My husband brought in several of our Roma's last night and each one had rotten places on the bottom of an otherwise perfectly healthy and ripe tomato. What could be causing, mainly the Roma's to do this and is there a prevention for next year? This is our first attempt at vegetable gardening and it is surely discouraging to see this. Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thanks folks.
I began reading with much interest on the Squash Vine Borers threads here. We lost a good amount of squash to them also. That too is discouraging and hopefully we won't have the same thing happen next year.
Ruby
question regarding tomato bottoms rotting
You have Blossom End Rot-aka BER- it is common in Romas in my experience, and has several theories as to cause- Calcium deficiency, water stress-too much or too littloe, etc. Google it and there will be a wealth of info-
Next year add 1 tbsp lime to the hole before you set in your tomato plants...that has solved my problem.
Thank you to both of you. McG - John is going to try the Lime. I know growing up that my parents used lime in their gardens and sadly they are no longer around to ask why they used it. Jo, I will look up BER and see what else I might find out. I appreciate the quick responses to my question.
Ruby
ruby ,Many people in our area (n.e. Ohio) had BER this year. Being fairly new at gardening I nearly panicked. I went to the county office of the Ohio State Extension Service. I was told that BER is caused by inconsistent watering. This causes an insufficient amount of calcium to reach the fruit. There may be plenty of calcium in the soil and even in the plant but too much or not enough water doesn't allow the calcium to be distributed properly to the fruit. They said there is nothing you can do to help the situation this year except to develop a regular watering schedule and once the plant matures that over 90 % of the time BER will run it's course. I was also told that the last thing you want to do is start adding lime or anything else without having a soil test done next Spring. I started a watering schedule and in the last two weeks I have had more tomatoes than I can use or even give away with no sign of BER. Good luck. Dan
Get your soil test done in the Fall and make amendments at that time so when Spring rolls around you are ready to go. I work in the Extension office and yes a possible cause is inconsistent watering among other causes....if my plants develop BER after being planted I will top dress with a bit of lime and that solves it.
I find that nearly all the BER I've had was on the first tomato that the plant set. I wonder if maybe the newly pregnant plant just hasn't got its hormones together yet.