pic-safe to eat this tomato?

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organicfarm San Antonio, TX(Zone 8b) May 19, 2010

Let me just say first that I a total newbie at veggie gardening. Only started it this year over worries about pesticides in food. I am already getting a lot of tomatoes this year. I am not using any kind of insecticide so far. Starting tomorrow, I am going to spray the plants with a homemade cayenne pepper, garlic and soap spray. These tomatoes are from a "Patio" plant species, less than 3 inches in size. The holes on these tomatoes don't go very deep it seems. I know I could just wait til it ripens and cut it open to look.
Really want to ask about this----
I am supposed to put an "oil based" soap in the spray? Any ideas about this? Maybe bathsoap that says it moisturizes?

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Dorkasaurus Albuquerque, NM(Zone 7a) May 19, 2010

My guess is birds or slugs, neither of which your spray is likely to help with. The spray is mostly used to keep furry critters away from you vegetables buy making it taste unappealing (HOT!). Birds do not have receptors for capsaicin so the pepper will have no effect on them. I can't say for sure but I'm guessing slugs don't get burned by peppers either. When making pepper spray I use just a couple of drops of ordinary liquid dish soap (not antibacterial dish soap). The main purpose of the soap is just to make the water a little thicker and/or sticky so it will stick to the plants.

You could cut one open (ripe or not) and investigate but I think you'll find it wasn't bugs. I would probably eat them but that's just me.

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organicfarm San Antonio, TX(Zone 8b) May 20, 2010

ok, thanks Dorkasaurus. Still a couple of days away from cutting these open. Trying to close this thread, but don't see any way to do this on here. I am learning a LOT more about bugs, worms, etc. on this forum than I ever thought I needed to know! I did ruin 2 small spray bottle nozzles by plugging them up with the cayenne pepper. Duh. Forgot that the recipe from Tinkersgardens.com said to strain the stew. Oh well.

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dlbailey Central Valley, CA(Zone 9a) May 20, 2010

It looks like scars from either being bitten into or somehow cut. Nothing thats harmful just unappealing. Like Dorkasaurus said, cut it open to make sure before eating.

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Jim41 Delhi, LA May 20, 2010

It is not bird damage. You just have places like that sometime on the bottom of a tomato. The spot on the top could be a simple gall or a horn worm sampled it. It is still edible so just cut away the spot.

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knownasnancy Portland, OR May 29, 2010

It might also be blossom end rot, which happens to tomatoes when the soil is too acidic. Tomatoes like sweet soil. Apply lime!

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