Tomatoes have some weird disease I guess...?

17 years ago

Guess we're going to have to give up on growing tomatoes on our balcony. Last year it was white flies, this year some weird disease...

I'm posting a photo so you can see what I'm talking about. Is there any hope for this plant?

ALL the tomatoes on this plant so far (3) have had this symptom. They look so beautiful from above and then below they have this....?

Any ideas, suggestions? Or should we just fold it up and go home? Oh wait, we ARE home. Well you know what I mean...

By the way we are using big 20" pots and we used all new organic soil and have been fertilizing with Schultz. This is in Los Angeles. The picture of the plant was from about the time when we picked this bad tomato, a week or two ago. Since then the plant looks worse, many leaves are dried up, but it doesn't really look "sick" to me, just dry. (even though I'm watering it a bit every day, more every coupla days)

Image link:

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Comments (8)

jimsocal
Original Author
17 years ago
Here's the photo of the plant. If you need I can post a current one that shows it in a more deteriorated state, though as I said, not too bad...

Here is a link that might be useful:
tomatoobsession
17 years ago
Looks like blossom end rot to me.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blossom end rot photos
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jean001
17 years ago
Yes, blossom end rot (BER).

See the Tomato FAQ for info
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/tomato/

Here is a link that might be useful: tomato FAQ
jimsocal
Original Author
17 years ago
Thank you so much for that diagnosis!
I read the FAQ given and it sounds like it could be caused by many things. I suspect that I may have over-watered and perhaps should not have used Shultz 10-15-10 every other day...? even though it said on the label it was okay...

I'm going to start another thread to ask if there are any particular things I can do now. Again, I read the faq and it recommended some things, which I will try to do, but I want to know if anyone has actually had success with one thing or another. Again, thanks for your help!
jean001
17 years ago
You said "it sounds like it could be caused by many things"

Yes. Anything that causes the roots to function less than normal.

Success follows maintaining evenly moist soil.
raisemybeds
17 years ago
I concur, you have blossom end rot. Curable.
rkd80
17 years ago
My neighbor has BER and my guess is that his soil has a calcium defficiency and too much nitrogen due to overzealous feeing.
jean001
17 years ago
The soil can have plenty of calcium and the correct amount of nitrogen and still have blossom end rot.

The reason: uneven water supply. Or a hot spell during which water is lost via transpiration faster than the roots can absorb it.