FAQ: Tomatoes aren’t flowering, why?

Q: I’ve got tomato plants with a lot of leaves but very few flowers and tomatoes. Why is that?



A: If otherwise healthy tomato plants aren’t flowering, it’s probably because they’ve been overdosed on nitrogen. Rather than using a balanced fertilizer, which you can recognize because ratios for all three nutrients, nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, will be the same as in 10-10-10, switch to one with a lower first number. Five is probably good. Or you can just amend your soil well with composted matter like compost and then continue to top off your tomatoes with compost all season. In the meantime, though, you’ll need to wait until the excess nitrogen gets used up, which won’t take long in a container. Heavy rains will move the process along faster.