistance of cherry tomatoes.
2. During the growth period of cherry tomatoes, spray potassium fertilizer and pay attention to the application rate of nitrogen fertilizer to avoid excessive vegetative growth of the plant, which would make vegetative growth stronger than reproductive growth. At the same time, also pay attention to watering and do a good job of fertilizer and water management.
3. The main pests and diseases of cherry tomatoes are early blight, gray mold, and viral disease, and preventive measures should be taken in advance.
The above introduction to the causes of flower and fruit drop in cherry tomatoes and the prevention and control methods is hoped to help you. If you want to learn more related knowledge, please stay tuned to us.