I have loads of beautiful green plum tomatoes just waiting to become sauce.
The first two were reddening up so I picked them yesterday, from low on the
plant, and the bottoms were completely rotted out. The same thing happened
to most of my big boys last year. As soon as they start to ripen and pink
up, they develop a area of rot/mold at the bottom. The longer I waited to
pick, the more they dissolved so that they were just half-tomatoes,
beautiful, red, half rotten tomatoes...darn. The plants are pretty crowded
in my garden, they grew full and wide rather than tall (I haven't
planted plum tomatoes before), but the plants and green tomatoes seem
healthy until they start to pink up. Is it a water problem? We've had a cool
wet season here in New England.
Please help me save my sauce.....

Also, anyone have a good recipe for pesto? My basil patch took off this year
and I have boatloads of it ready. Looks like everyone will get pesto for
Christmas this year...

-Holly

"I & H" wrote in message
ink.net...
| I have loads of beautiful green plum tomatoes just waiting to become
sauce.
| The first two were reddening up so I picked them yesterday, from low on
the
| plant, and the bottoms were completely rotted out. The same thing happened
| to most of my big boys last year. As soon as they start to ripen and pink
| up, they develop a area of rot/mold at the bottom. The longer I waited to
| pick, the more they dissolved so that they were just half-tomatoes,
| beautiful, red, half rotten tomatoes...darn. The plants are pretty crowded
| in my garden, they grew full and wide rather than tall (I haven't
| planted plum tomatoes before), but the plants and green tomatoes seem
| healthy until they start to pink up. Is it a water problem? We've had a
cool
| wet season here in New England.
| Please help me save my sauce.....
|
|
|
|

Sounds like blossom end rot, which will usually go away on its own after
affecting the first few tomatoes. By and large, its a self-correcting
condition and it/s a common occurrence in many gardens.

Not much you can do about this year -- in spite of all suggestions to the
contrary, such as adding lime, eggs shells or epsom salts, etc -- it other
than to amend your soil with compost/organic matter, correct its pH, and try
to maintain even soil moisture.
--
TQ

I & H wrote:

I have loads of beautiful green plum tomatoes just waiting to become sauce.
The first two were reddening up so I picked them yesterday, from low on the
plant, and the bottoms were completely rotted out. The same thing happened
to most of my big boys last year. As soon as they start to ripen and pink
up, they develop a area of rot/mold at the bottom. The longer I waited to
pick, the more they dissolved so that they were just half-tomatoes,
beautiful, red, half rotten tomatoes...darn. The plants are pretty crowded
in my garden, they grew full and wide rather than tall (I haven't
planted plum tomatoes before), but the plants and green tomatoes seem
healthy until they start to pink up. Is it a water problem? We've had a cool
wet season here in New England.
Please help me save my sauce.....

Also, anyone have a good recipe for pesto? My basil patch took off this year
and I have boatloads of it ready. Looks like everyone will get pesto for
Christmas this year...

-Holly

Hey Holly, everyone agrees it's blossom end rot. I've had it on some plants
some years. Then I read, and I think it was in this group, that if you push a
calcium vitamin pill into the ground when you plant out, you can prevent the
problem. I've been doing it for the past two growing seasons, one 300 mg pill
per plant, and so far, it seems to be working.

EV

"I & H" wrote in message link.net...
I have loads of beautiful green plum tomatoes just waiting to become sauce.
The first two were reddening up so I picked them yesterday, from low on the
plant, and the bottoms were completely rotted out. The same thing happened
to most of my big boys last year. As soon as they start to ripen and pink
up, they develop a area of rot/mold at the bottom. The longer I waited to
pick, the more they dissolved so that they were just half-tomatoes,
beautiful, red, half rotten tomatoes...darn. The plants are pretty crowded
in my garden, they grew full and wide rather than tall (I haven't
planted plum tomatoes before), but the plants and green tomatoes seem
healthy until they start to pink up. Is it a water problem? We've had a cool
wet season here in New England.
Please help me save my sauce.....

I have found that Roma's are particularly sensitive to blossom-end
rot.

http://www.felcopruners.net/catalog.0.html13.0.html

There's lots of other paste tomato seeds available. Check out the
above site - they even have San Marzano's!

"I & H" wrote in message link.net...
I have loads of beautiful green plum tomatoes just waiting to become sauce.
The first two were reddening up so I picked them yesterday, from low on the
plant, and the bottoms were completely rotted out. The same thing happened
to most of my big boys last year. As soon as they start to ripen and pink
up, they develop a area of rot/mold at the bottom. The longer I waited to
pick, the more they dissolved so that they were just half-tomatoes,
beautiful, red, half rotten tomatoes...darn. The plants are pretty crowded
in my garden, they grew full and wide rather than tall (I haven't
planted plum tomatoes before), but the plants and green tomatoes seem
healthy until they start to pink up. Is it a water problem? We've had a cool
wet season here in New England.
Please help me save my sauce.....

I have found that Roma's are particularly sensitive to blossom-end
rot.

http://www.felcopruners.net/catalog.0.html13.0.html

There's lots of other paste tomato seeds available. Check out the
above site - they even have San Marzano's!

(mycroftt) wrote in message om...

I have found that Roma's are particularly sensitive to blossom-end
rot.

http://www.felcopruners.net/catalog.0.html13.0.html

There's lots of other paste tomato seeds available. Check out the
above site - they even have San Marzano's!

San Marzano are no less sensitive than Roma. It's just the type
(paste) which is like that. Incidentally, I never exeprienced BER, and
I used to grow Roma in compost beds. This summer I have a new garden
in sandy soil which I have not had a chance to improve yet, and I grow
San Marzano and five other varieties. What do you know? Some San
Marzano did get BER, none of the other tomatoes did.

mycroftt wrote:


I have found that Roma's are particularly sensitive to blossom-end
rot.

http://www.felcopruners.net/catalog.0.html13.0.html

There's lots of other paste tomato seeds available. Check out the
above site - they even have San Marzano's!

You wouldn't happen to remember what tab the San's were under would ya?
I couldn't find 'em under the tomato sections and they don't have a
search tab...

mycroftt wrote:


I have found that Roma's are particularly sensitive to blossom-end
rot.

http://www.felcopruners.net/catalog.0.html13.0.html

There's lots of other paste tomato seeds available. Check out the
above site - they even have San Marzano's!

You wouldn't happen to remember what tab the San's were under would ya?
I couldn't find 'em under the tomato sections and they don't have a
search tab...

Steve Calvin wrote:


mycroftt wrote:


I have found that Roma's are particularly sensitive to blossom-end
rot.

http://www.felcopruners.net/catalog.0.html13.0.html

There's lots of other paste tomato seeds available. Check out the
above site - they even have San Marzano's!


You wouldn't happen to remember what tab the San's were under would ya?
I couldn't find 'em under the tomato sections and they don't have a
search tab...



They were on the page linked above, about the 5th variety down the page.

Bob

zxcvbob wrote:

Steve Calvin wrote:



mycroftt wrote:


I have found that Roma's are particularly sensitive to blossom-end
rot.

http://www.felcopruners.net/catalog.0.html13.0.html

There's lots of other paste tomato seeds available. Check out the
above site - they even have San Marzano's!



You wouldn't happen to remember what tab the San's were under would
ya? I couldn't find 'em under the tomato sections and they don't have
a search tab...



They were on the page linked above, about the 5th variety down the page.

Bob

Thanks Bob and a big "DDDUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" from this end. Guess
it's time for that yearly eye exam...