It took awhile for our tomato plants to produce fruit. They were producing flowers, but they were just drying up. After some research we realized they needed help getting pollinated. Bees rarely visited our balcony so we had to intervene.
We tried shaking the stems of the tomato plants, but the most effective way was to use a small paintbrush. Follow the steps to hand pollinate your tomato plant here.
Our efforts paid off a week later, we saw the flowers start to form into small bulbs. We breathed a sigh of relief when we started to see more bulbs forming. This encouraged the rest of the tomato plants to flower. Bees also started visiting the balcony more often because the mustasa plant started to flower too. We eventually did not have to hand pollinate the tomato flowers because the bees were doing it for us.
Pruning the leaves also helped signal to the plant to flower more. That plus spraying epsom salt mixed with water encourages the plant to flower more. Just make sure you do it sparingly (like every three weeks). We also water the tomato plants with rice wash once or twice a week. This helps provides additional nutrients for the soil.
So if your tomatoes are not bearing any fruits yet, here's a summary of what you can do: (1) If flowering, do hand pollination; (2) Prune the leaves to signal the plant to start bearing fruits; (3) Water with rice wash once or twice a week; and (4) Spray with epson salt water mix every few weeks.
Tell us your tomato plant story below on the comments! We'd love to hear your success, mishaps and tips!
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