One of the garden’s greatest pleasures is witnessing tiny green tomatoes develop into giant ripe tomatoes. But it can be terrible when anything goes wrong and those luscious red fruits don’t bear fruit.
Though there are a number of various fungal infections that can impact tomato fruit development, blossom end rot may be the most distressing of them all.
Fortunately, if you can correctly identify this illness and understand how to prevent and cure it, you won’t have to deal with the pain it causes in the future.
What is Blossom End Rot?
Blossom-end rot happens when the growing season in your area begins with a lot of rainy days and then changes to dry circumstances when the fruit is setting. Damage may begin to emerge in your tomatoes when they are half the size of their mature size.
They appear as sizable water-soaked spots that soon enlarge and become dark brown and leathery. Fruit must be selected and thrown away since these regions are actually rotting.
The center of the blossom end rot is shown on the fruit by the location where the blossom originally stood. The issue usually arises on fruits that are in their first flush and those that haven’t quite grown to their maximum size.
Blossom rot can also affect other vegetables like bell peppers, eggplant, and squash.
Why Are My Tomatoes Blossom End Rot?
Too much soil moisture
Tomato growth is usually affected by inconsistency in soil moisture. Calcium can only be transported in the tomato plant when there is adequate moisture thus, even though the tomato will continue to grow in drought, it may develop calcium deficiency and consequently, blossom end rot.
Too much water in the soil also causes tomatoes to rot. Excess moisture can occur due to, heavy rains, the location of the tomato plants, or too much watering.
In addition, if the tomato plant is planted in an area without sunlight, the soil will have too much moisture also causing the tomato to rot. Soil with too much water interferes with the plant’s uptake of nutrients.
Rapid growth
In the case of forced growth techniques, the tomato plant develops faster than usual and this may cause rotting in the tomatoes’ vines. This is due to the fact that when the plant grows too fast, nutrients like calcium are depleted.
Without calcium, the vines cannot produce good fruit. Tomatoes need calcium during their active growth phases and the plant may not be able to take up enough calcium for its needs if it is growing way too fast.
They end up starting to root and the damage spreads and becomes a blossom end rot.
Aggressive weeding
In some instances, tomato fruits may begin to rot if you are too aggressive with the weeding. This is due to the tomato’s weak rooting system. Aggressive weeding causes the pulling of the roots making them loose or damaging the roots.
This makes the root struggle to pull nutrients like calcium from the soil and you will end up with blossom end rot on tour tomato fruits.
Lack of support
Tomatoes that have recently started vining lack a strong stem to provide the amount of support the plant needs. Some tomato varieties like the cherry tomatoes become so heavy even before they start fruiting.
They may fall and break their stems causing the fruits to start rotting. In the case that the breaking of the stem is bad, the top may be separated from the bottom and nutrients will not be able to go up.
The plant will eventually not produce any fruit at all. Keep in mind that it is the top part of the plant that actually produces fruit.
Poor soil quality
One of the most common causes of the rotting of tomatoes is poor soil quality. Tomatoes are plants that tend to be choosy when it comes to a balance of soil nutrients.
Fertilizing them with the wrong fertilizer will cause them to rot. So is the case in soil without a good balance of nutrients. Adding a lot of nitrogen fertilizer will make the tomato have a difficult time absorbing the calcium present in the soil.
This will result in calcium deficiency in the plant and the fruits will start rotting as soon as they develop. Typical garden soil may also have low amounts of calcium.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is the lack of a crucial nutrient that causes the blossom end rot; calcium. Any factor that will cause the plant to have difficulties absorbing the calcium or transporting it within the plant will cause the rotting of the fruits.
Calcium deficiency is therefore the variable to look out for if you want your tomatoes to grow big and juicy without any rotting or scarring. There are no ways to treat a tomato when blossom end rot happened, but you can prevent it from happening by following these recommendations: https://backyardgardenersnetwork.org/blossom-end-rot-in-tomatoes/.