bases of tomatoes rotting

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by nicole, Nov 17, 2006.

  1. nicole

    nicole Junior Member

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    Does anyone know why the bases of my tomatoes are rotting? Is there anything I can do?
    [​IMG]
     
  2. ho-hum

    ho-hum New Member

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    Hi Nicole,

    Your tomatoes are suffering from 'blossom-end rot' and is often seen in tomatoes growing in full sun in pots. I have also seen it on very sandy soils in unmulched tomatoes. If you are on water restrictions I can see this happening fairly quickly. Soil/water salinity compounds this issue.

    It is caused by erratic watering and the soil drying out too much especially if you are away for a few hot days or leave the watering to someone else.

    Normally I plant out seedlings [homegrown] and water them every evening till the plants are away and perhaps have their first flowers on. I then mulch them well and go straight to watering them every second or third day but they are watered to saturation point then. When the plant has set a few decent fruit set you can feed them and spread the watering further. It's a matter of balance which you learn with experience.

    Capsicums can do the same thing but not as quickly.

    If you see something similar in your cucurbits it is generally a sign of poor pollination and a different problem entirely.

    At a guess your tomatoes look like roma tomatoes which are great but some varieties have been developed to suit commercial farmers which will give spectacular results but require exacting conditions. Have you got more than one variety of tomato planted?

    Hope this helps.

    mike
     
  3. nicole

    nicole Junior Member

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    thanks

    I am guilty of erratic watering. We are trying to look after two houses at once, my husband's late grandparents and my parent's while they're overseas. So it makes sense that its because of watering. I've never seen anything like it before. (Except on my squashes - funny you should mention cucurbits - and funny it’s a different cause - because they are the main two problems I've had this year that I didn't know the cause of. they look similar, but are caused by different things!)

    I’ve also got cherry tomatoes, which don’t have the rot, and they are growing in very sandy soil. You might be right about this variety of roma tomatoes needing more exacting conditions. I got a packet of mixed diggers tomatoes, which I'm looking forward to trying, which I didn’t plant because I already had so many tomatoes growing, but now about half of them have rotted.

    Thanks for your help mike, I’ll mulch them and try to get a better balance of watering. It actually seems quite fixable. Thanks
     
  4. FREE Permaculture

    FREE Permaculture Junior Member

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    it's a great pic, i've never seen blossom end rot myself so thanks for the sneak peek :)
    hope it works out for ya and the mulch will help to improve your soil aswell when you dig it in at the end, so it's all good.
     
  5. Jez

    Jez Junior Member

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    G'day Nicole,

    Roma's are quite vulnerable to end rot in my experience and from numerous discussions about it - certainly much more vulnerable than most tomato varieties. Roma's are one of the very few commercial varieties which satisfy a reasonable balance between the supermarket's needs and the consumers need for something which tastes vaguely like a REAL tomato...:lol:...but as Mike says, the tradeoff is that they really do require a lot more well regulated looking after than most varieties.

    Moneymaker is a great home variety which is practically bullet-proof as far as disease and neglect goes and they provide a good crop. They're a mid-size tomato which is not too big to throw whole or halved into a salad, and not so small that they're not worth slicing for a snadwhich or whatever. We've had 30C+ days for the last fortnight or so with no rain and I haven't watered mine at all in that time.

    I just transplant them from where they've popped up around the yard through bird pollination, bung them in with a scattered half handful of sulphate of potash, stake them, put a 5ft cage around them and give them a good water until they're stabilised. They quickly grow up to the cage height by the time the first fruit arrives, then trail outwards and downwards from the top of the cage (I bunch mine together so they grow over each other and combine to completely shade the ground) - so you effectively get 10ft+ of fruiting limb. Ideally I'd have a 6ft cage so you don't have to prune them off before they hit the ground on the way back down, but 5ft wire was all I could get to build my cages.

    With Moneymaker's, I find that they fruit very hard through being basically neglected for water - as long as you have reasonable topsoil and mulch them well you only need to water them deeply every 2-3 weeks when there's no rain about. I've got four bearing ATM and just what has been made into various preserves has weighed a little over 40kg...probably be around 60kg altogether with what we've given away, frozen for cooking or eaten - and the few the birds have got to. Been picking them for about 6 weeks now and we'll still get another 10kg or so off them before they're done over the next couple of weeks.

    I've you're after a good producing, very hardy, versatile and tasty tomato you really can't beat them.
     
  6. ho-hum

    ho-hum New Member

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    Jez,

    Ever tried this?

    When it gets too hot & the wet sets in [or autumn down south] pull up your tomato plants and hang them upside down under the verandah or carport and over the next month or so the unripe tomatoes will gradually ripen. They need to be somewhere airy and dry.

    It's worth doing as tomato vines need to be pulled up anyway.

    Also those small yellow pear tomatoes can survive and prosper through the build-up and the wet season. Just pick the bush up and give it a shake anything ripe falls off.

    mike
     
  7. FREE Permaculture

    FREE Permaculture Junior Member

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    I tried hanging the whole plants last year, the plants seem to draw out the juice and the tomatoes start to shrivel before they ripen.
    best way is to pick 'em all off and wrap them individually in newspaper, works a treat! :)
     
  8. Jez

    Jez Junior Member

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    That's a good tip to hang them up Mike...last year the first onset of wet season was Larry the mega cyclone 8), so I didn't really get a chance to test any theories...most annuals or newly planted perennials above about 6" were ripped out of the ground. If I knew a cyc was coming again the hanging method would be a valuable way to save a few plants and get a harvest during the recovery period.

    I suspect, having had virtually no dry season this year and still having thriving Moneymakers and Tom Thumbs throughout that time, that they would prosper ok still in the ground through the average wet season.

    Those little yellow cherry pears are a riot I reckon...they look like little cartoon light bulbs. :lol:

    Yeah, it's amazing how easily they fall to ground at the first hint of full ripening. I haven't actually shaken the bush, but I did notice that you just had to bump a nearby limb for them to fall off.
     
  9. SueinWA

    SueinWA Junior Member

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    Lack of calcium in the soil will cause blossom end rot. We have that problem here due to excessive rainfall, which washes the calcium beyond the reach of the roots.

    Also, if you have low calcium levels in your area, you may hear complaints from your neighbors that their livestock routinely produce male offspring.

    Look into Pat Coleby's books and info on remineralizing the soil. Everything in food comes from the soil, so you must get that right or you will continue having problems.

    Sue
     
  10. Anastasia

    Anastasia Junior Member

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    I just discovered I am going to have this issue. Have a poor little roma tomato with the exact same rot in the photos above. Mine are in pots in full sun! And I'm very erratic with watering atm, because, well, I'm pregnant and forgetful and tired! Gah.

    The depressing thing is this plant is gorgeous, big and healthy, hrmph. So do I move it under shade or just make damn sure I water every second day? I feed with natrakelp weekly, and the plants are well mulched. Is there anything else I can do?
     

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