Help! Tomatoes have rot or something

[baltjoe]

Hello there,

Every tomato thatI have grown this summer has had rot or something on the bottom. They look fine from the top and when i pick them I flip it over and in the center of the bottom there is a huge black spot that goes through the entire tomato.

Is this a bug?

Is it Blossom End Rot that I read about in Jerry Baker's book?

Joe Z.

[Newt]

Hi Joe,
Sure sounds like blossom end rot. Take a look here to see if you can determine for sure.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/toma ... index.html
http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/horti ... m-rot.html

Hope this helps,
Newt

[The Helpful Gardener]

I'm with Newt on this one...

[eddysmit]

hi there I'm not sure how this works, anyway here it goes I have a problem with growing my tomatoe I have kind of seeds which i brought with me from Italy to here in the philippines. The plants grow very well, but when they flower it still ok but after the blossom they all fall off untill now i have one tomatoe on each plant and thats all the tomatoe seeds i have are the following the Roman tomatoe, the cherry tomatoe and cuore di buia that translated its the heart of the bull, this tomatoe really only grows in the Sorrento area or Capri, could it be because of the tropical heat here which is also very humid? and never below 25centigrade? yours gratefully Eddy smit.





Every tomato thatI have grown this summer has had rot or something on the bottom. They look fine from the top and when i pick them I flip it over and in the center of the bottom there is a huge black spot that goes through the entire tomato.

Is this a bug?

Is it Blossom End Rot that I read about in Jerry Baker's book?

Joe Z.[/quote]

[Newt]

Hi Eddysmith,

I don't have your answer, though I suspect it has something to do with temperatures and water. Maybe Scott will know.

Scott,
Eddy has also posted this here with more descriptive info. You may want to take a look. I'm leaving for a trip shortly and won't return until Saturday. Hope you can help.

http://helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewt ... light=#889

Newt

[Bob]

Blossom end rot can usually be cured by making sure that your soil Ph level is up to snuff. If your getting blossom end rot, try mixing some lime into your soil preferably in the fall of the year to allow it time to raise your soil’s Ph level, around 6 or 7 is best for most vegetables, but testing your soil for Ph isn’t always necessary. If you have blossom end rot, the odds are very good that your Ph is low.

Also, you can buy a Ph tester fairly cheaply from most any garden supply, if you would like to know exactly what your soil’s Ph is.

[grandpasrose]

Thanks for the info Bob! Adding lime to the soil also increases the amount of calcium in the soil, which is also responsible for blossom end rot. So it's doing double duty!

Val

[opabinia51]

You can get a Cacium spray from local nurseries and spray your tomatoes before the rot appears. This will prevent the rot.


I made a mistake when posting this yesterday. I had put a MAGNESIUM spray but, it's not magnesium it is Calcium.

Sorry for any confusion (come to think of it, someone has probably already corrected me below)

[The Helpful Gardener]

It does sound like blossom end rot and the info here is all good; I kept the rot off mine (in a very wet spring) with milk, believe it or not. A cup in a gallon of water or so, spray it right on. Works on a lot of low level fungii; pro vintners are using it on grapes now too...

Newt, I'm typing this from the Lord Baltimore as we speak! And you are traveling! Figures...

Scott

[Bob]

I would have to think that the milk adds calcium to the plant directly rather than lime through the root system. I suppose either would work to prevent blossom end rot. At any rate, Ph level seems to be key to preventing such rot.

[grandpasrose]

It's all tied in together Bob, PH and nutrients that's why it can be hard to figure out sometimes. You have to have them all right for it to work right!

Val

[The Helpful Gardener]

Actually Bob, the agent at work here is a very common bacteria, the one that sours milk (founds in huge quantities in our mouths, incidentally ). It's called antagonistic bacterial counter-culture, and it pits one germ against another, one quite harmless and one we can do without. I suspect the calcium addition might help some, but that kind of nutrition is usually at root level...

Nature looks after it's own, especially if we find ways to look after it. You could go after it with a fungicide, but then the soil funghii get damaged so they don't help the roots, so it gets weaker and a bug comes, so you spray , which hurts the plant...and so on and so on. The milk simply encourages a natural process that for once, works for you> Remember that the next time somebody holds out the carton and says "Smell this..."

Scott

[Bob]

I’ve been told that a mixture of cyan or other hot pepper powder and water makes a good insecticide spray for all vegetable plants, has anybody tried that?

I’ve given it some thought about trying it, but never have.

I notice that there’s few insects that mess with my cherry bomb hot pepper plants every year, seems logical to me.

[Bob]

By the way,

I have a very good farmer friend that has cherry orchards. He has many tricks for keeping birds out of his cherry trees, but he told me that the best thing he’s found was a “garlic spray.â€

[Grey]

I've heard from various sources that garlic spray helps keep the bugs at bay. Somewhere around here I even have a semi-organic "pesticide" recipe that calls for garlic (along with Borax).

[grandpasrose]

Garlic Spray works in controlling aphids, leafhoppers, whiteflies, and some fungi, and nematodes as well.

RECIPE:

-Soak 6 tablespoons finely minced garlic in 2 teaspoons mineral oil for a minimum of 24 hours.

-Add 1 pint of water and 1.5 teaspoons of liquid dish soap.

-Stir and strain into a glass container for storage.

-Combine 1-2 tablespoons of this concentrate with 2 cups of water to make the spray.

-Test the spray on a couple of leaves and check after two days for any damage from the soap/garlic mixture. If there is no damage, then you can spray your plant thoroughly, ensuring good coverage of the foliage.

I know that planting garlic amid your plants also wards away any nasties as well, so I don't see why the spray would not work.

Val

[The Helpful Gardener]

Excellent; now we're cooking (literally)...

Seems this ancient tech is effective across a wide range of pests; birds, insects, and I know the best way to keep squirrels or other mammals oout of feeders is to use the pepper spray on your birdseed (or buy it coated). So add a little pepper to Val's concoction (I'm thinkin ya sub chili oil for mineral oil)and you have an anti-bird, anti-insect, anti-mammal spray that won't hurt your plants or the environment. And you can make it in the sink with ingredients within reach. Heck, I grow habaneros; throw one of those in this mix and I can use it to stop muggers too!

Good stuff Val. And thanks for the info Bob. Hope you hang out for a while...

HG

[grandpasrose]

Ya better watch out Scott, you throw too many things into that concoction, you won't find much of anything coming around - like people maybe?

Totally true Bob, you have added alot to the forum, and hopefully we will continue to receive your interesting additions!

Val

[Grey]

Ya better watch out Scott, you throw too many things into that concoction, you won't find much of anything coming around - like people maybe?

Oh, I just laughed out loud on that one!

[grandpasrose]

Scott never responded though. Do you think I hurt his feelings?

Val

[Grey]

nah.

[The Helpful Gardener]

C'mon; since when have I had feelings?




Scott

[Bob]

Thanks for your experience, ideas and formulas folks.

That’s how we all learn, by communicating with folks with similar interest.

By the way, where does one buy “mineral oil?â€

[grandpasrose]

Well Bob, I can answer one part of your question for you. Mineral oil can be found in your drugstore or pharmacy.
I'm not much help when it comes to your onions though! Sorry.

Val

[opabinia51]

That's strange, I thought that I had posted a response to this question earlier.

Anyway, my previous recommondation was to install a grow light.

[greenboy]

I smashed a couple of garlic cloves and mix them with a gallon of water, mix them very well and spray on the plants, they do well against must bugs, but last year I planted Eggs plants, and the plant got something known as lice bettle, these bettles were small and black, the garlic spray did help but they got used to it, and I had to spray again and again.
About the rotton botton business, no one mention about the weather I wanted to know if the weather was humid of not or if you guys got a lot of rain or not.
Spring is coming and I am getting really excited to start gardening, I wonder if somebody from Pennsylvania has good experience with tomatoes I always plant tomatoes in my garden and I welcome any advise regarding tomatoes planting. Any suggestion on what variety of tomatoes do well in the North Easten Pennsylvania? I am Open for suggestions. Bye


EDITED BY OPABINIA

[The Helpful Gardener]

Well, 'Brandywine' usually has a spot in the HG's garden, and it is a Pennsylvania plant...