We have two plants. They’re about 5 five tall now. We’re on a wooded lot, and the plants are in a spot where they can get the most sun (mostly morning sun) through the day. They’re planted in large pots with Miracle-Gro soil, each with its own tomato cage. We pulled off some of the suckers, but not all.
We’ve had lots of blooms, but they just die. So far, no little green balls. This year has been extremely wet — rain almost every day. On the rare off-days, we watered them. They are tall and sprawling and robust, and they have that great strong smell that tomato plants have. There is no visible disease or pest problem, no sickly yellow leaves, or any such. But there are no tomatoes either.
Are we too impatient? Is it too early? Is it normal that they should bloom and die for a while before finally starting to produce? Are we just bad plant parents?
Any and all help and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! 
It is possible that you are not getting enough sun.
You could, also, be a little impatient.
Our spring was very wet, long and cold and the fruit is just starting to appear on the vine. I fertilize once a week.
Depending on the type of plant you have and where you live, you might not see hoards of tomatoes until the first week in august.
There are factor’s here Libertarian.
size: the pot’s should be pretty big, i.e about 16-18 inches in diameter. ood black soil should be used. Do not, I REPEAT, DO NOT over water your tomatoes. They will not get the necessary amount of nitrogen out of the water/soil mix. I use an algae based fertilizer, all natural and works wonders. Fills all of the plants in my Garden with the right amount of minerals and vitamans.
Type: The type of tomatoes you are attempting to grow is a factor. Are you growing cherry tomatoes? If so they should be the easiest. I grow Ugly tomatoes because they are the biggest, and we are fans of home made marinara sauce.
Sunlight: Should be around 80% during the day. You are in a wooded area? Is it possible to put it on your roof? I’m not kidding. When Mrs.Phlosphr and I lived in Phoenix, we had a greenhouse on our roof because our yard was covered with boginvelia, and palms.
I think your problem has nothing to do with location but more to do with the recptical you have them in, and pollination. Are they getting enough bees around them to pollinate them? Did you grow them from seed? I don’t know if there would be a male female factor here, but it’s possible.
I’d lighten up on the watering and miracle-gro and force a fruiting of them. Try going to a vitamin store and buying some spiralina algae. It works wonders on my garden.
We had the exact same problem with our tomatoes until we started hand pollinating them with a Q-tip. Each day we would go out and make three passes along the plants, tapping/rubbing each flower with the Q-tip. Suddenly, the flowers stopping drying up and falling off and turned into maters. As each new couple bunches of flowers show up, we do the same thing for them.
Also did the same thing to our pepper plants and within just a couple of weeks, our production increased fourfold.
Wouldn’t hurt to give it a try.
I’ll second that great idea by TD.
Why I remember my college days when we used to pollinate our … in our closets :eek:!! 
They need lots and lots of Sun. Can`t get too much as long as you keep up with the water.
You seem to be doing the exact same thing that I do. I would think the only variable would be the amount of Sunlight and the pot size. I used five gallon buckets and drilled holes in the bottom sides for drainage. I also only Miracle-Grow every other week. My Super 100`s are just starting to get fruit and the others (Beefsteak, Early girls, etc.) are about to spring fruit.
I`ve got a southern exposure with sun all day long.
I also like to make sure that no leaves touch any ground and that ALL the suckers are off. Which means that I have to trim them about twice a week. They may look emaciated without any suckers but they fruit like crazy.
From listening to all this advice, I guess our pots could be bigger — they’re about a foot diameter. The plants are placed for maximum sun; it’s just that there hasn’t been much sun this year (it’s been unusually rainy, and hurricane season hasn’t even gotten a good start yet). As for the bees, there’s a huge swarm of about 200 yellow jackets that make their home on our car and in the two bushes on either side of the plants, so I can’t imagine there being any lack of pollination.
I can’t remember what type we got (Edlyn bought them), but they’re German something-or-others — a very mild, non-acidic tomato that my Saturn mechanic grows. He gave us some last season, which made us want some of our own this year. They probably have had too much water, I guess, if they aren’t supposed to be watered “too much” (whatever that is).
Oh, well. Thanks for all the helpful advice, everyone! Edlyn and I hope that your tomatoes are many and delicious!
I would plant them in larger containers then you have them in. Continue giving them lots of sun. Use Sevin dust to keep the Green Horned Catapillars away from your plants. (Or maybe this is just a probelm in the south)
The pots my tomatoes are in are 12" in diameter, but diameter of the dirt level is 10" and 8" deep per pot. They are in direct sunlight for maybe 4 hours each day. My plants are nearly five feet tall, and one of them has 13 tomatoes on them, ranging from golf ball size to um… bigger, maybe apple sized, and a baseball sized ripe one was picked a couple days ago by the wife. I also have lots of bees, wasps and little bugs constantly around the flowers, but nothing happened until we did it ourselves. Just because they are around doesn’t mean they are doing their job, or that the flowers are actually pollinating at the time.
It is a bit tedious, and I was skeptical at first, but it certainly paid off. You don’t have anything to lose.