Why do my tomatoes get Blossom-end Rot and how can I stop it?
You’ve seen it. A gorgeous tomato: bright, colorful, round . . . until you look at the bottom. Leathery, brown, awful. This is the dreaded Blossom-end Rot .
Blossom-end Rot
What causes it? How can you get rid of it? Well, surprisingly, blossom-end rot is not a disease. It’s actually caused by a calcium imbalance in your tomato. Blossom-end rot occurs not only in tomatoes, but also in squash, peppers, cucumbers, and melons. When you see blossom-end rot, you need to pick the fruit and get rid of it, because it will rot and infect the plant eventually.
So what can cause the calcium imbalance? Well, not having enough calcium in your soil, obviously, but there can be other factors too. If your watering patterns are too erratic – you let your soil get too moist and then too dry. Also, if the season starts out very wet and then ends very dry (changing while the fruit is setting, mainly).
Calcium deficiencies can appear if your pH is too high or too low. Tomatoes thrive in a pH of 6.0 – 6.8, so you want to maintain that balance. We have great products to help with pH, simply click the button for either pH Up or pH Down at the end of the blog.
So what can you do to prevent blossom-end rot? Well, first, stay consistent in your watering habits. Tomatoes are like kids – they do best when they have a routine.
For your soil, you can add our Granular Gypsum, which will release slowly over time. For more immediate results, or to help save an existing tomato harvest, you can add our Calcium and Magnesium or Organic Cal Mag. Another great fertilizer for your tomatoes is our 4-18-38 – it’s high in phosphorus, and low in nitrogen.
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