something wrong with tomatoes

[CarolineSonning]

Hi all,
Something appear to be going wrong with my tomatoes. I've got one plant on which a number of the tomatoes have started to go brown at the end.
Anyone know what this is and what I should do?
Many thanks
Caroline

[Lesley Jay]

If it is only on the ends it should be blossom end rot but if it is brown patches anywhere that turn rotten then it is blight.

[CarolineSonning]

Thanks Lesley, what should I do if it's "blossom end rot"?

[GardenFan]

Hi Caroline,

In both cases you will need to remove the infected fruit (and in the case of blight any leaves around it. If it is blight then you could get lucky and some might be ok. If you have toms close to the infected toms that not showing signs of blight then spray these right away.

If its blossom end rot then this is caused by a lack of minerals reaching the developing fruit, it's often caused by a lack of water. To treat remove the infected toms but any that are not showing signs can be left alone. Make sure that you water the toms often, if this weeks heat at least twice a day. If pot or growing bag grown your toms can suffer more from lack of water so make sure you keep them well supplied.

[Does the Cooking]

I have my toms in plant 12 inch pots. I give each of them a litre of water each night - or when the soil appears to be drying.

Some leaves are yellow. Is this a sign of anything wrong?

[CarolineSonning]

Thanks GardenFan. I'm new to all this and watering is still a bit of a witches art to me . What is enough? I have 2 plants too a wine crate and I have been watering once a day (and feeding with nettle feed once a week) but I'm not sure how much water I should be adding each time? I've also mulched with spent hops.

[GardenFan]

If the leaves are shaded then this can happen, as long as you don't strip the bush you can snip them off and they will be happy. If your keeping them well watered and fed then they should be ok. I have in the recent weather taken to dunking my pot toms in a bucket of water (along with the cucumbers and chilli's/peppers) until the air bubbles stop. This ensures the root ball is well soaked and the toms can take what they need. I am doing this daily at the moment as they are using it up that fast.

[Lesley Jay]

Caroline sorry my reply was a bit swift before. If you have July's edition of GYO on page 82 there is a picture and article on tomato blight. In August's edition of the magazine on page 59 there is a picture and article on blossom end rot.

[GardenFan]

Watering toms can be an art form If you feel the compost and it feels dry then it's time for a water. In this weeks weather thats every day but in cooler conditions you can balance it depending on how moist the compost is. The nettle feed will do them a power of good, if you use the bucket dunking trick then you can also add of it to the bucket.

If your toms have trusses on them then count how many you have and cut them back to 4 per plant. It can be heart breaking to see good trusses go to waste but too many will result in smaller toms and you run the risk of them not ripening. Too many trusses can also stress the plant for water so removing them helps the plant out. I also remove about 25/50% of leaves and top growth above the 4th truss so that the plant is not using up the water/food to supply that growth. I do leave enough to make sure the plant gets enough light but if you do run into wilt problems with your toms then lightening the growth can help.

I am feeding my toms every day or every other day as mine have fully developed trusses and need the water/food to ripen. Apart from that it's down to mother nature and luck

[bramble]

Hi Garden Fan, be careful with the cucumbers as they don,t like to be left too wet as they will suffer with neck rot. Good luck with the rest.

[GardenFan]

Hi Bramble, Thanks for the tip, I should have said I am growing apple cucumbers which develop and ripen a lot faster than standard cu's.

[bramble]

Hi Caroline, I think you should be feeding your toms at least twice a week now. I am also using nettle feed(home made) but i also use tomorite or any other of the tom plant food on the market. With the weather as hot as it is at the moment you will need to water at least twice a day. Put your fingers down into the soil and feel and judge for yourself if they need more water. I let my toms form 7 trusses of fruit and then stop the plant from forming any more fruit. Its a matter of choice.
Good luck what ever you decide.

[CarolineSonning]

Thanks GardenFan.
I have in fact done most of what you suggested. I guess that I am not watering enough - though I had thought I was .

[nick the grief]

Isn't blossom end rot a calcium or magnesum deficency? the yellow leaves are a bit of a give away as well. If it's magnesium deficency then epsoms salts will sort it, if it's calcium then I'm not sure what you can give it. I use a propriety feed so I don't suffer with this. One other thing to watch is if you are feed ing full strenght feeds reugularly this time of year you can get a bulild up of salts in the compost that can cause problems to the plant as it tries to transpire to keep cool. Thats why I give a lower rate feed more regularly.

One other thing to watch with eratic watering this time of year is the fruits will split as the cell walls "harden" & then can't cope with the sudden rush of liquids & cause them to rupture.