We’re all anticipating the first ripe tomato of the season. To help make sure you’re not disappointed once your fruits start to ripen, here are a few reminders of what can go wrong and how to take steps now to avoid cracking, rotting and that half ripened ‘Green Shoulders’ look.
If your tomato problem is spots on the foliage, let the experts at Cooperative Extension tell you how to identify and foil those all to common fungus diseases and grow great tomatoes. Then sit back and enjoy the crown jewel of the vegetable garden.
Comments
“Corn juice” made from soaking yellow corn meal in water, then straining, can be used to stop/prevent fungal problems. Corn meal on the soil is good prevention/fertilizer.
I’ve never heard that before. What great news. If you don’t mind, I’ll use it as the Tip of the Week in my next newsletter. Thanks.
The tomatoes I have been getting off my vines are red and pretty but when I slice into them they are black and rotten inside, can you tell me what I am doing or not doing to cause this.
If you don’t see any problems on the outside, I would suspect it is some type of insect that burrowed into the fruit. If you’re in a warm growing area, it could be tomato pinworm. They make the tiniest of holes in the skin, but can cause ugly black tunneling throughout the fruit. You can’t do much after the fact, but tilling the site in the fall should keep them from overwinter and infesting again next year.
If you have a photo, you can email it to me and I’ll see if I can get a more definite id.
I have recently transplanted my tomatoe plants now they are turning yellow and the leaves are falling off. Can you tell me what the problem is?
It could be a number of things. If it’s just the lower, older leaves, it could just be adjusting to the change of conditions.
Assuming the weather is warm enough for tomatoes to be outdoors and that you are keeping it well water, I would suspect it just need a good feeding. Try giving it a dose of any balanced, water soluble fertilizer labeled for vegetables. Sprinkle some on the foliage, for quicker results.
If that doesn’t help and there are no signs of disease or pests, it could be the soil. Have you had it tested recently? Fertilizer and organic matter will help with nutrients, but if the pH is way off, the plants won’t be able to access the nutrients that are there.
We have beautiful lush green tomato plants but practically no tomatoes. Why?
It could be you’re feeding your plants too much. A fertilizer high in nitrogen (the 1st number on the package) will promote lots of leaves over flowers. It could be a lack of sunshine. Sometimes too many leaves shade out the plants. The same thing applies to letting the sucker between branches to grow. All that foliage takes up all the plants energy. Try topping a plant or thinning some branches and easing up on the fertilizer.
We have a sticky substance that is on all of our tomatoes. What is it and are they safe to eat?
Lindsay, assuming you haven’t sprayed them with anything, it could be honey dew left behind by some insect. Although I’ve never seem it on tomatoes before. They should be fine, once you wash them off.
My tomatoe plants in the glass house, its top leaves are curling. What triggers for this, is it too much heat? or is there any other causes of such?
Tomato leaves curl for a lot of reasons. It could be too much heat. If they’re getting a lot of heat and light, the leaves will curl to conserve water. Watering more frequently should fix that.
It could also be something like an aphid problem. Any small, sucking insect will cause all kinds of leaves to twist, curl and distort. Take a close look and make sure the plants aren’t under attack.
There’s also a virus called tomato yellow leaf curl. I hope it’s not that, because there’s no cure. Removing the affected plants can stop the spread.
Check for insects, give them a little more water and a little shade. If they continue to get progressively worse, it would be wiser to start over.
i have tomatoes that are plentiful,and about 2and a half inch in diameter as they are turning red to pick the bottom of them are brown and the inside is also brown can you tell me what the problem might be thank you
Phillip, if it’s the flower end, it’s probably Blossom End Rot. Take a look here.
The leaves and very end of my tomatoe vines are disappearing. I see no caterpillars. They almost look bitten off or are they rotting? The tomatoes look good. This seems to have almost happened overnight. Has anyone else seen this? I spray once a week with liquid sevin.
Tim, it sounds like a four-footed pest problem. Deer, rabbits and assorted rodents will sample tomato plants. Squirrels generally prefer the tomatoes themselves, but they’ll much on new plants if they’re thirsty.
If you don’t have the plants fenced in, you’ll need to protect them somehow. You can always spray the surrounding area with a repellent.
Tim,
It could also be small tomato horn worm. They are very hard to see until they get larger. Usually they will be on the underside of stems or leaves and are the exact same color as the underside of the leaves.
I just found one on one of my plants. I could see the damage, but it took me about 5 mins. of intense looking to find it and it was big as my little finger. Good Luck
My tomato plants haven’t grown very high but have a thick trunck. Not too many flowers although they are getting better – I think I might have over fed them! All 3 plants have the lower leaves curled over. I water them morning and evening as they are in a tunnel and often in the morning the top leaves have water droplets as if they’ve been over watered but the lower leaves are really curled but i can find disease or pests as such. Any suggestions please?
I am giving my father his first tomato plant in a pot for Father’s Day. How much should he water it?
My tomato plants were looking great and suddenly some of the plants began to wilt. They are drooped over and the leaves all look wilted. The tomatoes still look healthy on the vine. I water every morning for an hour and the ground stays fairly moist. It is hot and humid here (high 80′s-90′s).
Why are my tomatoe leafs folding like a taco, best way to describe it ?
Tamara, it all depends on the growing conditions. Tomatoes in pots need to be watered every day. The pots heat up and the roots pretty much fill the space, so they need a lot of water. Any sign of wilting is a good indication they need water.
In the ground, they need about an inch per week. But if it’s excessively hot or if you have sandy soil that doesn’t hold moisture, they could need more. Mulch would help a lot there.
When tomato plants have fruits on them, they need even more water. The trick is to make it consistent. If you let them stay dry for a week and try to make up for it the next, the tomatoes are going to crack.
Sheila, if the plants recover in the evening, they’re just wilting from the heat. That’s one way they conserve water. If you start to see signs of yellowing, they could have other problems, like Fusarium or Verticillium wilt. There’s no cure for these and it’s usually recommended you remove the infected plants and rotate your tomatoes next year. A lot of tomato varieties are resistant to these wilts, but it’s no guarantee.
Craig, tomato leaves curl for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes it’s a reaction to pruning. Sometimes it’s a way to reduce evaporation. It could be uneven watering. Usually the plants recover fine and the tomatoes are not affected.
There is a disease called Tomato Leaf Curl or Roll, but it isn’t very common outdoors. It’s spread by aphids and other sucking insects. Control the insects and try to keep the plants otherwise healthy.
Jenny, I seem to have missed your post. Sorry. I hope things have improved for your tomato plants.
The thick stems are fine. The plant should start to put on height when it’s ready. I think you’re probably over watering. Leaves tend to curl under, to expose more surface area for evaporation. They curl upward when they’re trying to prevent evaporation. Yours are so wet they’re dripping.
I have beautifull tomatoe plants alot of flowers and then the flowers fall off and no fruit. what is up with that. Do I need to water more or fertilizer?
I am having tne same problem and would like to know what I can do so that the nice plant will set fruit from the flowers.
Wiley, did you see my response to Cammie, below? Check out the blossom drop article and see if any of the causes could apply.
I have a question I need answered. My tomato plants came along very well until 2 weeks ago, when it seems that they became dormant.
The plants are potted in a greenhouse and each plant has up to 20 formed tomatoes, but beginning 2 weeks ago all movement stopped, the blossoms are not dying off, and those that have died off are not producing tomatoes as is normal.
Everything appears to be on stop, although I water on a daily basis.
I would appreciate any help or answers that I can get, please E-mail to goldsign@shaw.ca.
Harry, I’m so sorry I seem to have missed your post. I really don’t know what could have caused your tomato plants to simply stop. I hope the situation has improved. I wonder if it had something to do with being in a greenhouse. Do you always grow them there?
Cammie, it sounds like blossom drop, which is often weather related. When it’s too hot, the pollen gets so sticky it can’t drop from one blossom to the next.
I live in the uk and growing tomatoes in a green house in pots, they have developed black patches almost covering the whole leaf and some leaves on other plants are yellow, the fruit still looks fine, what am doing wrong, what is it, how can i stop this, will the plant die and fruit ruin?? please need help!!
Mandy, it’s hard to say without seeing the plants, but it sounds like some type of fungal disease. Perhaps the greenhouse is too humid. Spraying with a fungicide and removing the infected leaves should slow the spread of spores and good air circulation will reduce the humidity, so conditions are not ideal for more infections. A fan is a necessity in a greenhouse.
I always used to have a nice vegetable garden. This year however my first tomatoes are about 2 inches and the ones further up the vine are very small. The plants themselves are very tall 5 ft. with lots of foliage and plenty of flowers. Why aren’t my tomatoes growing in size? HELP
Roberta, it sounds like maybe your plants weren’t quite ready to start focusing on producing fruits. They’ve been gaining strength by getting tall and full. Since they’re setting more flowers, I would expect the tomatoes will start filling out soon. It could have been the spring weather, the variety of tomato or some other condition that caused them to get a late start. But if the plants are looking healthy, getting plenty of water and not too much fertilizer, you should see plumper tomatoes soon.