"Craig" wrote in message
ups.com...


Of 5 Brandywine I have this year, one has fruited, with first fruits in
late July. The other four have not. The one that fruited had been
severely attacked by hornworms (this is the first time I have them, so
I was late recognizing the problem). I have two Yellow Pear, one has
fruited, the other has just started, about ten days later. The one that
fruited has been damaged by hornworms, the other has not. Probably
there are lots of ways to shock a plant. Underground rodent activity
might do the trick as well.

I wonder if the OP is not getting tomatoes because the plants were
exposed to sub-50 temperatures early, delaying development. Now it is
august, and a watched green tomato, as the say goes, never ripens.

There are a lot of big green tomatoes on the plants, all of them. I
have 5 of them.
And some are leaning as well and I've tied the cages to the fence. I
had that problem last year as well but they were all ripening by this
time.
I haven't any evidence at all of bugs or disease or rodents.
June was very hot, abnormal in fact and extremely dry but I did water
deeply.

All summer has been very hot and dry, driest summer ever actually
here, and one of the hottest except a cold weekend around July 4.

I would be sort of nervous to dig and cut some roots, at this time
anyway.

I have read that maybe pruning the new growth would help the tomatoes
ripen. I dont think the plant really needs any new growth or blooms.

Craig


I use cages, but I've read that caged tomatoes are a trade off. You get
cleaner fruit, but ripening takes longer. I've never seen an explanation,
but I wonder if it's because the fruit themselves are shaded by so much
foliage when grown in cages.

As far as pruning, the deer are whacking all the foliage that sticks out of
my cages. That's probably 25% of the total plant material. It doesn't seem
to matter.