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Tomato rot?

Jammy2Jammy2 Posts: 30
in Problem solving

Hi there,

Its my first time growing tomatoes in the greenhouse. Almost all the tomatoes on the lowest trusses have some kind of rot / infection. See pic below

image

 I'd love to know

  • what's wrong
  • how to avoid it next year
  • Can I compost them, or is it in the rcycle bin?
Many thanks in advance for your help   James
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Posts

  • Phil RetallickPhil Retallick Posts: 6
    Its a type of blight. A lot of people have had the same issue. It may also be affecting the leaves and stem too (turns brown) if caught early enough you can treat the plants with an appropriate fungicide. However based on your picture its probably a bit late. Best to pull all the affected plants out and either burn it or send to tip
  • Jammy2Jammy2 Posts: 30

    Thanks for your reply. Strange that I've had the lowest tomatoes doing this for 3 to 4 weeks now, but remainder (75%) and plants all healthy. If it is blight what are the ramifications for the soil (they are planted into the ground, not gowbags)?

     

    Again, many thanks for any help

     

    James

  • ItalophileItalophile Posts: 1,731

    James, are there absolutely no signs of disease on the foliage or stems/branches?

  • Jammy2Jammy2 Posts: 30

    No - its only on the lowest fruit. The rest of the toatoes are all slowly ripening / still growing. My only thought was that these tomatoes would have been the only ones to have been splashed by me watering, so I wondered if that could somehow be the cause (the waterbutt water certainly isn't drinkable!), or maybe splash up from the earth?

    Here's the proof image

    image

     

     

     

     

  • ItalophileItalophile Posts: 1,731

    Mmmmm. If it were one of the common fungal or bacterial diseases there would be symptoms elsewhere. It looks a wee bit like Late Blight -

    image

    - but it can't be with no other symptoms. And if it were Late Blight it would have demolished the plants within your two or three week time frame.

    Any chance of it being fertiliser burn?

    Nice toms, though, and I like your gap between the lowest foliage and the soil. Good housekeeping! image

  • Gary HutleyGary Hutley Posts: 4

    No blight in the greenhouse so far, but the plants on the allotments succomed weeks ago.  Something to do with growing them alongside potatoes which also have succomed to blight.

  • Jammy2Jammy2 Posts: 30

    I agree it does look a bit like the photo of late blight. Maybe I've just been lucky - I've removed the fruit as soon as I noticed a problem.

    I have used liquid tomato fertiliser - that could be the issue and would explain why its only the lower ones where I watered

  • ItalophileItalophile Posts: 1,731

    Gary, both Early and Late Blight affect spuds and toms so, if the spores are around, they are going to spread.

  • ItalophileItalophile Posts: 1,731
    Jammy2 wrote (see)

    I agree it does look a bit like the photo of late blight. Maybe I've just been lucky - I've removed the fruit as soon as I noticed a problem.

    I have used liquid tomato fertiliser - that could be the issue and would explain why its only the lower ones where I watered

    Late Blight usually manifests on leaves and branches/stems before it spreads to the fruit. If it's the fruit alone that's damaged, I suspect something else has impacted.

  • Phil RetallickPhil Retallick Posts: 6
    Agree with all of the above. Most forms of blight you Will see affect the leaves then spreading to fruits and stems.

    If it doesnt spread put it down to water or chemical scorching. Which would be unrelated to soil issues. However if there is any further spread it would most likely be blight related. And would suggest changing the soil or not using the greenhouse for toms (or spuds) for a couple of seasons
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