Back in the late spring, my wife got her hands on some heirloom tomato starts from a friend. The garden already being full to over flowing, we put them in some pots. They have since grown tall and leafy, and finally, about 6 weeks behind my other tomatoes, they started flowering, and now, actually growing tomatoes.
About two days ago, I noticed a few black spots. Not being 100% certain what kind of 'heirloom' tomatoes they are, and being aware that some heirloom tomatoes are quite 'unique', I didn't worry about them...but, now, it looks like the spots are growing, and actually turning into pitting and general nastiness.
This isn't an isolated thing...I've got 4 plants with at least a dozen developing tomatoes that all look like that. I'm not sure if I let it run it's course, or if I cut them off to try to force another blooming before it's too late in the season.
That blackening on the blossom end of the tomatoes is called "blossom end rot" and is caused by not enough calcium in whatever they are planted in. Some potting soil is not actually very nutritious. I had that happen to me one summer that I first planted tomatoes. it is not something that can be cured, those tomatoes will not improve with time. I would sprinkle a very small amount of agricultural lime around their soil, and keep them watered enough, not enough water in hot dry weather can also cause a disruption in calcium uptake
ReplyDeleteHmmm...thanks very much, ma'am. I would have looked for three or four days before thinking to actually string together 'blossom-end-rot' in a search engine, even though that 100% describe's what happening. Between what you said, and the internet machine said, there isn't a real easy fix. I might try the lime thing, and cutting off the effected veggies to try to spur a last blooming. It's still growing season her until October...
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