Where are tomatoes native to, and why do they only flower without bearing fruit when grown?
Tomato is a very healthy vegetable, with bright red skin that looks quite appetizing. Tomatoes taste sweet and sour, and have a certain flavor whether eaten raw or cooked. Tomatoes are cultivated in various places; let's take a look below at where tomatoes are native to? Why do they only flower without bearing fruit when grown?
1. Where are tomatoes native to?
Tomatoes originated in South America and are widely cultivated in both northern and southern China. Xinjiang is one of the regions in the world most suitable for growing processing tomatoes; its industrial tomatoes have high red pigment and lycopene content, few molds, and good viscosity, making them a top-grade raw material for processed tomato products. In particular, Xinjiang has little rain and drought, and relatively few occurrences of pests and diseases, which is conducive to developing pollution-free tomato products.
Xinjiang, together with the river valley region of California in the United States and the Mediterranean region of Europe, is known as one of the three major centers of global tomato cultivation and processing. Since 1998, Xinjiang's tomato product industry has maintained a momentum of rapid development.
2. Why do tomatoes only flower without bearing fruit when grown?
1. Excessive vegetative growth
The plant grows vigorously, with larger leaves, longer internodes, and stems that vary from thick to thin. This may be caused by overcast and rainy conditions with insufficient light, excessively high temperatures, or imbalanced nutrition, leading to excessive tomato growth. This results in a situation where the tomato's vegetative growth is excessive while reproductive growth is insufficient. Therefore, adjusting the tomato plant is key to the management process of tomatoes, among which excessive plant growth has the greatest impact on tomatoes, because if the plant grows too vigorously, it may affect flowering and fruit setting, and further affect tomato yield. The causes are as follows:
Insufficient light and excessive temperature. When the temperature is high, especially when the night temperature is relatively high, tomatoes will grow rapidly, with fast stem elongation and long internodes, making it difficult to set fruit.
Improper nutrient supply. If too much fertilizer, especially nitrogen-containing fertilizer, is applied to tomatoes, the plant will absorb too many nutrients, making excessive plant growth more likely.
Hormone effects. The use of fast-acting foliar fertilizers may contain certain growth-promoting hormones; using them too many times will make tomatoes grow too quickly, causing nutrient imbalance and leggy growth of the plant.
2. High temperature affects flower bud differentiation
According to research results, when tomatoes encounter high temperatures during the flower bud differentiation stage, it will affect the normal differentiation of tomato flower buds, leading to inflorescence abortion and failure to set fruit or failure to complete normal pollination, resulting in failure to set flowers or abnormal fruit development.
How should tomatoes that only flower without bearing fruit be managed?
1. Shading and cooling measures should be taken after planting. Prevent leggy growth.
2. Spray some boron-containing foliar fertilizer before and after tomato flowering to promote flower bud differentiation and improve fruit setting rate.
3. Reasonable watering and topdressing. To prevent tomatoes from growing leggy, most vegetable growers do not water during the flowering period, which is wrong. During high temperature and drought, if tomato leaves curl or flowers turn white, water must be applied in appropriate amounts. When watering, an appropriate amount of phosphorus fertilizer can be applied as topdressing, and it is important not to apply large amounts of elemental fertilizer.
4. If flower drop occurs, spray anti-drop agent in time. Anti-drop agent has the function of preserving flowers and fruits and reducing deformed fruits.