GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post - do better for next year-- asparagus, watermelon, tomatoes, lettuceseeds, grapes

[email protected] · 30-07-2008, 06:20 PM posted to sci.bio.botany,sci.agriculture

Sean Houtman wrote:
wrote in news:659beee2-a27b-4b8c-bb9e-
:

Tomatoes-- I do not know what causes the lower half to turn brown and
black. Heard that it is the
water that causes it, but not sure. Anyway, most of my tomatoes are
unusable due to a black spot
on the bottom.

That is called Blossom End Rot. It is caused by either not enough calcium
available to the plant, or too much water. If there is too much water, the
plant may not be able to take up enough calcium for the developing fruit,
so it ends up being the same thing. An organic remedy for it is to add
ground limestone to the soil. The tomatoes are usually still edible, just
cut the brown part off.

Sean

Now I realize my problem. I applied too much horsemanure not leaving
enough dirt for the
tomatoes. They grew vigorously from the horsemanure, but lacked the
calcium. So I bet
most gardeners who report this problem have too much fertilizer
replacing the soil containing
the calcium. The tomatoes in my other garden that I never bothered to
apply horsemanure
have no rot.

So I must be careful with too much horsemanure.