And my garden issues continue...

[Ariel301]

I posted earlier about having issues with plants being nice and big and green and blossoming, but not fruiting. Well, that's still going on, but the tomatoes are having new symptoms. The leaves are sort of curled up and wilty. I've been thinking not enough water and too much heat, but then today I found blossom-end rot on some green tomatoes on the only one plant that fruited. These are heirloom varieties planted from seed. All the ones planted from that packet of seed are the ones that look like this. The ones I bought at Walmart are doing wonderfully, lots of fruit and huge green plants. The two varieties are intermingled in one row, I used the Walmart plants to fill in any gaps in the row where my seed tomatoes did not sprout.

I'm wondering if I have some sort of a disease that came with the heirloom seeds? Should I pull the affected plants out?

 

[vfem]

There are many diseases that can effect heirlooms, they were not bred to be resistant and that is why they lost favor for so long. However, blossom end rot can be treated by increasing calcium to the plants. I suggest crushed egg shells buried around the roots. I also rinse my milk containers for recycling and dump the rinse water on my plants.

Curling leaves alone generally are a sign of heat stress on a tomato, so don't jump to any conclusions based on that. If there are more signs you are worried about, feel free to post pictures here and maybe we can help you figure it out.

Just don't give up and go ripping things out. July heat on gardens can do very bad things, but it will pass. You also have a warmer climate, and may even be able to put in some new plants for a late summer crop of cukes, tomatoes and zukes as well!

 

[chris09]

If your tomatoes are blossoming and then the blossoms are falling off but not setting fruit.
I would say you have BLOSSOM DROP.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1624.html

Chris

 

[hoodat]

I posted earlier about having issues with plants being nice and big and green and blossoming, but not fruiting. Well, that's still going on, but the tomatoes are having new symptoms. The leaves are sort of curled up and wilty. I've been thinking not enough water and too much heat, but then today I found blossom-end rot on some green tomatoes on the only one plant that fruited. These are heirloom varieties planted from seed. All the ones planted from that packet of seed are the ones that look like this. The ones I bought at Walmart are doing wonderfully, lots of fruit and huge green plants. The two varieties are intermingled in one row, I used the Walmart plants to fill in any gaps in the row where my seed tomatoes did not sprout.

I'm wondering if I have some sort of a disease that came with the heirloom seeds? Should I pull the affected plants out?

Blossom end rot is not a disease. It is caused by a lack of calcium. In your case I suspect the plant isn't getting the calcium it needs because of uneven watering rather than a lack of calcium in the soil. Calcium has to be disolved in water to be useful to the plant and the water may not be getting deep enough to pick up the calcium. Try turning the hose on just enough to make it barely run and leaving it at the base of a plant for several hours so it gets good and deep. Often we think we are giving the plants plenty of water but it just isn't penetrating deeply enough into the soil. In many soils it takes quite a while for the water to percolate deep enough.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Certain varieties are more likely to have blossom end rot than others. Last year my San Marzano was badly affected and this year my Big Mama hybrid is affected. I have very little problem with it on any of the others. I'm starting to think it is just something that goes along with the paste tomatoes here. But I've had types other than just paste get it.

Along with the deep watering, I find that a good mulch helps to keep the soil evenly moist. Another good reason to mulch.

 

[elijahboy]

i am having the same problem with my brandywines

i boiled 28 eggs in a huge pot and used the water (after cooled hoping some calcium leached out of the eggs) and added some powdered milk and dumped it on my maters and hope that might save them

 

[Ariel301]

Blossom end rot is not a disease. It is caused by a lack of calcium. In your case I suspect the plant isn't getting the calcium it needs because of uneven watering rather than a lack of calcium in the soil. Calcium has to be disolved in water to be useful to the plant and the water may not be getting deep enough to pick up the calcium. Try turning the hose on just enough to make it barely run and leaving it at the base of a plant for several hours so it gets good and deep. Often we think we are giving the plants plenty of water but it just isn't penetrating deeply enough into the soil. In many soils it takes quite a while for the water to percolate deep enough.

Unfortunately I'm not allowed that much watering. My husband and I live with his parents, and every time I try to give the garden extra water I get in trouble with them. I programed the timer on the hose to water for a second session in the early morning, and the next day it had been reset to just one 15 minute watering in the evening, when I had been letting the water run an hour. Our water company went in a ton of debt and they've passed it along to the customers by increasing our water bills outrageously. Nothing we can do about that, because the county approved for them to do so, and there is not another water company that services our area, and a well is tens of thousands of dollars to drill here with no guarantee of hitting water. Argh.

I'll add calcium to my list of things to add to my soil then. Maybe the plants can be nursed through the heat for a fall crop. It won't cool to below 100 here until mid-September.

 

[GrowsLotsaPeppers]

I have a sister in the Phoenix/Glendale area. They don't even try to grow tomatoes over the late June-September season... Their last harvest is about now.