Hi edie - I suppose that if you only have a few plants and most of the fruit have BER it might make sense but I have plenty of plants with good fruit on them. So I prefer to just pitch the rotted ones into the compost pile. That way they aren't totally wasted. ;)

The BER allows a point of entry to the fruit for bacteria and I have more than enough good ones to use. If I did save them I think I'd sure cook them well before eating but it's ultimately up to you.

Enjoy your tomatoes.

Dave

edie, sorry you have such a problem with BER. I noticed you mentioned chickens eat tomatoes I don't know much about chickens and didn't know they like that kind of food. I'd like to get chickens someday and have them out in the yard but I think maybe the coyotes might pick them off like they did my 2 cats (or maybe it was fox or hawks).

Anyways, maybe your BER will disappear all on its own sometimes it does. Best of luck. :)

Some of my tomatoes with BER actually go on to ripen OK, in which case I just cut off the affected bottom end and use the rest as I would any tomato. I don;t see any effect in the flavor.

Thanks! Maybe I'd better just boil and puree them for spaghetti sauce, then. We will have lots and lot of tomatoes shortly.

Sunsi -- yes, chickens will eat just about any fruit or vegetable. We have a henhouse for them with a wire fencing completely enclosed run (including the top) that is about 30' long and 15' wide to keep the hawks (and the neighbor's dogs that run loose GRRRR) from getting to them. They are so fun to have that the eggs we get are almost a side bonus!