Tomatoes 2025

[flowerbug]

yesterday when picking i needed a snack so i was munching on a fresh tomato in the garden. for some reason in the past i've not normally done that much at all other than for cherry tomatoes (which we don't grow any longer). it was sunwarmed and delicious.

at the moment i've finished rinsing and dunking the tomatoes i'll be canning tonight so now they are sitting there ready for me to start peeling, coring and chunking them. i'm taking it easy today so not in any rush to get around to it.

 

[Branching Out]

A few of my Dwarf Sweet Sue tomatoes have developed a marbled tan patch on the bottom, and I'm trying to figure out if it's maybe a bacterial fruit rot or perhaps the beginning of late blight. These tomatoes are growing in a hot dry spot under cover of the roof, so blight would be an unlikely candidate-- especially because we had no rain for almost a month, beginning in mid-August. https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/Portals/0/Gardening/Gardening Help/Visual Guides/Tomato Fruit Problems.pdf

 

[ducks4you]

Finally got a small harvest of 13 medium sized tomatoes from my big garden. I added 2 more from the pot next to the house and DH and I had salad with onions, tomatoes and tunafish for dinner.

 

[digitS']

@Branching Out , I have used Cornell University information on plant diseases and found that it is helpful. However, they say that their VegMD program has "retired." They continue to have help for commercial growers here LINK. The information from Missouri is certainly comprehensive in just a few pages.

I looked at Cornell's Botrytis Gray Mold pdf just because it said "gray." The information and pictures have it at the stem end.

The information on Late Blight wasn't all that helpful in my brief look but they have photos that are somewhat like yours. But, the pictures look like it was further along than those patches if they are the same. Late blight seemed to be a problem beginning a number of years ago on the eastern side of N America. There should be more information out there. It just occurred to me that I have found North Carolina Cooperative Extension online info helpful.

Steve

 

[digitS']

North Carolina Cooperative Extension

Tomato Diseases

The following resources provide information on how to diagnose tomato diseases and management options. Bacterial spot on tomato fruit Tomato Disease Factsheets Bacterial Spot of Pepper and Tomato Bacterial Canker of Tomato Damping-off in Flower and Vegetable Seedlings Late Blight of Tomatoes...

vegetables.ces.ncsu.edu

 

[flowerbug]

A few of my Dwarf Sweet Sue tomatoes have developed a marbled tan patch on the bottom, and I'm trying to figure out if it's maybe a bacterial fruit rot or perhaps the beginning of late blight. These tomatoes are growing in a hot dry spot under cover of the roof, so blight would be an unlikely candidate-- especially because we had no rain for almost a month, beginning in mid-August.

looks like BER to me. if the tomato is in a hot location and doesn't get enough regular water.

[sorry for delay, i wrote this but then got interrupted last night and failed to post it ]

 

[Branching Out]

looks like BER to me. if the tomato is in a hot location and doesn't get enough regular water.

[sorry for delay, i wrote this but then got interrupted last night and failed to post it ]

I think you're right flowerbug-- thank you. Blossom End Rot is one of those things that often goes unnoticed until the bottom of the tomato is flat and blackened, but apparently in its early stages it manifests as tan patches on the bottom of the tomato.

 

[digitS']

BER?!

I never notice it until the dang fruit turns black!

Well, you can stop imagining the worst then @Branching Out and just make move on to planning your 2026 tomato patch .

 

[flowerbug]

it could be a borderline case of BER, you won't know until you harvest and cut into some of them.

this evening we were processing (just finished scalding, coring, peeling and chunking) the next round of tomatoes and a few of them looked fine from the outside but once cut into them they had inclusions that were rotting. i no longer even try to rescue those tomatoes as they also had deep cracks on the top that were also rotting so having cut those off before even scalding the tomatoes meant there wasn't much left. into the scrap bucket they went.

after a few minute break i'll get these into the jars and ready for sealing up.

 

[digitS']

Interesting how the afternoon temperatures falling out of 80'sF and high 90's earlier in the month changed things for tomato ripening with those few days in the 60's (made it all the way to 16°C one afternoon).

Two person household, we were nearly overwhelmed with ripe tomatoes. Then, the highs weren't high on the 14th & 15th. Lowest morning temp was 49F (9°C) on the 16th, nothing special for September but the change obviously knocked out the ripening process, especially for the slicers. Not one large tomato has ripened in 6 days!

Gary O Sena has had the best season and I'm not especially surprised altho ... the ground used for Gary has never grown an annual vegetable or flower in all the decades we have lived here. When we arrived, and there was a large tree shading the location, it was a good place for hostas. Then, we had the little flocks of laying hens. The hens took care of the hostas and some mint showed up over there. Then, the tree was taken down and a full sun hit. There was no need for the mint, it was taken out and potted plants replaced it.

I dug through the rocky soil in the Spring and put about 2 shovelfuls of compost directly under where the tomato plants would go. That's it. I built some cages starting with 60" stakes. The plants grew more than 1 foot above that and are now toppling over at the top. No pruning. They have appreciated the heat and have lots of green fruit.

Steve