Tomato diseases and disorders
BLOSSOM-END ROT
In my area, it has rained enough this summer, so there is no flower-rot problem this year. It usually begins as a submerged spot at the flowering tip of the fruit, which turns black and leathery as it grows larger. Most of the time you won’t notice it until you go to pick the tomatoes and see that the bottom half is rotten - not a good surprise!
It is more of a physiological disorder than a disease that occurs when there is a problem in separating enough calcium from the plant from the soil because the amount of moisture is too high or too low. Soil may contain a lot of calcium but plants cannot use it properly. Depressed plants divert the little calcium they have from the fruit to the shoots to grow. With uneven moisture, too much nitrogen and too much soil acidity will eventually contribute to flower rot.
To prevent flower-end rot, make sure your soil is rich in calcium. Many "tomato toners" fertilizers contain extra calcium. Also, eggshells are rich in calcium, which is very beneficial for your tomato plants.
First, place the eggshells in a preheated oven for 20 minutes or in the microwave for two minutes to completely sterilize. Crush them and then insert them into your planting holes and around them. The shells take a while to break, but this can be accelerated by grinding them to increase the surface area or by dissolving the water in the ground during planting. Aim for about two eggshells per plant. However, often, the simple reason behind flower and hair rot is irregular watering, which makes it difficult for plants to absorb all the nutrients they need.
Early blight
The most common tomato disease of early blight.
It is a fungus that starts as brown spots on the lower leaves and expands into bull eye-like concentration rings. Eventually, they get bigger and run together.
The lower leaves turn yellow and fall off, usually without affecting the fruit.
Sometimes dark spots appear at the end of the stems of the plant and the stem of the fruit. We have an ‘early Goliath’ plant that shows signs of early blight, but in which the soldiers produce plenty of tomatoes (only one of which had rotted at the end of the stem), it will continue to bloom. I keep plucking the lower leaves affected and it continues to grow so for now it will stay that way. I may regret that decision later.
LATE BLIGHT
The terminal of late flight.
Got a year early in the season and we saw it helplessly turning all the plants and fruits into disgusting porridge, practically overnight. At Usablight.org you can track the late spread of the disease across the country.
Avoid disease by giving your tomatoes good air circulation and watering at the base of the plants to prevent the leaves from getting wet. Many gardeners remove particularly low leaves to improve airflow and reduce splashback when watering. Remove the tomatoes from the ground. Mulching with clean, dry organic matter such as straw will also reduce splashback.
Also, choose tomatoes that will resist next year’s rot! Although most of the varieties we grow are hereditary, we also grow some hybrid tomatoes for their immunity. This year we are trying ‘Mountain Magic’, which is bred to combat early and late flights.
Anthracnose and fungal diseases
Anthracnose damages its fruit with 1/4 to 1/2 inch spots. Septoria is another fungus that appears as small brown spots with black centers on older leaves. Eventually, they turn yellow and fall off. To prevent all fungal diseases, care must be taken when cleaning plant debris in the fall. All old leaves and fruits, especially diseased ones, should be removed from the garden and disposed of in the trash.
Wilts
Many varieties of tomatoes are grown for immunity. Verticillium and Fusarium are two diseases that cause incontinence. When shopping for tomato seeds, look for the letters V and F after the name of the variety to indicate resistance to those diseases.
The other letters are a code of tolerance for other diseases: A stands for Alternaria, LP. Spot wilt virus and Silk is a tomato yellow leaf curl virus.
Water and food Tomatoes
You may have noticed that many diseases come under proper irrigation. With tomatoes, aim for constant moisture when the plants are established.
As soon as the tomatoes begin to bear fruit, let the soil dry out between irrigations. It is okay to show early signs of wilting before watering the leaves, but do not push it too far. Irregular watering (looking between the dry and then loamy soil) encourages the fruits to rush when water is used, causing them to split. The best time for watering is in the morning when the plants are most receptive to moisture.
Of course, delicious tomatoes are taken from plants
Not all the nutrients they need are available. Add organic manure that is slowly released during planting or use regular liquid nutrients using a material designed for tomatoes. Feeding the tomato should avoid rot problems at the end of flowering.
From the time the tomato plant germinates to the time we pick the first ripe tomato, you may think it is a miracle that we get any fruit! However, growing tomatoes is to avoid some common dangers. Knowing what to expect and what to do will greatly improve your chances of growing a tomato crop.
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