Am very angry with my tomato plants

[Finedon.Dandy]

We still havent had any tomatoes ripen but I have been really good and made sure they have been watered nightly, fed weekly even when I havent felt like it. Then last night Oliver found around 20 fruits with blossom end rot. We even have them in tubs to avoid this. I am so angry I could spit!

[di]

B****R!!All I can suggest is you can control how much you water but not how much nature decides to give them!?(or are they in the greenhouse?) I've been told that a sprinkling of lime on the soil can help? Do you still have lots of blossoms?If so all the best for some healthy toms to follow!!

[Finedon.Dandy]

They are in the greenhouse. The slugs seem to get them before we do if we grow them outside. Oliver has read that ash can help as it is a type of calcium deficiency that can cause it but when he said it was like liming I didnt realise that lime could do the same?

[di]

I'd just go steady how much you use & keep the kiddies away from where you sprinkle it~I've only ever taken Andi's word for it but he says it burns the skin?
Also maybe hold off on the liming in case a more knowledgable person comes along(can you tell I'm now paranoid I might kill your toms!!)

[Duronal]

i read the other day that too much nitrogen can also contribute to blossem end rot. Sorry that i can't help with a cure but maybe the info will be helpful.

[sharonr]

Some of my tomato`s haven`t rippened yet and they are outside. I`m hoping they will soon.
My 100`s band 1000`s plant is doing great though it has had lots of rippened toms on.

[Alice]

What a shame Finedon. What variety are you growing ? The bigger toms like Marmande are the most susceptible . The smaller ones don't get it. Could be a thought for next year. Hope your tomatoes to come will be OK.

[Finedon.Dandy]

What a shame Finedon. What variety are you growing ? The bigger toms like Marmande are the most susceptible . The smaller ones don't get it. Could be a thought for next year. Hope your tomatoes to come will be OK.

I cannot remember the variety but I always grow the little uns - HOWEVER the fruits on the plant are anything but little. The little toms last year were are huge disappointment too but co the skins were soooooooo tough - like old boots they were! Think I will grow a selection next year - suggestions anyone?

[janeyo]

I share your anger / pain!

The same thing has happened to my marmandes. They are in pots in the greenhouse and I have never let the compost dry out. Soooooo annoying.

The only time they were left from my watchful gaze is when we went away and I had my mum come and water, so maybe that explains it?! Obviously I want to take no blame whatsoever! lol

The same thing happened to me last year at first attempt at growing toms, in old house, outside. This year I thought I would be better! Hmmmmpf.

janeyo

[Finedon.Dandy]

It puts you off doesnt it. Mind you my courgettes have taught me not to be put off - I had only 2 survive out of 30 seedlings last year and then we got just ONE fruit off each plant! Planted two varietys this year (mind you only got 1 yellow once I had given some excess plants away as hubbie muddled the plants up (my fault really as I only label the first plant in a row of pots)) and we have masses of the things! Much prefer it that way as we can give away or if I really do get a glut our local butcher will buy some.

[jackie j]

MY tom plants have been terrible first lot wouldnt germinate so I sowed more at one point over 40 seeds still had trouble then lost them all, started again and have only just put them into bigger pots very slow growing, tried all sorts of varietys, other years no problems with them always done well. Not sure if we will get any toms this year.

[mcsee]

Last season I grew a couple of tomato plants for the Dwarf Project, a joint project between growers in the USA and those here in Australia. I volunteered to grow two dwarf plants in my hothouse, one showed BER really early on and I was afraid of losing the plants. What I did to stop the BER, was to mix one tablespoon of Dolomite Lime in a 9 litre watering can of water and use about 3 litres per plant, then increase my watering each day. It stopped the BER and I managed to complete the growing of both plants.
The lime in the water was probably not the total cure and was not enough to alter the soil pH, but I could see the extra water was helping too.

Be careful with the type of lime you use in the garden.

[SarzWix]

Grow them in bigger pots next year, and mix a little bit of water-retaining crystals in the bottom part of the compost. Some plants are more susceptible than others to B.E.R., but it nearly always come down to them being too dry at some point of the flowering/fruiting process - this may happen in the daytime before you can get there to water?

[mcsee]

The surface roots on a tomato plant are the feeder roots, while the deeper roots are the ones the water needs to get to.

This is how I deep water my tomatoes - it works well.

[TonyF]

Last year, we had virtually no tomatoes because it was so wet - blossom end rot and everything else that could go wrong, but thought hey ho, there's always next year.

This year, it's superb, after a very wet and long spring, everything is coming along fine and this is probably the best crop of toms I've ever had from the various 30 plants I have it - 8 types, very large to very small fruits.

Try tomato feed, less water and make sure the greenhouse is very well ventilated to make sure the humidity is diminished.

And good luck.