Anyone that has had a crop of tomatoes go bad half way through the growing season knows how disappointing this is and the fact is some of these problems can be prevented even before you plant your first transplant.
With proper soil preparation and amendments along with correct watering and fertilizing techniques many of the worst problems never have to happen to your tomato crop.
Tomatoes are a pretty easy plant to grow if things go right. This is why they are available at so many stores in six packs and individual pots. Other vegetables in this ease of care category include Bell Peppers, Zucchini, Onion Sets and Radishes. You really can’t get much easier just plant, water and harvest for the most part. Unfortunately there are some situations where Tomatoes can go bad on the vine or just not grow well. Often this is because of three basic things: Soil Quality, Fertilizers and other Chemicals not at the right levels and actual disease or pests that you can only treat for and not really prevent.
Tomato Blossom Rot
This is a very common problem and it has a easy solution. When you first see Tomato Blossom Rot you are likely to think that your Tomatoes are infected with some type of disease. However this problem is due to lack of Calcium being absorbed by the plant roots.
First Identify The Problem. Blossom Rot is when the tip of the tomato where the flower blossom formed starts to turn dark or black. Eventually the entire tomato will go bad. Blossom Rot is different than Canker which is white spots all over the tomato which indicate little nodules being formed under the skin. Canker is a Disease and Blossom Rot is normally just lack of Calcium. Pick the bad tomatoes and discard them and then add calcium to the plant and hopefully the rest will be ok.
To cure the problem its best to use good quality soil in your garden. If you have heavy clay or even really sandy soil the natural calcium in the soil will be hard to absorb through the roots. Good soil has a lot of organic material in it that breaks down over the season to help feed the plant and in this case it also helps with the absorption of fertilizers and other chemicals like Calcium.
To add Calcium to your vegetable garden you can simply add Lime or Pulverized Limestone. Limestone is Calcium Carbonate or otherwise known as Dolomite. If you ever see Calcium in a Vitamin you are likely to see the ingredient Dolomite on the label. Its the same thing. You need it to stay healthy and so do your plants.
The best thing about adding Calcium is that it will also help prevent other diseases. However Lime can also change the PH Levels of your soil and if you are growing something like Berries that need a more acidic soil you can add Calcium by adding Gypsum which has less of an effect on PH Levels.
Bacterial Canker and Spotted Wilt
Since we just talked about identifying the difference of Blossom Rot and Canker or Spotted Wilt lets quickly talk about them. These diseases are serious and if your tomatoes have this problem they could have got it from the soil or spread airborne and one thing is if you purchase your tomato plants they might have been grown in bad soil. The only treatment for this problem is to remove all of the plants and destroy them. Do not put the plants in your mulch and do not turn the plants under into the soil. The next thing you have to do is Solarize that bed by covering it with thick black plastic in the hottest part of the summer for at least a week or more and this will kill the spores in the ground. DO NOT REPLANT TOMATOES IN THIS AREA FOR 3 YEARS. Yes this is dramatic but you really don’t have any other choice. You should also not plant any member of the nightshade family in this area which includes Peppers, Potatoes, Eggplant along with Tomatoes. If your space is limited I suggest you consider buying some soil and planting in containers but cover the soil with black plastic so watering won’t splash mud onto the plants and branches won’t come into contact with the soil.
Phosphorous And Potassium Deficiencies
Potassium and Phosphorous are the two neglected parts of basic fertilizer. Everyone seems to be concerned with Nitrogen which is very important for making your plants grow big and quickly but these other chemicals are extremely important for a healthy plant.
Potassium is probably best known for helping roots grow and as we saw above Low Levels of Calcium can cause Blossom Rot and other diseases. Well without enough potassium the plant roots won’t be healthy enough to absorb that calcium even if you add extra lime to your soil.
Phosphorous is a chemical that is unjustly regulated in common fertilizers. Often you will see fertilizers that have a chemical balance of 10-0-10 which means it has potassium and nitrogen but no phosphorus. This is really bad for all plants because Phosphorous helps with the entire plant but also with the conversion of sunlight to food for the plant. You are likely to have smaller fruits and your plant could be susceptible to disease without it. And this isn’t just for vegetables its also for your lawn so buy wisely.
Tomato Root Rot
Root Rot is normally due to over watering but it also has to do with poorly draining soil or a clay soil that holds water. It is very important to water your garden daily or every other day as necessary. But you must also take other conditions into account. Did it just rain or has it been cloudy for the past few days? Is the soil moist to the touch? Soil should not be wet all day and night you are not growing hydroponic tomatoes with their roots underwater. Even if the soil is dry on the surface it could be very wet just below.
Wet Soil also means that any liquid fertilizer that you are applying won’t be absorbed by the plant or it will be harder for it to absorb it and you will likely just be fertilizing your weeds at the surface and not the roots of the plant you are tending to.
Final Note
These are the most common problems that you can have a real impact on preventing. If a swarm of insects attack your garden you will have to deal with that as it happens. Some people might suggest planting marigolds or onions on the perimeter of your garden to fend off these attacks and it could help some but poor soil conditions, improper fertilizer and lack of Lime or Calcium in your garden are the biggest problems to tackle before you plant your first plant or seed.
I like to till my garden in the very early spring to remove any remaining weeds and turn up the soil for the chemicals I will add in about a week.
Peet Moss is a very easy product to add to your soil to increase its organic material. It is often the material found in seed starting trays. It comes in compacted big blocks and you can distribute about 2 inches of it along with your fertilizer and lime before you till your soil.
Tilling your soil shouldn’t be looked down upon. I hear a lot of permaculture and other gardeners that once heard that Farmers aren’t plowing their fields and think they shouldn’t till the first 5 to 10 inches of soil in their garden. This is just absolutely wrong. Tilling with a small electric or gas powered tiller loosens up the top layer of soil without digging deep into the clay below. It also mixes everything together like baking a cake. Would you pour all your ingredients of your cake right in the baking pan and not mix it? Yeah so its the same idea.
In other how tos we will cover other problems in the garden. This how to is for what you can do to prevent the most common and devastating problems that are preventable.