The black rot may have affected more of the fruit than you realize.

BER can be trimmed off, then the remainder eaten -- all depends upon how serious the BER is; it can extend throughout the tomato or not.

So should I give up on the tomato and compost it?

But one of my Sausage tomatoes, which was fine last week, had some holes on the stem end. I thought bugs or worms at first, but when I cut that part off, what I saw was kind of a black rot. No bugs that I could see. I plopped the tomato into a plastic bag and then into the freezer, but can I use that tomato? Or should I just compost it?

I also noticed a spot of BER on another ripe Sausage, not very big, about the size of a pencil eraser. Same question, can I use it or should I toss it?

*****

Some clarification please?

You say there was rot at the stem end of your fruits. Was there concentric splitting or radial splitting that preceded that? I ask b'c whenever there is such splitting it usually scars over nicely but too wet conditions can cause the spliuts to reopen and then the normal bacteris and fungi in the area can invade and cause rot.

Or did you cut off the stem end and then find that the interior had black areas? If so that's internal BER and can happen even if there's no sign of BER at the normal blossom end.

Whatever, there's nothing wrong with your plant and I don't see any reason to compost it b'c BER is a problem for many varieties and so are splits at the stem end.

Or..... was the rot at the stem end solid black with no splits? If so, did the plant have any sign of spots on the leaves and if so please describe. I ask b'c Early Blight ( A. solani) can sometimes result in a black sold area at the stem end.

I don't eat fruits that have BER but many people do. So try them and see if the taste is OK for you as Jean suggested above.

Carolyn

I have black end rot on the far end of my roma tomato, away from the stem. Weather has been dry but I water them almost every day. No tomatoes are cracking yet as most are mulched with cedar chips. My boss said I need to add calcium but cannot find it in the stores.

What else can I use to add calcium to my soil besides drywall?

Should I try a farmer's store instead of a chain store?

Chuck, please go to the FAQ link at the top of this first page and read about BER.

You don't need to add Ca++ unless your soil has NO Ca++ which is very rare, or your soil is very acidic, which is also very rare.

I could say more but will let you read that FAQ first.

Carolyn

drywall? huh.

I came back from my trip to find that one of my Sausages had holes around the stem. I thought at first it was a bug or worm, but I cut it open and found black rot around the holes. There was no splitting or cracking, just the holes and the black rot inside.

Looks very different from BER, which some of my other Sausages have gotten. BER starts from a spot and spreads. This had holes.

I found a FAQ page that said to toss/compost the BER tomatoes, so that's what I did with the one with BER, but I'm still unsure what to do about what's left of this one with the holes and black rot. I froze it, but can I use it?

Thank you Carolyn, I read the tomato FAQ. I have been a bad boy and watered my maters every other day instead of every day. Temps are usually 85-88F, so I think my soil has enough calcium, but I have not been watering enough for the plant to get it.

Lilacs - If you have holes, I would get the knife out and find out where those holes go. You may --- MAY --- find a fruit worm. They tend to enter at the stem end where the eggs are laid, but I had one that entered at the bottom. A hole in fruit generally indicates a critter.