Hi Everyone, Having a problem with my tomatoes. As they start to ripen a brown spot starts growing on the bottom of the tomato (only the bottom). The plants look fine with no noticable spots on the leaves. I water the plants on days when it doesn't rain and occasanally give them miracle grow. The temperature here has been hot, 80's -90's all month. Any ideas of the cause and can I save the crop? Cheers, Jim K Tomato Plants ( photo / image / picture from Jim K's Garden ) Tomatoes with spots on bottom ( photo / image / picture from Jim K's Garden )
That is blossom end rot. It is caused by calcium deficiency, so adding some gypsum or horticultural calcium to the soil around the plants will stop it. The tomatoes' soil also needs to be kept evenly moist, and mulch will really help with this. It is not a disease, so BER will go away if you take a few simple steps to make sure the soil is evenly moist (no dry/drowned cycles) and add some calcium. You can cut off the bottom of the tomato and still eat the remainder.
Thanks for the info. I picked up a bag of gypsum and spread it. Ill work it in in the morning and water it. Hope I can still get some good tomatoes this year. Thanks again, Jim K
Jim, If you don't have a soaker hose to put around your plants (don't use a sprinkler hose) try saving milk jugs and poking small holes in the bottoms of them and set them around your plants to water them slowly. This should help, just do it daily unless you have rain.
I know Native Americans planted fish heads with their corn. I wonder if they did the same with tomatoes? Jerry
You can also make a foliar spray that will help with the gypsum by mixing a couple of tbsp of epsom salts with water and put it in a hand sprayer to spray the leaves with. This year Iworked epsom salts into the soil around my tomato plants at planting and had no blossom end rot. Had quite a bit of it last year before I tried the epsom salts.
There is a company that makes a foliar spray specifically for BER. You just spray it on the plant, but for all I know it may be the exact same thing as what Mart makes.
Jerry, the fish heads were for nitrogen (and to attract local wildlife which then added protein to the native Americans' diets). I put crushed egg shells (another advantage of having hens) in the planting hole for my tomatoes. I'm not sure it adds enough calcium, but it sure is a good way to get rid of all those shells!
I've also used the epsom salts for blossom end rot. Works on bell peppers to. I've mixed it 2 Tablespoons per gallon of water and poured it at the base of my plants.
