Last night as I was doing my usual rounds in the garden, I noticed that our Pear Tomatoes were looking a little…well…not normal. Their butts were all brown! Tool Lady quickly looked it up and we decided it was probably being caused by a calcium deficiency in the soil. Well, shit!
So we ran to the store and grabbed the only fertilizer on the shelf that was organic and had the highest calcium content (which rolls in at a meager 9%). We then came back home, fertilized and said a little prayer (or something like a prayer). The bright side is that, at least as of right now, there was only one branch of one tomato plant affected. I also pulled all of the affected tomatoes from the vine thinking that we’ll be better able to tell if our first aid actually worked. I am hoping beyond hope that this whole rotting thing will not spread to any of the other plants. There are so many of them and they’re doing so well!!! Remember, I started these guys from seeds (my very first attempt), so I am very invested in how they turn out! Uuuugggghhhh…fingers crossed!
Are the brown butt tomatoes edible if I cut off the bad part? Are they useable in a marinara sauce?
In my experience both the taste and texture are affected 🙁
Thank you for sharing your experience. You probably just saved me a ton of time!
Black bottom blossom rot–due to irregularities in moisture. Potential to high nitrogen, to low calcium. Increase organic matter and ensuring even moisture content corrects this
Thanks, Tonya! I’m hoping for better luck this year…along with more careful watering and some calcium in the form of ground up egg shells 🙂
Yeah…as we thought back to last year, I think we had it then as well…but the bed we had them in was super crappy and nothing grew well at all. We didn’t get more than 1 or 2 tomatoes, so I’m thinking that it was probably the calcium thing then, too. We’ll see. So far there has been no new rotted tomatoes so I’m hopeful!
Damn, I’ve had this problem, but for me I think it was inconsistent watering, which I’ve read can be a cause, too. I don’t see any so far this year, but the season is young.