Just when we thought all hope was lost, Ray's Q-tip manual pollination saved the day. Last week, we noticed our flowers, which were at one time in full bloom, were now starting to brown and shrivel, without fruiting.
I'm not sure where he heard about it, but Ray took it upon himself to pollinate the flowers using some Q-tips last week. I'm not claiming causation but this is what we woke up to this week:
I guess we didn't kill the tomatoes after all. Now the challenge will be trying prevent bugs and insects from eating them. We already had one casualty and found a huge green catepillar attached to the fruit. Will need to monitor very closely in the next couple of weeks.