Gardening Question of the Week: Is There a Tomato Stem End Rot?

David wrote into the About Gardening Forum: “My heirloom tomatoes have a new problem this year. They appear to have blossom end rot but at the stem end. The rot is on the fruit not the stem and causes the fruit to drop. Please see the picture. Does anyone know what this is, the cause or the solution?”

We’ve all heard of blossom end rot, but this summer I got a lot of questions about tomatoes rotting where they join the stem - and then I got it on my own tomatoes. It seems to be gray mold or botrytis. Gray mold attacks a wide range of plants. Common hosts are strawberries and peonies. Wet weather exacerbates the problem and there’s not much you can do once you get it. If this looks familiar, or if you’d like to try avoiding it next year, here’s some help with tomato gray mold. And if you have any tips to share, please, please do.

Photo submitted by David (dgadams)