Vegetable Gardening - Avoiding Tomato Problems
Friday June 2, 2006
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.