What has happened to my tomatoes?

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Permalink Reply by Caro on July 8, 2012 at 18:51

If tomatoes are watered infrequently and allowed to dry out between waterings, this can result in blossom end rot.  Without knowing more, I think this may be what's happened. Have you tried rigging up a drip feeding system to keep the soil damp?

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Permalink Reply by Deborah Davies on July 8, 2012 at 19:34

Thanks Carolyn, but no I have watered them religiously (not over watered either), they were fine yesterday as far as I am aware.

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Permalink Reply by Caro on July 8, 2012 at 20:03

The only other thing I can think of is - dare I say it - blight. Are the leaves affected? If yes, you'll have to chuck out the plant asap.  I've also read that blossom end rot can affect tomatoes grown in grow-bags. It will be interesting to see what gardeners here come up with - hope they can help! Good luck with this. 

Deborah Davies said:

Thanks Carolyn, but no I have watered them religiously (not over watered either), they were fine yesterday as far as I am aware.

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Permalink Reply by Colin Robinson on July 8, 2012 at 21:15

It's blossom end rot and, as Carolyn says, is caused by erratic watering. You can still eat the fruit if you cut off the manky bit.

I stand all my tomato pots in trays/saucers and water from the bottom as well as the top. It's surprising how dry the compost can be lower down if you only water from the top.

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Permalink Reply by Deborah Davies on July 9, 2012 at 16:48

Thanks Colin, I have some on trays and some not, but the toms with the 'rot' are from both. I water twice daily, giving them a good soaking, the plants themselves are healthy looking, no black stems, curly leaves, etc, which I had last year, they were outside last year. The sooner they rippen the sooner we can eat them, but the sun is lacking at the moment here in Swansea.

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Shirley on July 10, 2012 at 18:45

As Colin says, that's blossom end rot.

Though I have to say I disagree that it is a watering issue. Blossom end rot is caused by calcium imbalance in the fruit which causes the cell walls to not be able to form properly. Whilst there is a vague chance that erratic watering can cause this it is usually due to lack of lime in the growing medium (grow bags, for instance, are classically bad for this).

Personally I always let my tomatoes dry down before watering (especially as the fruit starts to colour) as this ensures the fruits produce sugars (= flavour) - that's why hydroponic / nft supermarket tomatoes have no flavour - they never dry out!

This year the cold wont have helped either - but bulk up the lime by top dressing each plant with 4 oz now - it wont help the fruits that have it but it will help the future fruits.

As to ripening, I wish mine would too; we have our Tomato Day in a few weeks time and currently out of the 50 + varieties I'm growing we've only got colour on a couple of varieties !

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Permalink Reply by Deborah Davies on July 10, 2012 at 18:54

Thanks Stephen, but being a novice I dont always know what some things are..... lime as top dressing ??? can you explain, also everyone says not to let the plant dry out, now you say to let it, I am confused (doesnt take much)... can you give me some 'expert' tips, it is only my second year veg gardening.

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Shirley on July 10, 2012 at 19:09

Lime is just that - powdered chalk - and is sold as garden lime. You can also get Dolomitic Lime which is again natural and contains Magnesium - great for tomatoes and also makes the lime 'slow release'.

As for tips, try these videos (apologies to those who have seen them mentioned before)

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Permalink Reply by Mark Abbott-Compton on July 14, 2012 at 11:50

 looks like Blossom  Blossom End Rot  which has various causes infrequently watering and calcium deficiency the most common reasons,  one of the easiest ways to help  prevent this is to spray with milk watered down 3 to 1 and it sounds   bizarre but calcium uptake through the leaves helps,   some tomato feeds don't actually contain calcium hope this helps http://youtu.be/k62fkyXsaHw

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Permalink Reply by Deborah Davies on July 14, 2012 at 17:01

Thanks Mark I will give it a go.

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