This affection happens sometimes to your tomatoes, and it's very frustrating, especially after you haveput lots of hard work and love into your plants only to see these nasty black dots are exposed underneath of your tomatoes.
It's named: blossom end rot, or blossom plight. Not to be misled with "year end rot/harvest rot." That isa different problem all together.
What starts as a few harmless browsing dark spots underneath of your tomatoes, can overnight drift into a huge rotting fungus that munches the tomatoes from the inside. And will consume the entire tomato if not removed. Take away the harmed tomatoes as soon as you see sign of this disease.
Sometimes, this will not occur to just one tomato on a plant, but many, sometimes even the entire plant, and it can happen very fast. If you have ever had this happen to you, then you'll know how disheartening this is!
Here is the reason it happens:
The professional gardeners declare it's because of poor / abnormal soil moisture. And I have to say, since I have done my own testing, it looks to be true.
What does this mean?
When the plant is fully turning into a fruit, it's at an importantphase, when the roots get a shock, weird stuff begins to happen to the fruit:
1. If you water your tomatoes not enough, or at times when a big amount of the water evaporates, it could mostly results blossom end rot.
I believe plants are similiar infants, they like routine, so I stick to a watering system, most of the time every time I wake up it's the first thing I do, massive amount of water. I don't believe there's such a thing as "too much watering" a tomato plant, they LOVE water.
2. If you grow plants in pots, keep a close eye, this is important…
Get HUGE pots. The most seen problem I observe with people growing tomato plants in pots is the pot is just way too little.
A small pot will results in soil water evaporating faster as it heats up during the day, which leads to abnormal soil moisture. You may water the plant first thing in the morning, as the sun hits the pot at noon, most of the water vaporizes and the plant is dehydrated for the remaining time of the day. Dry soil is unacceptable!
How big should the pots be? A great rule of thumb is big enough to fit a basketball in. At least 10 Gallons. Then fill it with soil all the way to the top.
Too often tomato growers put tomatoes in pots you'd put an orchid in or other flower sized pots, or they put them in big pots but only fill them up mid way with soil(which eliminates the purpose of the big pot!) The plants grow short and slowly this way. Be aware, tomatoes are gigantic plants, and they need big amount soil to grow well.
A final thing about pots…
For the same reason, Do Not Use DARK COLOURED Pots For Tomatoes!, the dark colour captivates sun and heats up like crazy, the water in your soil will evaporate in the heat… which results to problems like these.
The suggested pots are clay, but they are quite costly. The next best choice is white or any other color of plastic. Pots are a huge topic which I'll talk about in the future.
Above all, the best way to avoid blossom end rot is routine and non-stop watering, and being vigilant about soil moisture… once the summer hits, water twice or even 3 times during the day, especially on dry and hot days.
And remember, show your tomatoes lots of care!
This is it for my tomato tip,
To read more tomato guides, please visit http://www.JoyfulTomato.com
It's named: blossom end rot, or blossom plight. Not to be misled with "year end rot/harvest rot." That isa different problem all together.
What starts as a few harmless browsing dark spots underneath of your tomatoes, can overnight drift into a huge rotting fungus that munches the tomatoes from the inside. And will consume the entire tomato if not removed. Take away the harmed tomatoes as soon as you see sign of this disease.
Sometimes, this will not occur to just one tomato on a plant, but many, sometimes even the entire plant, and it can happen very fast. If you have ever had this happen to you, then you'll know how disheartening this is!
Here is the reason it happens:
The professional gardeners declare it's because of poor / abnormal soil moisture. And I have to say, since I have done my own testing, it looks to be true.
What does this mean?
When the plant is fully turning into a fruit, it's at an importantphase, when the roots get a shock, weird stuff begins to happen to the fruit:
1. If you water your tomatoes not enough, or at times when a big amount of the water evaporates, it could mostly results blossom end rot.
I believe plants are similiar infants, they like routine, so I stick to a watering system, most of the time every time I wake up it's the first thing I do, massive amount of water. I don't believe there's such a thing as "too much watering" a tomato plant, they LOVE water.
2. If you grow plants in pots, keep a close eye, this is important…
Get HUGE pots. The most seen problem I observe with people growing tomato plants in pots is the pot is just way too little.
A small pot will results in soil water evaporating faster as it heats up during the day, which leads to abnormal soil moisture. You may water the plant first thing in the morning, as the sun hits the pot at noon, most of the water vaporizes and the plant is dehydrated for the remaining time of the day. Dry soil is unacceptable!
How big should the pots be? A great rule of thumb is big enough to fit a basketball in. At least 10 Gallons. Then fill it with soil all the way to the top.
Too often tomato growers put tomatoes in pots you'd put an orchid in or other flower sized pots, or they put them in big pots but only fill them up mid way with soil(which eliminates the purpose of the big pot!) The plants grow short and slowly this way. Be aware, tomatoes are gigantic plants, and they need big amount soil to grow well.
A final thing about pots…
For the same reason, Do Not Use DARK COLOURED Pots For Tomatoes!, the dark colour captivates sun and heats up like crazy, the water in your soil will evaporate in the heat… which results to problems like these.
The suggested pots are clay, but they are quite costly. The next best choice is white or any other color of plastic. Pots are a huge topic which I'll talk about in the future.
Above all, the best way to avoid blossom end rot is routine and non-stop watering, and being vigilant about soil moisture… once the summer hits, water twice or even 3 times during the day, especially on dry and hot days.
And remember, show your tomatoes lots of care!
This is it for my tomato tip,
To read more tomato guides, please visit http://www.JoyfulTomato.com