Blossom Drop
Risk near you, next 48h
See whether your local forecast favours this disease right now.
When it strikes
Watch it before you act
At this level the damage rarely costs the crop. Note the date, check twice a week, and act only if it reaches new growth or the weather turns favourable for it.
Not contagious
Nothing spreads from plant to plant here. Neighbouring plants showing the same signs are reacting to the same soil, water or weather, so fix the cause rather than isolating plants.
Safe to compost
No pathogen carries over on this material, so it can go on an ordinary heap with the rest of the garden waste.
When and where to look
Scout the planting once temperatures pass 32°C, in dry air below 40%.
Rule these out first
Same category, and at least one host crop in common — so they are genuinely confusable in the same part of the garden.
The signs that lead here
Full problem lists for these crops
About
Blossom drop is a plant aborting flowers it cannot support. In tomatoes, peppers and beans the trigger is almost always temperature: pollen becomes sterile above about 32°C by day or below about 13°C at night, and the unpollinated flower is shed within days.
Symptoms
Flowers yellow at the base of the stalk and drop off complete, leaving a bare truss with no fruit set. It happens in waves that match a heatwave or a cold snap a week or so earlier, while the plant itself looks perfectly healthy.
Organic Treatment
Shade with mesh in a heatwave, ventilate greenhouses early in the morning before the heat builds, and keep watering steady. Tap or gently shake flowering trusses at midday to help self-pollination when there is little air movement.
Chemical Treatment
Nothing corrects it. Avoid high-nitrogen feeds, which push leaf growth over fruit set; switch to a high-potassium tomato feed once flowering begins.
Prevention
Choose heat-tolerant varieties in hot summers and cold-set varieties for early crops. Do not plant tender fruiting crops out too early, keep soil moisture even, and encourage bees to greenhouses by leaving doors open during flowering.
Crops at risk
Related problems
Blossom Drop risk by location
Each location has a month-by-month profile computed from the weather archive: how many hours a year actually meet this disease’s thresholds.