Rotten tomatoes (pommes d'amour gone bad)

Rotten tomatoes (pommes d'amour gone bad)

Ahimé!

While most things in the garden have been thriving, I am most unhappy about the following: a very significant percentage of our tomatoes have some manner of rot at the blossom end (i.e., the opposite end to where the stem is attached). What is this blight and is there anything I can do to stop it before all is lost? Was there something I should have tried to do to prevent this catastrophe?

Antonius

OSU maintains a great resource for these types of things. Do the pictures here match your specimens?

Blossom End Rot

If so, it looks like it may be drought-stress related

Good luck,
Zee

Antonius,

It's blossom rot:

http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/toma ... 23571.html
[url]

It devastated my tomatoes last year, but this year seems to have been mitigated somewhat. It's only attacked my San Marzanos and a few particular heirloom varieties and only seems to attack the first few fruit that appear. I've been saving eggshells to crush and add to the soil for calcium, but I can't be sure that this is the reason. I'm also guessing that the weather this summer is simply much better for them than last year. Additionally I've been pruning the blighted fruit so the plant doesn't waste any energy on them.

Not that I'm complaining, but have you noticed a strange lack of aphids this summer?

Mike

Antonius,

I'm almost certain that your crop has been struck with a case of blossom end rot. I had a similar bout of it in my own garden three or four seasons ago. In researching it then, I learned that a number of factors can bring it on, but chief among them is excessive variations in moisture intake by the plants. I concluded that the cause of it in my case was probably overwatering. Without knowing when you detected the problem, I suspect that the long, soaking rain from earlier this week may have been a contributing factor in your case. There are all manner of helpful tips online for dealing with the problem once you know what to search for. I have attached just one of those below.


I now have reason to fret about my own plants. They are nearly as tall as I am, and setting up for huge amounts of fruit, but still stubbornly green. I may take some prophylactic measures based on your experience. Once it hits, it tends to be a problem for the remainder of the growing season. It can be managed, but for fruit already maturing on the vine, les jeux sont fait. Good luck, and fight the good fight.
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-28-d.html

Z, M, C:

Many thanks for your diagnostic insights. It looks, indeed, like this problem is blossom end rot. From what you all say and from what I gather on the internet, the extreme heat must have been a major factor. Though I thought I was being very good about keeping the plants well-watered, there must have been too much stress from drying out and then getting plentiful water -- on the hottest and sunniest days, the rate at which the soil in the pots was drying out was astounding.

It does look as though this is a fairly disastrous situation, with the majority of my crop being affected. The odd thing is, though (knock on wood), my eggplants, which theoretically should also be affected by this rot, seem to be doing very well. I still marvel at the fact that I had a couple of (albeit small) beautifully ripe and delicious tomatoes already several weeks ago but the biggest two of that early batch already had the rot (at the time, I had assumed it was some manner of insect attack, especially since by the time I noticed the problem, the rotten bottoms had already become sunken in).

It ain't easy bein' green...

Malheur! malheur! c'est malheureusement vrai!
mes pommes d'amours aimées sont toutes pourries!
donc je dois l'accepter: les jeux sont faits!
mon sort l'été de soucis, j'y suis soumis.

Antonius

De doux arbre douces pommes...

This may not sound especially appealing, but during the Great Blossom-End Rot Tomato Famine of 'Aught-One, I took to excising the rotted areas of the tomatoes and using the unaffected portions as I normally would. To my recollection, the taste wasn't affected to any significant degree.

In the interest of full disclosure, I also occasionally eat food that has fallen on the ground. Sometimes it's even my own.

A votre sante!

Antonius,

Being both an inground and back deck gardener, I can suggest a product that makes pot gardening easier, particularly for things like beans or tomatoes that need a decent amount of water. The hyacinth beans I have growing on a trellis to screen the back steps are BIG drinkers.

Anyway, the product is a polymer made from cornstarch (although there are others) which means it has no adverse environmental effect, it simply degrades over time. It absorbs up to 400% of its weight in water. A teaspoon in a pint jar of water will turn it into a substance that looks and feels like firm, chopped up, clear jello. It is essentially a time-release water (like time release fertilizer, which I also add to my deck pots).

I mix this generously in the potting soil before planting. It's important to either mix up all your potting soil or pre-soak the stuff or your pots are likely to overflow once it swells up. I tend to use a bit more than the directions call for.

It's not cheap, in the sense that you have to shell out about $20 for about a pint of it or $40 for a pound. But I bought a pound when we used to garden in Wisconsin, used it generously, and still have over a half pound left. We haven't had the place in Wisconsin for 5 years. I bought the pint-sized jar when we bought our current place 7 years ago, and I won't have quite enought for next year, but almost.

You can also buy it, ridiculously overpriced, in little envelopes.

The trick in using this stuff is to get it fully hydrated. In really hot and dry weather like we've had this summmer, my beans have on days soaked all the water out of it. But they've kept going. Then when I water, I water in the morning, really generously, and again that evening, most of which goes into rehydrating the jello.

It's been a lifesaver to me. If I were digital, I'd post pictures of my back deck, which is lush and green, and always gets compliments even though I use a simple plant palette.

The stuff is sold under cute names I can't remember, maybe terra-sorb or water-grabber? It's available from Gardener's Supply Company (do a google search for their website) and I believe they sell my preferred one, the cornstarch-derived variety.

This could help both with general watering and blossom end rot.

I sometimes wish I had enough sun for things like tomatoes (or hibiscus) on my back deck, but then when I sit in the shade and watch the goldfinches at the birdfeeder and the hanging birdbath I realized we made the right choice (we could have had the south-facing unit across the hall).

Good luck.

Ann

PS: Our inground tomatoes haven't seemed to suffer from blossom end rot this year, and I've turned over responsibility for that part of the garden to a complete novice who sometimes forgets to water. I think all the compost we've dug in over the years may have helped, or God smiles on beginning gardeners. That was certainly true in my case.

Sorry, no time to learn the edit function. If you mix the stuff with your potting soil dry, it's important to water it until it's completely hydrated before potting. I would let it rest for a while so the soil isn't soggy. I try to do it the other way, mix up a big bowl of clear jello and add as needed to the potting soil.

Ann:

Thank you very much for the tip and explanation; I'll have to try that next year (inshaallah).

Just to add insult to injury, when I went out this morning to check the garden and water the thirsty, I discovered that one of the best (large, nearing ripeness) tomatoes not affected by the rot had been grabbed by some little beast and half-eaten. It looks to be the work of one of the local "Squirrelchen", as Lucantonius sometimes calls them.

What next, a plague of those damn bugs they fry up at the Thai place who escaped from the delivery truck?

oei oei oei.

A

Mulches have multiple functions in gardening, but one of the most important is stabilizing soil moisture and temperature. Tomatoes have an added benefit because mulches also help control several leaf blights or diseases. One transmission method is splashing upward from the impact of drops of water hitting the soil or infected dead leaves on the soil.

With a smallish city garden I use a two-year crop rotation pattern. Each section is double-cropped. One tomato trellis is shared with snow and sugar snap peas, which interfere with early tomato growth. Other portions grow lettuce in multiple types and plantings, radishes and arugula. Once the early crops are cleared, I use chopped straw to mulch the tomatoes. I had a little blossom-end rot before mulching but none since. In the fall I chop the tomato vines and spade everything under. This plus compost help keep a good level of organic matter in the soil. Organic matter is important for several reasons including holding water and stabilizing soil moisture.

I took to mulching planter boxes with landscape fabric topped with wood chips several years ago to deter squirrels from digging in the planters. A side benefit was a noticeable reduction in water requirements. I do use some gel in the mix for lower half of planters, but the mulch has the larger impact on moisture holding. Note that I rotate planting mix so that the same mix is not used for plants in the nightshade family (peppers, tomatoes, eggplant) two years in a row. The mix is rejuvenated each year with a little spaghnum peat, fertilizer (quick and slow-release) and a lot of screened compost.

Blossom-end rot is a calcium metabolism problem, not a calcium supply problem in most cases. Soils in the Chicago area normally contain fairly high levels of calcium carbonate, which account for near neutral to slightly alkaline pH. Lake Michigan water and much well water in the area is at least borderline hard, so watering with tap water adds more calcium.

I have never had any blossom-end rot in eggplant but have had some in peppers, usually bell type. Squirrels are a different matter. Some develop a taste for tomatoes and/or eggplant although usually they eat only small portions. Sometimes it seems as though a squirrel tries one, doesn't like it and so tries the next fruit. Judging from tooth marks and spotting one running around, I believe that I have an opossum attacking tomatoes. He or she seems to prefer Big Beef. Squirrels don't like capsaicin. When Tony's had La. Hot Sauce on sale at $1.99 a quart recently, I was tempted to buy some and spray the tomatoes and eggplant with slightly diluted hot sauce. The other half of the household objected strongly, though.

I routinely sprinkle large amounts of cayenne (god bless Patel Bros.) on my planters early in the season to deter squirrels (rats with bushy tails).

We have been plagued with both opossum and squirrels at the tomatoes. I particularly dislike when they just knaw on a green tomato without picking it. It will keep growing, start to turn red, and then the rot sets in.

Of course I also particularly dislike when they just pick randomly and take one bite and move on to the next. It's as if they like picking them more than eating them.

ekreider & annieb:

Thanks for more useful information and advice. I can see growing tomatoes with a high rate of success is going to require more planning and work than I had expected.

Two updates:

1) the blossom end rot has affected my plum tomatoes almost universally. Other varieties I've planted are to varying degrees less affected.

2) To cite an appropriate Arab proverbial saying: "Who can affirm that the mule entered the jug?" You will likely not believe this and judge me ready for a one-way ticket to Fantasy Island ("eet's dee plane, boss!") but there lives in our neighbourhood a super-squirrel. This squirrel has two (at least) amazing gifts:
a) it seems not to be bothered very much by capsaicin. He regularly raids our plants and has been completely undeterred by now massive amounts of cayenne pepper coating each and every non-rotted tomato we have.
b) it seems to wait until we go out with the car to strike, apparently knowing that it will then have time to enjoy the tomatoes at leisure.

Since this is an old Italian neighbourhood, perhaps through many generations of natural selection, squirrels have been favoured who are best able to exploit the local human populations' tomato crops. The main culprit in question here, seen at work yesterday when we arrived home with the car, is a particularly large, stout even, chap with an extraordinarily big and bushy tail...

... Might make for a nice fall hat to wear after eating some Brunswick stew... I should consult with David Hammond on these matters...

Antonius

Typos fixed -- not enough coffee.

We recently had a band of renegade cats move in under the neighbor's deck. The side benefit of this is that there is no longer any wildlife (squirrels, rabbits, birds, etc.) tormenting my garden. Perhaps an outdoor-living cat is in order as a garden sentry.

Antonius:

Nope, don't think you're crazy at all. When Himself and I lived for a summer in his family's cabin in the foothills outside Denver, we labored mightily for several weekends to till a small (maybe 3 X 10 ft) patch at the top of the stairs, on top of the retaining wall, and along the path to the cabin door before it was warm enough to move into the cabin (about May 1, but still damn chilly at night and especially for the morning shower before work).

We then had a quite wonderful beast that came into my life along with Himself, a dog part border collie and 1/4 coyote. Very smart animal, but coyotes are not like dogs in some key ways.

One is that their senses are reversed, sight is their strongest sense and smell their weakest, hearing in between. The dog stayed on the screen porch overlooking the garden when we were at our jobs during the day.

Long story short, we spent 3 weekends turning the soil and picking out every stone at an arbitrary limit I set, the size of an egg or larger. And some rocks. Each weekend we picked out every stone that size, and the following weekend there were just as many. Finally the physics of it all was explained to me, and I decided we could live with a rock mulch.

Didn't plant much, basil, parsley, beets, some lettuces. There was a HUGE rabbit that lived in a hole it had dug under the eaves of the neighbor's "garage" which was basically a hole dug into the side of the hill with a roof on it.

Every evening when we came home, we would drive past the cabin up to the turnaround at the top of the hill and come back so we could pull in to the "driveway" next to the retaining wall. The rabbit would sit there, eating lettuce, and watch us go by. When we had turned around and come back, pulled in, and got out of the car, and sometimes were halfway up the stairs, the rabbit would casually move off into the tall grass across the path from the garden.

The dog, meanwhile, would be jumping up and down in a frenzy as soon as it heard the car, and when we would unlock the door and let the dog out, would still be frenzied for a few minutes. We at first would try in vain to direct the dog to the rabbit, to no avail. The rabbit would wait patiently, maybe 12 feet away in the grass. Dog could not see it, could not smell it.

Dog in frenzy, rabbit starts to move. When it nears the end of the tall grass, bolts for its hole. Dog would see it and take off, FAST. (Coyotes are sprinters and clock in faster than the fastest dogs, it's part of their hunting pattern).

Never did get any lettuce out of that garden. Sweet beets, great basil. Dog came home twice after all-nighters (or longer) where it had obviously caught a porcupine. Dog definitely had a hunter instinct.

But that's another story. This one already turned out not to be so short.

I have had squirrels that don't react to capsaicin. It works best for me early in the season, they seem to develop an immunity later.

This year we hung up a bird feeder mid-season, which frustrated at least one squirrel into digging in all my planters and destroying my second crop started in seed pots. No problem until then. At risk of having them read this post and start digging just to prove me wrong, they seem to have stopped now, after we made some bird feeder adjustments, or they just got bored.

After trying quite a few varieties of plum tomatoes over the years, I have settled on Viva Italia. It seems to have the least problems with fruit drop and is very productive. IIRC San Marzano was also more prone to blossom-end rot than other varieties while Viva Italia has had the least problem.

Squirrels rarely live through more than one winter, and most of the population was born in the current year. Therefore, behavior can be quite different from year to year depending on what their little rodent brains have learned. They seem to be particularly pesky on my tomatoes this year but haven't really touched any eggplant. I am seriously thinking about placing loose cages of bird netting around the tomatoes. Squirrels have trouble climbing this stuff when it is not pulled tight because their claws tend to get tangled.

Edited once to correct typo

Illinois squirrel season began Aug 1. Trapping doesn't seem to be permitted, and no firearms where most of us live. Slingshot?

ekreider wrote:Illinois squirrel season began Aug 1. Trapping doesn't seem to be permitted, and no firearms where most of us live. Slingshot?

Believe it or not, but slingshots are illegal in Chicago too.

About.com wrote: Never underestimate the power of the slingshot. In Chicago, it is a criminal offense for anyone except a police officer to use one.

http://chicago.about.com/library/blank/bllawsdanger.htm

I'm not sure about a bow and arrow, though.

Heck, you could probably just get them to eat some nuts out of your hand and grab them. I'd probably wear some strong gloves.

I haven't had squirrel in years.

Best,
Michael

ekreider wrote:Illinois squirrel season began Aug 1.

Señor Ardilla best watch out.

eatchicago wrote:
Believe it or not, but slingshots are illegal in Chicago too.

How 'bout flame-throwers?

(Just kidding.)

A

When squirrel traps are outlawed, only outlaws will trap squirrels. . .

That looks like some mighty fine eatin' there.

Forse un bel piatto di fettucine al sugo di scoiattolo, pomodoro e salvia...

A

This year I have 13 tomato plants (1 Wild Cherry, 1 Early Girl, 1 Old German, 3 Black Krim, 3 Purple Cherokee, 4 Brandywine). Thus far, I have had success repelling squirrels and other creatures with a castor oil solution (4oz per 2 gallons of water). I also recently sprinkled the edges of my beds with blood meal, as a very experienced gardener told me this also works well as an animal repellent. In the past, I have not had much luck with cayenne pepper.

For next season, I may connect my stakes with horizontal sheets of chicken wire, the first about 10in to 1ft off the ground, and the second about 2ft off the ground--the tomato plants will then grow through the holes in the wire. This plan serves two purposes. First, it is the best method for supporting tomatoes, a major concern if you are growing larger varieties like Brandywine and Cherokee Purple. Second, the lower level of chicken wire also discourages pests, both by keeping the lowest-hanging tomatoes somewhat out of reach and by bothering the critters' claws--squirrels, especially don't like walking on chicken wire. I have seen this system at work, and it is extremely effective at repelling tomato-loving animals.

Re: blood meal

I tried blood meal on the ur rabbit referred to in an earlier post. Like cayenne, it worked initially and then, despite repeated application, seemed completely ineffective.

Chicken wire is a great suggestion. I haven't used it per se, when I am religious about staking the tomatoes and pinching off all suckers early in the season to get a good leader vine, I have much less problems with critters.

Re: the Hav-a-Hart trap. We have one, people in the building insist on it. We have used it for oppossum when they've taken up residence under the back porches. The general rule for relocation is "two major streets and a river (or highway) away."

I have read that squirrels are very territorial, and removing them just creates a squirrel vacuum. This was accompanied by the suggestion to feed your squirrels so they wouldn't be so eager to get at your bird feeders, tomatoes, etc. While I've never tried this for more than a week or so, it seems like hooey to me. Squirrels like making mischief.

And yes, squirrels are good eating. Ate a fair number in my youth, hunted by uncles or by family friends and donated. (dad is NOT a hunter, and when one of my younger brothers at about age 12 bagged his first duck with my uncles and then realized he was expected to clean it, expressed a bit of trepidation, and was immediately asked if his momma still wiped his butt ) They are especially suited to a stew like a burgoo, as the bodies are fairly meaty and bone structure pretty simple.

Like rabbits, you've got to be careful about how you skin and clean them. Rombauers in the older versions of their book give good instructions and risk assessment.

Glad to see that I am not alone. My tomato crop has become the neighborhood food pantry for the nasty longtailed rats. Same story as everyone else, they pick the ones that are just close to ripe, eat half and leave them on the ground or up on the fence post adjacent to my patch. I even had one of the s.o.b.s climb into my front window sill and leave 2 half eaten green ones. I tell my wife it's like they're taunting me but she just looks at me like I've finally teetered over the edge.

Tried ground cayenne - 5 pound bags at Chicago Food Corp. for $7 - which worked for a while then lost its efficacy and have finally resorted to putting stakes and chicken wire around the patch. Unfortunately, they are still able to jump/climb in from the adjacent wood fence. Just ordered a live trap with the hopes of at least putting a dent in the population. My wife just sighs and grumbles about how many pounds of tomatos we could have bought at the Evanston Farmer's Market for what I've spent on Operation Deter De Squirrels.

Hi,

Is the squirrel problem extraordinary this year?

If yes, may I suggest they are really seeking the water content of the tomatoes because they may be thirsty?

I know my bird bath keeps drying up at record speed, so maybe gutters and other places where they may seek water is gone.

Regards,

Maybe drought just makes squirrels extra mischevious.

Or maybe they are thirsty, if they're eating half a tomato. They never take more than a nibble out of mine.

Then again, maybe they have more refined taste in tomatoes than I do and think we produce an inferior product. Or we grow inferior tomatoes to the poster above.

Annieb!

Do you think they have a forum like ours to evaluate which place to hit next?

Regards,

This recipe may come in handy to all you would-be squirrel hunters:

Kentucky Fried Skwerl by Anna

First go skwerl huntin and kill you a couple of em. Skin em, gut em, Keep only the front and back legs and the back. Soak em overnight in saltwater. Go to Kmart. Get the Kentucky Kernel brand seasoned flour. Get a skillet of oil hot. Dip yer skwerls in the flour and throw em in the oil. Cook about 5 min, turn em over, cover, cook about 15 min, turn em over, cover, cook another 15. This is yummy, better than chikin!

For this, and more tasty squirrel recipes, visit the vaguely disturbing website http://www.scarysquirrel.org/recipes/

My squirrel problem is no worse than last year's, when I trapped a total of 32--one most every night--and last summer was a wet one. Daily relocation to a forest preserve 7 miles away, did nothing to stem the insurgency, though it reduced the number of tomatoes I lost every night. This year I'm up to 11, which gives me an idea for an end of summer LTH event. I'm sure the flavor of say, scrawny, mid June, Prairie Fire-fed squirrels is considerable from that of fleshy, late August, San Marzano-fed squirrels. Who's up for a tasting?

When life gives you squirrels, make jerky.

Pummarola Black isn't just a catchy song, it's the story of my garden, too: my San Marzanos have the gripp, the screws, quinsy, dropsy, mormal, and maybe even phlegmasia alba dolens. And, I'm suffering from nervous prostration and acute (and possibly terminal) melancholia as a result. Interestingly, though, no problems with the Big Boys yet: they look healthy, damned hybrids.

That squirrel trap is beginning to look pretty enticing. I think I'll set one right next to the WSM and have the little guy ready to go in the pit by morning.