Why Are My Tomatoes Tasteless – 6 Reasons & Tips

The goal when growing tomatoes is to grow beautiful red, juicy, FLAVORFUL tomatoes! Sometimes though, after all that time and hard work, we end up with tomatoes that don’t taste like much of anything. 

There are a few reasons why your tomatoes have no flavor. It all has to do with how you grew them, what nutrients you used, maybe the variety, or maybe their water intake. 

If you are burning to know why your tomatoes are so tasteless and what you can do to fix them, look no further! We will review all that and more in today’s article. 

Why Do My Tomatoes Have No Taste?

Consider these options if you are racking your brain to figure out why your homegrown tomatoes have no flavor.

1. Nutrients and Light

• Tomatoes are notorious for loving their sunlight and their nutrients. They need both of these things to grow up and be happy, healthy plants and give us those yummy tomatoes we are looking for! They are summer fruit and love full sunlight all day. They also love healthy fertilized soil with plenty of nitrogen, magnesium, phosphorus, and calcium. 

1. Water

• Watering has one of the biggest impacts on how your plant grows and what the fruit will taste like!

1. Variety 

• While heirloom tomatoes are supposed to be packed full of flavor, sometimes there are a few varieties that don’t taste too great. 

1. Where You Plant Them

• This ties into nutrients a little bit. When thinking about where you want to put your plants, you can put them directly in the ground, or you can plant them in pots. 

List of Ways to Make Your Tasteless Tomatoes Taste Better

If you want to make your tomatoes taste better, you’re in the right place! Here is a list of everything you can do to make your tomatoes taste better.

Start with choosing a good variety

• Before anything else, make sure you have a variety that will stand out. Varieties like Brandywine and Sun Gold tomatoes are known to be some of the best tasting tomatoes, with a perfect balance of sweet and acidic.
• Besides choosing a good variety, you also want to make sure you are getting tomatoes that are right for your climate zone. Some tomatoes take longer to mature than other varieties, so if you live in an area that has a short summer, that type wouldn’t be for you. 

Make sure you have well-draining soil

• A big key to growing yummy tomatoes is ensuring you have well-draining, well fertilized soil. Tomatoes can’t grow properly if they don’t have the food they need to keep going. 

Nutrients

• You may not think about a thing, but if you are getting tasteless tomatoes, it’s always a good idea to make sure your plant is getting the nutrients it needs! Make sure you have well fertilized soil, one that is high in all the nutrients we talked about previously. 

Why Do My Tomatoes Taste Watery? 

The answer to watery tomatoes is quite apparent. You are over-watering! Since the plant is taking on so much water, it’s normal that the fruit will start to taste very watery. You may also see other signs of overwatering, like splits in your tomatoes, blossom rot, stunted tomatoes, or tomatoes that don’t seem to grow. 

6 Insider Tips to Growing More Flavorful Tomatoes

We’ve discussed the basics, like water, proper nutrients, and the variety you’re using. Here are some insider tomato grower tips for growing the most flavorful tomatoes. 

Heat Protection

• Even though tomatoes live for the sunshine, it can still get too hot for tomatoes. They like weather around 65-80. So if it is a particularly hot day, shade cloth is your best friend. Or, if you live in an area that has hot summers, plant your tomatoes in partial shade. This will help your tomatoes grow big and juicy without getting fried by the sun. 

Pruning

• Tomatoes tend to have a lot of extra branches, leaves/sprouts at the bottoms of the plants. These are unnecessary and stunt tomato growth. It is better to cut those off so the plant isn’t sending wasted energy to parts of the plant that won’t produce good tomatoes. 

Bug removal

• It is essential to keep your eye out for pesky bugs and critters, like the hornworm; they can decimate your tomato plant overnight! Keeping your plants pest-free will ensure that your tomatoes grow big and yummy. 

Liquid nutrient feeds

• Most people know about having the right fertilizer, but not all know about the wonders of liquid feeds on their plants! Garden supply stores carry all the nutrients tomatoes need in either a liquid or water-soluble form. If you feel your plant lacks something at any given time, giving them a liquid feed is a great way to boost them up a little bit.

Water less 

• Giving tomatoes a steady watering throughout the beginning of their lives is very important. However, once tomatoes start forming, it’s better to skip the water. You can even let the leaves wilt a little bit. It allows for the fruit to thoroughly soak up all that liquid. 

Caging/trellising 

• Tomatoes can get pretty tall and bushy. The weight of their branches will usually cause them to break or for the tomatoes to break once they start forming. Caging tomatoes or throwing up a trellis to support the branches is super important, so nothing breaks. 

Can I Eat Tasteless Tomatoes?

Of course, you can eat tasteless tomatoes, but who would want to? You can try a few cooking tricks, though, so you don’t waste anything! 

Try slow-roasting your tomatoes first in the oven and let the natural sugars cook out. Of course, heavy seasoning can also help. Season with lots of salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, rosemary, olive oil, etc. If that isn’t doing the trick, pineapple juice surprisingly does wonders for those tasteless tomatoes! It is said that when you mix pineapple juice with raw tomatoes, it mimics the sweetness you would typically find in tomatoes. 

Also, keep in mind that you can’t go wrong with cheese! Toss those tasteless tomatoes on some dough with loads of mozzarella, garlic, and oregano, and you’ve got yourself a delicious pizza! 

Why Are Store Bought Tomatoes Flavorless?

Store bought tomatoes that are not organic are usually mass-produced in a factory type setting. Many tomatoes have a genetic mutation, and this genetic mutation takes away a large amount of the yummy sugars in the fruit, leaving the tomatoes tasting very bland. 

If you can, it’s always a better idea to shop organic. You will always have better tasting vegetables without genetic mutations or that have been sprayed with chemicals. There is a lot more care that goes into producing organic fruit and vegetables, so keep that in mind when you’re shopping next at the grocery store.

Let’s review. Tomatoes aren’t supposed to be tasteless; we all know that. However, sometimes they have no flavor! It can be hard growing tomatoes to find the perfect balance, but the proper water, sunlight, nutrients, and varieties will allow you to grow the most delicious tomatoes!