Tomatoes have black bottom

11 years ago

Our cherry tomatoes (grown in containers) have suddenly developed black bottoms. We thought it was blossom end rot but it seems a bit different. We have been adding more calcium but still have tomatoes with this. Any ideas of what this is?

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PupillaCharites

11 years ago

last modified: 11 years ago

I'm going with BER unless someone else comes up with a better idea. Adding calcium to help BER is anecdotal at best. Real calcium absence is typically not going to happen unless there is a gross error somewhere ... but you didn't mention the fertilization scheme so who knows except you about that. So perhaps you are thinking the picture is something obvious someone might recognize ...

I think you really want to know and to correct the underlying cause, whether it be intermittent/lack of uniform watering or something else that can result in this condition. Technically you certainly do have blossom end rot anyway, since we are looking at rot at the blossom end of the tomato (right? It looks that way anyway in the pic and you seem to indicate that is the location), and BER is nothing more than that.

You mentioned it was a container where uneven watering is easy to do, so the better pic would be of the container and a detailed narrative of the watering scheme as best as you can remember so we can all agree if it makes sense. I know some will doubt it because it is a cherry tomato and they are usually impervious like tanks to this sort of disorder which does not start as a disease but rather as a response to the wrong growing conditions.

But I convinced myself enough to post by looking at the pattern and forgetting about what I expected BER to look like, and then observed it is symmetrical in a sort of figure eight which tells me it is unlikely to be the attack of a pathogen and more likely a developmental issue and that leaves little else than BER. The fact that it not deep rot, well that is easy to speculate on too ... it's a cherry and built like a tank :-) So the cherry I'd think would hold up better, and we may be just looking at a typical cherry BER after all, which I have never noticed before, though I do occasionally get transient problems in my containers. I just pluck them off since they are rare. But yours sounds systemic, so that's another clue since it would be a strange pathogen that settles widely on all the blossom ends (if, in fact, the problem is general for many of the tomatoes) OK: end of the hypothesis until someone else shoots it down, or verifies the theory, hopefully with more data on the plant's watering history.

Cheers

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Comments (15)

Jennifer Gingras
Original Author
11 years ago
We have the tomatoes in a sips container so it has a water reservoir in the bottom that is maintained. It's the same pattern on all the tomatoes and doesn't match the blossom end rot we had last year. The leaves also aren't showing any damage. Very frustrating not knowing how to fix it!
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Jennifer Gingras
Original Author
11 years ago
Also we are using jobes organic heirloom fertilizer if that helps in it's diagnosis.
Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
11 years ago
Another possibility is Grey Mold.

Are the leaves and stems healthy ? No mold ? Then it might be something else.

Sey
Jennifer Gingras thanked Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
Jennifer Gingras
Original Author
11 years ago
Leaves and stems are very healthy.. No mold at all.
Vince (8) Kemper
11 years ago
Tossed my first tomato with BER in the shrubs yesterday. Because of the heat we had for two weeks I also disposed of 5 with sun scald. They were really nice sized Big Beefs so I was not happy. Never thought I would have to worry about sun burned tomatoes. Damn.
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digdirt2
11 years ago
Possible BER but it looks more like Buckeye Rot to me.

Dave
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Vince (8) Kemper
11 years ago
BTW Jennifer, I believe your tomato has BER. Looks like the one I threw out.
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goodground
11 years ago
It looks like someone entered. Anything inside?
Jennifer Gingras thanked goodground
Jennifer Gingras
Original Author
11 years ago
Buckeye rot might be it. I looked up some pics and it matches. It's on fruit all over plant though (not just closest to soil). The reason I don't think it's BER is because it's not a fully developed fruit and it's not sunken in. It's pretty firm.
Jennifer Gingras
Original Author
11 years ago
Nothing inside as shown in pic.
Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
11 years ago
Probably BER in early stage, me thinks.

Sey
Jennifer Gingras thanked Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
Jennifer Gingras
Original Author
11 years ago
What else can be done to prevent BER?
PupillaCharites
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I'm still on the BER bandwagon, but digdirt's opinion doesn't leave me with the slam dunk feeling; I see his point too well, but still can't get over the symmetry of the bilateral shapes which when cut horizontally seem to be reflections of each other, and that so many tomatoes are affected which seemed sudden if I am reading your post right.

Could you possibly give us an in-focus picture of more than one tomatoes with the problem, so we can have a statistic of more than one? goodground asked if that was a pest entry hole and also has me wondering, as I originally thought it was a blossom remnant, but with the focus quality it is hard to look for the buckeye target pattern or know what that point is.

To prevent BER in an SWC, beyond being good about watering, you would also keep runaway growth in check. When the plant grows quickly as can happen when it is especially warm, there is a higher calcium demand. Adding more calcium probably doesn't help as long as the requirement were met, since it is more a problem of transport the plant has internally in heat, especially I get it in extreme humid heat here. Other than shielding it from that sort of environment if at all possible, you'd really need to analyze the soil for nutrient content and pH. Making a suggestion at this stage without knowing that might just get you in more trouble.

Cheers

PC
Jennifer Gingras thanked PupillaCharites
Jennifer Gingras
Original Author
11 years ago
I will post a better pic in the morning. The plants did grow rapidly (the cherry tomatoes are over 6 ft tall) and we haven't pruned them. It has been warm and in the 80s here in New England.