I was watering and checking on my plants that I’m growing on our 3rd story deck and noticed these tomatoes:
These are a lot more that I picked and threw in the trash because they look like this:
There are some that look like this:
…but I’m afraid they’re all headed in the gross direction. So, does anybody have any thoughts about what is causing this? And how to save the rest of the tomatoes?
Oh dear! I know nothing to help. My only way to comfort you is to say at least you have tomatoes – we just have bushy bushy plants!
Ours look like this sometimes when they sit in the water.
Another note entirely…this morning while walking and listening to the Bob and Sheri show, on their chat room they had someone call in named Jennifer. She said she puts too much on facebook..mundane stuff that happens throughout her day. She recounted a story about making a smoothie and it spuing all over the kitchen. Her cat came and was in heaven. I really thought this was you for most of the conversation. She expressed her phrases much like you, she sounded like you and she even had a cat. I finally decided it wasn’t you when she started talking about her kids. I was ready to call you as soon as I got back to my car. And by the way, I am not short.
There are two likely causes/fixes:
1. Water very consistently. Tomatoes do best with consistent moisture and temperature. Not a lot you can do about temp in MO, obviously, but watering you can control.
2. Too little calcium or too much nitrogen. Common fertilizers are sometimes nitrogen heavy. Dolomite or lime will help in this case.
If it is just rot, then you don’t need to worry about it transferring from one ‘mater to another. Just pick the rotten ones so the plant doesn’t commit any energy to making them bigger.
Hope that help, home-grown tomatoes are the greatest thing ever.
I’m guessing blossom end rot.
I feel your pain. Blossom end rot is common, particularly when soil moisture is not consistent and in the case of your container garden, not easily controlled. Calcium deficiency is the main culprit and is not easily corrected in the short term. The good news is that in most cases, the condition will improve with time as the plant matures. I don’t know why, it just does. It has happened many times to me in the not so good dirt of Ralls County, MO. I agree with Stu, pick the afflicted fruit ASAP.
thanks dad and stuart! i picked all of the gross ones i could reach and have been trying to water every night if it doesn’t rain, but it’s been so hot they’re just shriveling up. for future reference (because it’s little late now…), i used a combination of last summer’s composting project, commercial topsoil, and “compost” dirt from the neighborhood garden in my post with a little bit of miracle grow. was this an ok plan? everything else seems to be doing quite well. i picked several cubanelle peppers that look and smell beautiful and my herbs and beans are flourishing.
Brooke, I hope you laughed at dad’s comment because for some reason I found it pretty funny
i did…he sounded very normal in that comment…maybe he should write things more often?
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog. 🙂 Cheers! Sandra. R.