Tomato Blossom End Rot
I’ve received several questions from gardeners expressing concern over their home grown tomatoes that develop sunken brown spots or black rot on their bottoms which totally ruins the fruit.
The probable cause is a disease called Blossom End Rot which affects tomatoes, peppers, squash, and watermelons.
Cause and Symptoms of Blossom End Rot on Tomatoes
While there’s no way to save the individual tomatoes or other fruits that show signs of blossom end rot, overall it’s not a major concern for the organic gardener and the disease doesn’t spread or actually affect the plant itself. You’ll see more blossom end rot occurring on tomatoes early in the season with it appearing less frequently as the summer goes on.
Blossom End Rot is caused by a calcium deficiency and there are organic products on the market that can be applied to vegetable plants to help reduce the incidence of rot striking tomatoes and other susceptible fruits. Because the problem is usually temporary and will resolve itself I don’t recommend treating the plants with any type of spray to combat blossom end rot.
Often the problem has more to do with the moisture levels in the garden to regulate the delivery of nutrients than the amount of calcium available in the soil, and tomato rot will be more noticeable after periods of uneven precipitation such as when drought conditions are followed by periods of heavy rain.
Organic Control and Prevention of Blossom End Rot
So a better way to combat blossom end rot is to ensure that your growing beds contain plenty of organic matter to help maintain even moisture levels and by watering your tomatoes as needed during periods of low precipitation.
Some gardeners claim that planting tomatoes out in the garden before the soil has thoroughly warmed up can promote the occurrence of blossom end rot. Don’t plant those heirloom tomatoes, peppers, squash, eggplants, and watermelons out into the garden until the soil has had a chance to fully warm up.
Other precautions include avoiding cultivating too closely to the plants which may encourage blossom end rot by destroying the tiny feeder roots that grow close to the soil surface and supply moisture and nutrients to the plants.
Mulching the soil after temperatures rise will help to conserve the amount of moisture that is retained in the soil and prevent or lessen the amount of blossom end rot on your tomatoes and other vegetables.
For gardeners seeking a natural spray to control blossom end rot on tomatoes, peppers, and melons, “Garden’s Alive” sells a product called Rot-StopT Spray that can be applied to your plants once a week to supplement calcium reserves and prevent rotting.
So don’t panic or be overly concerned if you see your tomatoes suffering with signs of blossom end rot early in the season. Simply remove the affected fruits that display the sunken rotten bottoms, irrigate to maintain even moisture, and be patient… that’s usually the most effective organic control to handle this common problem in the vegetable garden.
Other Related Vegetable Gardening Posts:
June 21st, 2006 at 7:17 am
Hi
I wonder if you can help me. I am looking for a good quality organic feed for my tomatoes and can’t seem to find one anywhere.
Do you have any recommendations?
Best Wishes
Shirl
June 21st, 2006 at 10:45 pm
Garden’s Alive carries an “all-natural” fertilizer called Tomato’s Alive that’s designed especially for plants such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. They identify it as all-natural rather than organic so you may want to verify the list of ingredients contained in this tomato fertilizer.
June 22nd, 2006 at 12:59 pm
Thanks so much for posting the item about Blossom-End Rot. Before I got wise, I had this problem on my tomatoes and peppers, as well. I didn’t realize that the pH of the soil had a lot to do with it. Calcium deficiency—makes you wonder what rots inside of us when we have calcium deficiency!
My name is Tim, and my wife’s name is Sara. We have a small garden on one of the islands off the coast of British Columbia, Canada. Sara is responsible for the flowers, while I handle the vegetables. We used to have all sorts of problems with our plants, until we discovered a wonderful company with a whole array of nutrient products, both organic and synthetic, each scientifically designed to ensure beautiful blooms and a robust vegetable harvest.
For the condition you mention, the best remedy is SensiCal Grow and Bloom, made by Advanced Nutrients. Not only does this product contain 6.88% Calcium and 1.2% Magnesium, but it also has minute amounts of a whole sleuth of micronutrients necessary for optimum plant growth.
Whereas other similar products on the market contain only Iron (Fe), in addition to the Ca and Mg, SensiCal guarantees the smooth uptake of all the required minerals, by adding Manganese, Zinc, Copper, Boron, Molybdenum, and Cobalt.
In the final analysis, even 100% organic nutrients are made up of chemical molecules. But if your preference is in that direction, I would recommend Mother Earth Blended Organic Super Tea, both Grow and Bloom. It is a complete organic fertilizer by itself, containing shrimp meal, fish meal, sea kelp, crab meal, canola meal, earthworm castings, and alfalfa extract. It is rich in mineral content.
I alternate between the above organic nutrient, and Iguana Juice, Grow and Bloom, for my vegetables. But one year I did use SensiCal in order to get rid of the calcium deficiency problem. I must confess our veggies tasted just as good that year, as when we’re using purely organics.
A greater problem on my tomatoes for the first few years of gardening were whiteflies. Then we started using Bug Away, a natural all organic product that comes with a guarantee. It worked really well for us. This year, some of Sara’s flowers got attacked by spider mites. Bug Away got rid of them really fast, without hurting the plants.
Sara replanted three rose bushes from containers into the ground earlier this year. We usually inoculate all our plants with Scorpion Juice against most pathogens, but somehow we missed spraying the roses. Black spot reared its ugly head after the transplanting and the roses looked sickly, even though they had many blooms. I sprayed early one morning, and in a few days the vitality returned to these beautiful flowers. Amazing results!
Please visit our blog and see some wonderful pictures of our flowers and vegetables, as well as our cat Pinta and our dog Max. We have two children, June and Jim, ten and eight respectively. I enjoyed visiting your blog and wish you all the best with your garden.
What do you do in the scorching heat of summer? Are there any watering restrictions where you live? We live on an island and there is always a water shortage. I guess we’ll have to invest in a truckload of mulch to make sure our soil keeps its moisture. Good advice!
February 4th, 2007 at 8:02 am
all this information on bloosm end rot is great but i’m considering use a mixture of epsom salts and gypsum and compost for each transplant. i read about it some where. any thought or idea
February 4th, 2007 at 10:56 pm
Jeff, I don’t have any experience with using epsom salts and gypsum to treat tomato blossom end rot. Maybe someone else that is familiar with that technique will comment.
June 12th, 2007 at 11:46 pm
Kenny HELP!!! My tomato garden has beautiful big fruit in it… I have just discovered (thanks to u!!) that we have end rot… but what also concerns me is that the tomatoes that look healthy are not turning red… I have some tomatoes that are bigger than my husbands fist and they have been green for weeks… Five days ago we picked some of the larger ones & left them on the picnic table, still as green as they were when we picked them… Can u please help me?? we r thinking about repotting them (as they are already in large pots) but i am worried about “shocking” them since some of then are over 5ft.. I hope to hear from u soon… Jacqueline in Mississippi
June 13th, 2007 at 6:54 am
Hi Jacqueline, I would not try to repot the tomato plants, at that size there is too much that could go wrong. Also, water the tomato plants evenly and let the fruits remain on the vines until they are ripe. If harvested too early the tomatoes will never turn red. They should begin ripening a lot faster as we get further into the summer.
June 20th, 2007 at 1:29 am
This is not a tomato question. Rather a squash question. As a new vegetable gardener I was delighted to see my zucchini plants get these huge beautful leaves and blossoms. But now I have rotting zucchini on the ends. Is that too a calcium deficiency? As I say the plants are spectaucular but……
June 21st, 2007 at 3:29 pm
Daisy, sounds like brown rot to me. Remove the affected fruits, water the plants evenly, watch out for squash bugs, and the plants should do fine and produce plenty of good zucchini as the season progresses.
June 21st, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Thanks for the info on blossom end rot in tomatoes. I will try your suggestions. I have a slow release fertilizer in the soil, but we have had some dry weather lately, and we have not been able to keep the garden watered evenly. (Our garden is at a weekend property.) I am going to add some mulch and see about setting up soaker hoses so that we can give them a deep watering each weekend.
June 22nd, 2007 at 8:40 pm
Hi, I am having a problem with the flowers falling off. The plants are very healthy and some tomatoes are forming but now the flowers just fall off the plants. What am I doing wrong?
June 22nd, 2007 at 9:15 pm
Hi Sandra, take a look at the post about Fruit Set and Flowers Dropping for some ideas that may help with your tomatoes that are losing their flowers.
July 5th, 2007 at 10:11 am
I combat blossom end rot by using side-dressings of crushed eggshells (long-term fix) and bone meal (short-term fix).
July 10th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
[...] Veggie Garden Tips [...]
July 16th, 2007 at 10:22 am
I have tomatoes in large pots and I have blossoem end rot. Our weather has been in the 90’s and near 100 for the past few weeks and I water the plants every morning and soak them real good….is that too much water? how do I know how much water they need as by the end of the day, the soil is dry. Help!
July 16th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Damon, that doesn’t sound like too much water for tomato plants that are growing in containers. With the weather as hot as it is you could even water them a couple of times per day as long as the containers have good drainage to allow any excess water to drain off.
July 17th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
I live in an apartment, so I have grow my veggies in containers. I grew veggies every year for five years except for last year due to frustration and disapointment. In the years befor last year I had to water 3 times a day, to try and combat blossom end rot and try to keep even moisture in my planters. Even with that I still lost at least a third of my crop. I almost didn’t plant this year because it was too time consuming and too frustrating for me, but my husband said “if u don’t plant this year, then I’m gointo”, because he didn’t want to go another year without fresh veggies. Being that he’s never had anything to do with my garden in the past (with the exception of enjoying the harvest) I wasn’t about to leave it to him.
Before planting anything I did a little research and found this page, “what a life saver” this site has been.
Thanks to Kenny’s advice about adding plenty of organic matter to my planters,I have forty tomato plants, all in containers and planters and not one fruit with blossom end rot and even here in the high desert of Reno, NV I’m only watering once a day in 100 degree weather, rather than three times a day like I had to in previous years.
Thanks Kenny for the awesome advice!
Kahea – Reno, NV
July 17th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
Hi Kahealani, you are very welcome, thanks for visiting this site and for sharing your experiences with blossom end rot and growing tomatoes in containers. I’m glad that I could be of assistance!
August 14th, 2007 at 10:07 am
My tomatoes, growing in pots, are cracking at the top of the fruit where the stem connects to the fruit….what is causing this and how can I prevent it? Thanks for all your help.
August 14th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
The cracking is usually due to uneven watering or dry conditions followed by periods of heavy precipitation. Try watering the tomatoes on a regular basis without allowing the soil to completely dry out and see if that helps relieve the cracking on your tomato fruits.
April 9th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Is bone meal good for ca+?
June 11th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
[...] to fruit, you have to add a high phosphorus fertilizer. Tomatoes also vitally need calcium to avoid blossom end rot, which of course you find calcium in bones… So we added that, got the tomatoes in the ground, [...]
July 16th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Is grass clippings a good mulch for your garden?
July 16th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Hi Mark, grass clippings are okay to use as a mulch but I don’t care much for them as a garden mulch because they tend to become too matted and can also generate a lot of heat if applied when they are freshly cut. I prefer to compost the grass clippings and then use the finished compost as mulch.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:21 pm
how about squirrel problems i have chicken wire buried a foot in the ground .around the garden i have a picket fence which is butted up to my shed help me there eating my tamatos ?
July 24th, 2008 at 4:37 am
For your squirrel problem…try moth balls scattered around the garden…you dont want to ingest the chemicals, but you can use them sparingly around the garden and the smell is offensive to all the animals…squirrels in particular.
July 25th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Help, I have a raised bed garden, my tomatoes are doing great however once the tomatoes start to ripen some animal is snatching it… the next day it is gone! The garden is gated… not sure what is eating them. Rose
July 27th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Kenny,
Thanks for publishing the article on end rot…it was very informative.
We are located in Evanston, Il and have a couple of heirlooms in Earthboxes on our condo patio. They have grown beyond our expectations, but the earliest fruit has end rot. We did have a very wet, cool spring…all the way through the end of June. The good news is that the emerging fruit seems to be fine!
A couple of questions for you – Is there an easy way to measure the calcium level of the soil? Is there a recommended calcium level?
Thanks again for the enlightening article.
Tom and Betty
July 29th, 2008 at 10:05 am
[...] noticeable after periods of uneven … Tags: Blossom-End-Rot, Organic-Gardening-Tips, Tomato-Rot …http://www.veggiegardeningtips.com/tomato-blossom-end-rot/Farmers seek help recovering from false tomato scare WINK TV Southwest FloridaFlorida tomato growers [...]
July 29th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
ok moth ball are not working squirrels are mocking me and throwing my tamatos at me . what do you have for me to help.
August 1st, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Hi Tom, I wouldn’t worry too much about those early fruits that show signs of blossom end rot. The easiest way to measure the calcium levels would be to have a soil test performed. Many of the labs will offer suggestions to correct any deficiencies and provide a range for normal levels of all the nutrients that are tested. Good luck with your heirloom tomatoes.
August 16th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
If we cut off the end of the tomato that is affected, is the rest of the fruit edible.
August 17th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Steve, I don’t know how edible blossom end rotted tomatoes are, but I just don’t bother with them. Blossom rot often affects the ripening of the fruits and there usually isn’t much in the way of usable tomato flesh on the diseased fruits anyway.
February 16th, 2009 at 2:04 am
Hi Steve, My tomatoes appear to have blossom end rot, they have all the same symptoms and the pictures I can find all match. However, my soil is very high in calcium as it has had large quantities of lime over the past 5 years. Also, the PH is 7.5 rather than 6.5. I’ve read that blossom end rot is caused by too little calcium, but could too much calcium also cause this problem? Thanks
June 23rd, 2009 at 11:24 am
Help, my tomato plant in a topsy turvey is losing it’s yellow blossoms. what can I do
July 1st, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Yes thank you about posting regarding blossom rot. I do have this problem with a twist: I am growing tomatoes in the topsy turvey tomato growers and I am getting the ends of the tomatoes rotting. I’m trying this growing method for the first time & am undecided if I will do it again next year. I have lots of tomatoes (green with rot) on one plant (my early girl tomatoes). The directions for the topsy turvey is to plant two plants in one container and then add the soil. We used Miracle Grow organic soil and I “feed” the tomatoes once a week with miracle grow tomato plant food. I water the plants once a day about a gallon or more for each container (I have two containers with a total of 4 plants). Some tomatoes do get red but majority are green with the rot. The egg shell idea sounds good. Should I add egg shells to the soil in these containers? I’m at a loss on what to do. Lots of money and time have been put into these plants with bad results. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Danni
July 1st, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Hi Danni, sure you can add the egg shells to the soil that the tomatoes are growing in. I wouldn’t worry too much about the blossom end rot at this stage as the condition usually improves as the season goes on and the tomato plants continue to grow and produce new fruits. Good luck and let us know how your topsy turvey containers work out.
July 12th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Hi: Thanks for all the tips on Blossom end rot. Will try some. No one here in Albuquerque seems to know anything about the matter. Mare