this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2023
63 points (100.0% liked)

Gardening

3703 readers
2 users here now

Your Ultimate Gardening Guide.

Rules

  1. Be respectful and inclusive.
  2. No harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
  3. Engage in constructive discussions.
  4. Share relevant content.
  5. Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
  6. Use appropriate language and tone.
  7. Report violations.
  8. Foster a continuous learning environment.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
scarabic
sabbah
ManamaKhan
Spacebar
Bitswap
63
What the hell is going on with my tomatoes? (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 years ago by Quaternions to c/gardening
15 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
all 21 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Spacebar 61 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Blossom end rot - usually from over watering.

BER is caused by a calcium deficiency, usually induced by fluctuations in a plant’s water supply. Because calcium is not a “mobile” element in plants, even brief changes in the water supply can cause BER.

Droughty soil or damage to the roots from excessive or improper cultivation (severe root pruning) can restrict water intake, thus preventing plants from getting the calcium they need. Plants also can develop calcium deficiency and BER if they are growing in highly acidic soil or are getting too much water from heavy rain, overirrigation, or high relative humidity.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 years ago (1 children)

This seems much more believable than 'tomacco' which is the first place my mind went.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago

Bart: Bleh! Tastes like cigarette butts!

Marge takes it away. Marge and Lisa look it over.

Bart: Gimmee! I want more!

Love me some Simpsons' references

[–] DrinkBoba 7 points 2 years ago

This is the correct answer

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

To add further, most people with blossom end rot are watering incorrectly, ie a little every day, when you should water a lot but less often (about every 3 days, depending on your climate). Mulching will also help you manage better, and testing the humidity of the soil before watering goes a long way.

Remember, tomatoes are plants from warm regions, they can handle a little drought but they do much worse if they're over watered. Watering deeply and less often also encourages them to develop deeper, stronger roots.

[–] grayman 3 points 2 years ago

Yep. Mine did that like 15 years ago. It was freaky.

[–] feedum_sneedson 6 points 2 years ago

blossom end rot

[–] mytornadoisresting 2 points 2 years ago

Eggshells take too long to dissolve, even when powdered, to fix this issue quickly. Grab some bonide rot stop or fertilome yield booster which are liquid formulas you can dilute and add to stop end rot. I had this issue with certain varieties of tomato when grown in pots, and I discovered that watering once a day was not enough, and the tomatoes depleted all the nutrition in the soil pretty quickly. I mulch and then water twice a day when it gets above 90f, and add yield booster every few weeks.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

OP, what is your watering schedule, and do you mulch? This will probably be the larger cause of your blossom end rot. Yes, you can try and save as many untouched tomatoes immediately by adding a tomato specific fertiliser or calcium, but your real issue is probably watering.