tomatoes

[atolhurst]

I have been growing my own tomatoes. I have been very proud of them (as this has been my first attempt at doing so) and I have been eagerly awaiting for them to turn red so I can pick them

However, I am mortified to find that as they've started turning red, the bottoms of them seem to acquire a bruise and goes manky and nasty (technical terminology there), thus making them inedible. It happens to every single one of them.

Does anyone know what this is and whether I can rectify this?

[whiffey]

Does it look like this ?

http://www.gardenadvice.co.uk/howto/disease/ro t-blossomend/index.html

I grow masses of indoor tomatoes every year and have been lucky, never had any problems.

[Thunderbird+]

What you have described sounds exactly like blossom end rot. This is often caused by infrequent watering and sometimes a deficiency in calcium, if your soil is very acid. You can prevent this by making sure your soil never dries out completely between waterings, particularly if the plants are in grow-bags.
Keep em well watered and fed. Good Luck Tbird+

[Thunderbird+]

No answers were present when I started, but it looks like that confirms your problem.

[atolhurst]

Thanks for that. They are in a grow bag but I thought I kept them watered quite well. Maybe they're just very thirsty.

[Thunderbird+]

This is a fairly common problem with grow-bags, they can dry-out very quikly if you dont watch it and the compost in some makes can be a bit too acidic, the two things combind often result in B.E.R.

[WendyS]

I grow my tomatoes direct into the soil in a garden border and try to swap their growing location every year with climbing beans to avoid pest built up in the soil so have never suffered this complaint. However, I suspect it's very common in grow bags where the heat of the sun builds up on the plastic bags and enables bugs and bacteria to multiply quickly. If this is what is happening in your case I'm not sure you can save this year's crop in situ. Possibly if you pick some of the tomatoes now and let them ripen on a window ledge, away from the plants, you might be able to save them Such diseases spread very quickly indeed and this may be the only way you can save the rest of your crop.

[~owzat~]

Banana skins on the soil around the tomato plants, are recommended. Rich in potassium, the tommys love them, with water not ice-cream!

Cannot remember which gardening prog it was on, many moons ago.

iii ☺