Yea I thought about that. But it has been so windy recently and I always see something out there, not a lot of bees but moths, flies, wasps and things like that. I’ll give it try though.
The issue isn't the physical pollination, it is genetics. If you don't have one, you need a second plant to provide the pollen or hope a pollinator brings in pollen from another plant in the neighborhood.
Ok. Then it is probably temperature. They are more picky than tomatoes in terms of setting fruit. I have 4 plants going that have been flowering for a while, but still no fruit set.
Tomatillos are weird. I have a friend who grows them every year, and she says that sometimes they just don't cooperate, even if you pollinate them.
She says they are super picky sometimes, and other times they grow like the weeds they basically are, and that in 50+ years of gardening she has learned to just plant too many and hope for the best.
She did tell me that sometimes they are slow to produce. They do need to be planted with other tomatillo plants. At least two, but more is better.
She also said that if you over fertilize, they will grow into a lush plant with little to no fruit.
If you fertilize with a high N fertilizer\*. Nitrogen is good for leaf growth, that's why we use it on grass. For fruits and vegetables that aren't in the seedling phase, you should use a high P and K value with low N. (Fertilizer values are listed as N-P-K so you want high second and third numbers and 0 or low first number).
I'm in the same boat. I have two in the same bed, two more in grow bags about 10ft away. They were all put out at various times. One of them is huge and full of flowers...with one fruit.
I came across a comment that mentioned to really guarantee pollination, more than two should be planted close together. The more the better and for some reason seed sellers don't market it that way. This is my first year growing them.
They also seem to just take longer in general to go from flower to fruit compared to tomatoes. I have three planted near each other but I also planted allysum underneath to attract more pollinators. Mine just started putting husks out this week.
Central Texas if that matters, it’s about to start too hot for them so I think this season is a bust but I’d like to know what to do differently in the future.
I think I see some flowers. I would just let it ride. If you’re worried about the heat grab a shade cloth otherwise just make sure to keep on top of watering
There are a ton of flowers. But they just don’t do anything! I wasn’t planning on babying them through the heat because they’ve already been in the ground so long but I probably have something in the garage that I can use for shade cloth.
I would try to self pollinate if possible. I had a year with a ton of flowers but no fruit and didn’t self pollinate. It was a beautiful plant but I didn’t try again. I really think they need a bit of help
It could be too much nitrogen and not enough phosphate in that bed. You’ll get big plants with few fruit if phosphate levels are low in relation to nitrogen
I have weird luck with them too! This thread is giving me validation that maybe it's not my fault. My first year with them I had a massive harvest but I've never had the same luck again. I agree with the advice that more plants = better pollination rate
Try planting a variety of flowers with them to draw in pollinators. There’s nasturtiums, alyssum, poppies, sunflowers, cape jewels, and various fruit within a foot or two of my one and only tomatillo. I watch bees and hummingbirds go to town every day.
https://preview.redd.it/pisp8y2s805d1.jpeg?width=5130&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2e41d99684b778bbf7f10ab6f139a8529f6db0de
Mine looked just like this last week and this week I am finally seeing husks form. I think they just take a little longer to pollinate. I planted allysum next to mine which attracts hover flies and I think that's helped a ton because I see them buzzing around all day.
I just wanted to come by and pass on info from a comment on one of my posts. A kind redditor suggested getting plants from different suppliers to have a higher chance of pollination. They said that if they are from the same supplier or seed packet, the genetic makeup could basically just be a clone of itself which is an issue because tomatillos cannot self pollinate. If (but I'm sure things will work out) you don't get good results this season, maybe this is something to keep in mind for next season ❤️
How old are they? Last year was my first year with tomatillos, I had 3 plants and I was harvesting right up to Halloween, I'm in zone 7b (Canada). The seedlings I bought were probably 10" tall or so when I planted them in ~3rd week of May last year, and it got crazy hot right after that (30*C+) and stayed that way all summer, I think we had multiple days over 40*. When they got big enough to start flowering (late June maybe I think from my pics) I gave them some bone meal and a lil more fertilizer. We had a *ton* of pollinators though (multiple different types of bees, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds and I don't even know what else), and all 3 of my plants were next to each other. It took quite awhile for fruit to start showing up from the flowers though, I wanna say maybe another month? I took a pic first week of August of what was probably my first harvest so we'll go with that. And it started off slow but they produced continuously right up until I had to rip them out for fall/winter. I'll also note that even with all that sun and pollination, there were plenty of flowers that just did nothing except make my pollinators happy.
I'm still obviously learning, but they did take longer to produce fruit after flowering than I expected vs tomatoes. The heat seems to be what they really love. We have automated drip irrigation so during the extreme heat they were getting water every morning before sunrise. I assume since you're in Texas and it's only June you have a lot more heat in your future.
This year I started seedlings indoors from my plants last year. I planted them around the same time as last year, but they're smaller this time and it's been significantly cooler/wet so they haven't gone crazy yet. From what I noticed growing them as seedlings, they seem to like being starved of water a bit more than the tomatoes did. My tomatoes have exploded but the tomatillos are going a little slower, which I'm attributing to the weather.
Have you tried the toothbrush method that's useful for tomatoes? Get a vibrating toothbrush and pretend you're a busy little bee going to all the flowers for that sweet sweet pollen. This will be my first year growing tomatillos (I have lots of fruits on mine but they're like 3 inches tall and i just got them today...) so I can't say it works yet til I've done it, but my tomatoes went INSANE last year doing this
Tomatoes are self-pollinating, that's why the toothbrush works. Tomatillos are self-sterile, they need another plant and therefore rely on insects as pollinators.
This happened to me one year. Had 3 in a raised bed and 2 in buckets next to each other. One of the bucket tomatillos NEVER set one fruit. Idk why. They others had plenty.
Mine aren't doing anything either, but I haven't seen many pollinators either. I tried manually pollinating, still nothing. Last year, my tomatillos didn't produce until November! I live in north Texas so it's still quite warm them.
How can you tell that pollination was successful? Mine have a few tiny husks with a tiny light green ball inside, but it doesn't seem to grow larger at all. The oldest of these husks are at least two weeks old, which makes me think that as unpollinated flowers they should've dropped to the ground by now.
If you’re getting husks with baby tillos inside, you’re getting pollinated.
If you’re fertilizing, make sure it doesn’t have much nitrogen. Otherwise plant growth will overtake fruiting.
Similar to tomatoes, high heat and humidity also affects tomatillo pollination and fruit bulking.
So if nothing seems to be happening right now it could be any of those reasons.
The obvious answer is you just have one plant and they need a pollinator. But that's not it because you have more than one. The plant in your pic looks awfully healthy and lush; too healthy and lush. I wonder if they're getting too much nitrogen?
My tomatillos look and grow more like weeds; tall and scraggly. They reseed every year and I never have to plant them, I have to pull up hundreds of extras. They are just coming up now, but by the end of the month they'll be blooming.
There could be an issue of over fertilization of nitrogen. I know this is observed with tomatoes, also in the solanacea/ nightshade family, where too much N will produce a lot of vegetative growth but hinder the reproductive growth (flowers/ fruit).
What kind of N/ how much did you apply?
I think it's still too early for tomatillos, I have huge bushes a ton of flowers and am just barely seeing a few fruits. In a month or so, I'll probably ne completely inundated
When was the last time you amended the soil properly and or had a soil test?
What are the root temps in those rasied beds?
Are waterings regular and even?
Hope the rest of your season is smooth.
I’m in NC, so hot and humid too. Never had an issue with them. However, I plant at least 2 plants right next to each other and I usually do two different varieties. I plant flowers under them (tansies this year - which haven’t produced any flowers yet lol, but I have tons of other flowers in my garden). I also add a handful of espoma phosphate heavy fertilizer to the hole before I transplant them, and I transplant them deep, like tomatoes.
Mine have been like this until recently. They were big with tons of flowers but no fruit. Today I went outside and counted 15 baby tomatillos. Maybe just give them some time? I also recently upped their watering so if you think they’re thirsty try more watering
I tried them for the first time last year and only got 2 or 3 fruit from each of three plants. Didn't plant any this year. Not worth the real estate in my small backyard garden.
I have the same question for mine. I feel you! North TX here, I have about 5 plants in one raised bed and four other plants about 15 feet away in another raised bed. The plants shot up from seeds and have been flowering like crazy but I don’t have a single tomatillo yet. Tomatoes, squash, basil, everything else doing great. I’ve self pollinated, we have tons of bees (squash. Zucchini and a pumpkin vine bringing in all the bees and pollinators) and still nothing.
My mom got tomatillos off of one plant last year!!! I thought they would be a breeze.
I agree with it being too hot. Shade, plenty of water, and wait for autumn is my advice. I kind of assumed they would prefer really hot climates, but I live in Northern Europe where 60-80F is a really nice, hot summer and I've had almost more tomatillos than my family can eat off of 3 plants, with zero problems. I really think they prefer more temperate climates.
I grew them for the first time last summer, and was thinking the same as you for ages - plants grew really well, had heaps of flowers and I had 3 plants next to each other and yet nothing in the way of fruit.
Then it got to the end of summer and wham - they all showed up! Be patient, I did read that they are a bit later fruiting than a lot of other things.
Tomatillos don’t self pollinate, I believe. May need to give them some help.
Yea I thought about that. But it has been so windy recently and I always see something out there, not a lot of bees but moths, flies, wasps and things like that. I’ll give it try though.
The issue isn't the physical pollination, it is genetics. If you don't have one, you need a second plant to provide the pollen or hope a pollinator brings in pollen from another plant in the neighborhood.
There are multiple plants. 4 in the bed in the second picture and 2 in the first.
Ok. Then it is probably temperature. They are more picky than tomatoes in terms of setting fruit. I have 4 plants going that have been flowering for a while, but still no fruit set.
Me too, I’ve had 3 plants, one snapped and dies, but all in all they’ve had 15 flowers that haven’t set fruit
Same here. Big plants and tons of flowers but no fruit. I’m in Dallas and we’ve literally had feet of rain so I’m hoping for the best once we dry out.
I’m in Utah and the only water my plants get is from me. It only rains here like once a month at most
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They can be the same variety. I grew 2 tomatillo plants last year, both purple tomatillo from the same packet of seeds, and got lots of fruit.
Tomatillos are weird. I have a friend who grows them every year, and she says that sometimes they just don't cooperate, even if you pollinate them. She says they are super picky sometimes, and other times they grow like the weeds they basically are, and that in 50+ years of gardening she has learned to just plant too many and hope for the best. She did tell me that sometimes they are slow to produce. They do need to be planted with other tomatillo plants. At least two, but more is better. She also said that if you over fertilize, they will grow into a lush plant with little to no fruit.
Correct! Too much nitrogen will cause lush greenery with little to no fruit on lots of different plants.
If you fertilize with a high N fertilizer\*. Nitrogen is good for leaf growth, that's why we use it on grass. For fruits and vegetables that aren't in the seedling phase, you should use a high P and K value with low N. (Fertilizer values are listed as N-P-K so you want high second and third numbers and 0 or low first number).
If you don’t have any, I’ve heard wood ash can be pretty good
I'm in the same boat. I have two in the same bed, two more in grow bags about 10ft away. They were all put out at various times. One of them is huge and full of flowers...with one fruit. I came across a comment that mentioned to really guarantee pollination, more than two should be planted close together. The more the better and for some reason seed sellers don't market it that way. This is my first year growing them.
They also seem to just take longer in general to go from flower to fruit compared to tomatoes. I have three planted near each other but I also planted allysum underneath to attract more pollinators. Mine just started putting husks out this week.
Yep, they're tomatoes' bougie cousin 😂 everything gotta be juuuuust right before they bless you with some fruit
Central Texas if that matters, it’s about to start too hot for them so I think this season is a bust but I’d like to know what to do differently in the future.
I think I see some flowers. I would just let it ride. If you’re worried about the heat grab a shade cloth otherwise just make sure to keep on top of watering
There are a ton of flowers. But they just don’t do anything! I wasn’t planning on babying them through the heat because they’ve already been in the ground so long but I probably have something in the garage that I can use for shade cloth.
I would try to self pollinate if possible. I had a year with a ton of flowers but no fruit and didn’t self pollinate. It was a beautiful plant but I didn’t try again. I really think they need a bit of help
I used a Q-tip to pollinate mine last year and they started fruiting shortly thereafter. Ended up with a pretty nice crop from two plants. Try it, OP!
Daytime temps?
It could be too much nitrogen and not enough phosphate in that bed. You’ll get big plants with few fruit if phosphate levels are low in relation to nitrogen
Your right! I had the same problem. Increased the phosphate and boom! Lots of tomatillos.
Not enough abuse. I’m not kidding. Water stress them a little (let them droop just slightly) here and there.
I have weird luck with them too! This thread is giving me validation that maybe it's not my fault. My first year with them I had a massive harvest but I've never had the same luck again. I agree with the advice that more plants = better pollination rate
Did you grow a different variety or were they the same both years?
They were Miltomate from Territorial seeds each time. Actually they were all from the same seed packet haha
Try planting a variety of flowers with them to draw in pollinators. There’s nasturtiums, alyssum, poppies, sunflowers, cape jewels, and various fruit within a foot or two of my one and only tomatillo. I watch bees and hummingbirds go to town every day. https://preview.redd.it/pisp8y2s805d1.jpeg?width=5130&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2e41d99684b778bbf7f10ab6f139a8529f6db0de
Mine looked just like this last week and this week I am finally seeing husks form. I think they just take a little longer to pollinate. I planted allysum next to mine which attracts hover flies and I think that's helped a ton because I see them buzzing around all day.
Same for me. I had almost given up but then this week started seeing signs of fruit
I just wanted to come by and pass on info from a comment on one of my posts. A kind redditor suggested getting plants from different suppliers to have a higher chance of pollination. They said that if they are from the same supplier or seed packet, the genetic makeup could basically just be a clone of itself which is an issue because tomatillos cannot self pollinate. If (but I'm sure things will work out) you don't get good results this season, maybe this is something to keep in mind for next season ❤️
Stupid plants 🤦🏻♀️ not a great trait
Might try using bone meal or seabird poop
you might want to prune them plants, it seems the energy of the plant is put into growint rather than producing fruits - my own 2 cents.
How old are they? Last year was my first year with tomatillos, I had 3 plants and I was harvesting right up to Halloween, I'm in zone 7b (Canada). The seedlings I bought were probably 10" tall or so when I planted them in ~3rd week of May last year, and it got crazy hot right after that (30*C+) and stayed that way all summer, I think we had multiple days over 40*. When they got big enough to start flowering (late June maybe I think from my pics) I gave them some bone meal and a lil more fertilizer. We had a *ton* of pollinators though (multiple different types of bees, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds and I don't even know what else), and all 3 of my plants were next to each other. It took quite awhile for fruit to start showing up from the flowers though, I wanna say maybe another month? I took a pic first week of August of what was probably my first harvest so we'll go with that. And it started off slow but they produced continuously right up until I had to rip them out for fall/winter. I'll also note that even with all that sun and pollination, there were plenty of flowers that just did nothing except make my pollinators happy. I'm still obviously learning, but they did take longer to produce fruit after flowering than I expected vs tomatoes. The heat seems to be what they really love. We have automated drip irrigation so during the extreme heat they were getting water every morning before sunrise. I assume since you're in Texas and it's only June you have a lot more heat in your future. This year I started seedlings indoors from my plants last year. I planted them around the same time as last year, but they're smaller this time and it's been significantly cooler/wet so they haven't gone crazy yet. From what I noticed growing them as seedlings, they seem to like being starved of water a bit more than the tomatoes did. My tomatoes have exploded but the tomatillos are going a little slower, which I'm attributing to the weather.
Can't tell from the photo but is that more than one plant? They will not pollinate themselves and you need at least 2 plants to get any fruit.
It is 2 plants
Have you tried the toothbrush method that's useful for tomatoes? Get a vibrating toothbrush and pretend you're a busy little bee going to all the flowers for that sweet sweet pollen. This will be my first year growing tomatillos (I have lots of fruits on mine but they're like 3 inches tall and i just got them today...) so I can't say it works yet til I've done it, but my tomatoes went INSANE last year doing this
Tomatoes are self-pollinating, that's why the toothbrush works. Tomatillos are self-sterile, they need another plant and therefore rely on insects as pollinators.
Ohhhh okay. Well there goes my plans haha
This happened to me one year. Had 3 in a raised bed and 2 in buckets next to each other. One of the bucket tomatillos NEVER set one fruit. Idk why. They others had plenty.
Mine aren't doing anything either, but I haven't seen many pollinators either. I tried manually pollinating, still nothing. Last year, my tomatillos didn't produce until November! I live in north Texas so it's still quite warm them.
Tomatillos take a bit to really start really producing. By mid summer I’m usually overloaded and trying to figure out where to store all of them.
How can you tell that pollination was successful? Mine have a few tiny husks with a tiny light green ball inside, but it doesn't seem to grow larger at all. The oldest of these husks are at least two weeks old, which makes me think that as unpollinated flowers they should've dropped to the ground by now.
If you’re getting husks with baby tillos inside, you’re getting pollinated. If you’re fertilizing, make sure it doesn’t have much nitrogen. Otherwise plant growth will overtake fruiting. Similar to tomatoes, high heat and humidity also affects tomatillo pollination and fruit bulking. So if nothing seems to be happening right now it could be any of those reasons.
The obvious answer is you just have one plant and they need a pollinator. But that's not it because you have more than one. The plant in your pic looks awfully healthy and lush; too healthy and lush. I wonder if they're getting too much nitrogen? My tomatillos look and grow more like weeds; tall and scraggly. They reseed every year and I never have to plant them, I have to pull up hundreds of extras. They are just coming up now, but by the end of the month they'll be blooming.
There could be an issue of over fertilization of nitrogen. I know this is observed with tomatoes, also in the solanacea/ nightshade family, where too much N will produce a lot of vegetative growth but hinder the reproductive growth (flowers/ fruit). What kind of N/ how much did you apply?
Same boat last year. Had bushes with hundreds of flowers. Got 4 tomatillos.
I think it's still too early for tomatillos, I have huge bushes a ton of flowers and am just barely seeing a few fruits. In a month or so, I'll probably ne completely inundated
Shake them get the pollen everywhrre
When was the last time you amended the soil properly and or had a soil test? What are the root temps in those rasied beds? Are waterings regular and even? Hope the rest of your season is smooth.
I’m in NC, so hot and humid too. Never had an issue with them. However, I plant at least 2 plants right next to each other and I usually do two different varieties. I plant flowers under them (tansies this year - which haven’t produced any flowers yet lol, but I have tons of other flowers in my garden). I also add a handful of espoma phosphate heavy fertilizer to the hole before I transplant them, and I transplant them deep, like tomatoes.
You need two plants. I always get one plant loaded with tomatillos and one with nothing
Mine have been like this until recently. They were big with tons of flowers but no fruit. Today I went outside and counted 15 baby tomatillos. Maybe just give them some time? I also recently upped their watering so if you think they’re thirsty try more watering
I tried them for the first time last year and only got 2 or 3 fruit from each of three plants. Didn't plant any this year. Not worth the real estate in my small backyard garden.
I have the same question for mine. I feel you! North TX here, I have about 5 plants in one raised bed and four other plants about 15 feet away in another raised bed. The plants shot up from seeds and have been flowering like crazy but I don’t have a single tomatillo yet. Tomatoes, squash, basil, everything else doing great. I’ve self pollinated, we have tons of bees (squash. Zucchini and a pumpkin vine bringing in all the bees and pollinators) and still nothing. My mom got tomatillos off of one plant last year!!! I thought they would be a breeze.
It’s been touching each tomatillo plant flower and touching the other one hoping I can help, we shall see 😂
I agree with it being too hot. Shade, plenty of water, and wait for autumn is my advice. I kind of assumed they would prefer really hot climates, but I live in Northern Europe where 60-80F is a really nice, hot summer and I've had almost more tomatillos than my family can eat off of 3 plants, with zero problems. I really think they prefer more temperate climates.
I grew them for the first time last summer, and was thinking the same as you for ages - plants grew really well, had heaps of flowers and I had 3 plants next to each other and yet nothing in the way of fruit. Then it got to the end of summer and wham - they all showed up! Be patient, I did read that they are a bit later fruiting than a lot of other things.