A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 NEED TOMATOE HELP

I HAVE LARGE LIGHT BROWN SMOTH SKIN ON THE BOTTOM OF MY TOMATOES, WHAT IS IT? WHAT DO I DO FOR IT? PATHFINDER@MN.ASTOUND.NET

I'm pretty new here myself but I've read everything I can about tomatoes and w/o any other info... it sounds like blossom end rot and I'm not sure anything can be done about the already infected fruit. But consistent water, (water deeply and infrequently as opposed to lightly and frequently) should stop any others from being infected. I'm pretty sure you should discard the infected fruit and the rest should be fine. There are many more people here that know much more than I do. Hopefully they will give you some advice. I think there are some treatments you can add to prevent futher end rot of new tomatoes.

Hope this helped
Becky

PATHFINDER

Greetings. Below is a small out take about Blossom end rot.


Blossom-end rot is not caused by a parasitic organism but is a physiologic disorder associated with a low concentration of calcium in the fruit. Calcium is required in relatively large concentrations for normal cell growth. When a rapidly growing fruit is deprived of necessary calcium, the tissues break down, leaving the characteristic dry, sunken lesion at the blossom end. Blossom-end rot is induced when demand for calcium exceeds supply. This may result from low calcium levels or high amounts of competitive cations in the soil, drought stress, or excessive soil moisture fluctuations which reduce uptake and movement of calcium into the plant, or rapid, vegetative growth due to excessive nitrogen fertilization.

You will lose the ones that have BER. However, there is a good chance the rest of your tomatoes will be ok if all else is equal.

BeckyN, thank you...

I think you folks already diagnosed one of my tomatoe problems, the Blossom End Rot. THANKS! But what is causing many of my tomatoes to have white spots, under the skin, near the TOPS? Is this also associated with BER?