Home › Forums › FOOD PRODUCTION, HARVEST AND STORAGE › Vegetables › Mottley Tomatoes
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barefoot_misty.
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December 5, 2012 at 5:38 pm #257463
Mrs Potatohead
MemberHi Guys
I’m new to this forum so bare with me.
I’ve just harvested my first few tomatoes (not quite ripe but enough colour) but they seem a bit mottley in colour. I’ve also noticed a few green tomatoes with a big blemish mostly on the underside that I don’t think will be any good. (see photos)
I thought maybe not enough water or are they screaming for some nutrient eg potash?
My location is in the north west slopes and plains of NSW and even though I have enriched the mostly red loam soil with plenty of compost etc and mulched, it dries out very quickly.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Cheers :shrug:
December 5, 2012 at 6:20 pm #529513lostinthefog
MemberHi…Mrs. Potatohead 🙂 The problem causing the brown on the bottom of your toms is Blossom End Rot…lack of water when the fruit is forming can cause this, also I have read that it can be caused by a lack of calcium, last year 99% of our tomatoes were fine and we just had an occasional one with blossom end rot so I am inclined to thinkl it is more of a water problem.
As for the mottling..I don’t know, we had some fruit like that last season and the cause was a bug…I forget the name but my husband knows(he’s a horticulturist!), I’ll post the name later and maybe you can Google it to see if it looks like the damage to your Toms..
Gosh it looks dry where you are!! :ohmy:
December 5, 2012 at 6:24 pm #529514Bel
MemberHi Mrs Potatohead and welcome to the forum. The blemish on the bottom of your tomatoes is blossom end rot. Caused by lack if calcium or irregular watering. Some lime may help. Try this site for more info: Blossom End Rot
The mottling may be a tomato wilt virus. Try googling and see if the images fit. May pop back later with more advice – hard to type on iphone
December 5, 2012 at 6:36 pm #529515Mrs Potatohead
MemberThanks for the advice guys. I did have the tomato plants under shade cloth until recently (see photo)and that may have inhibited the moisture penetrating the ground properly. I’m not used to this dry, hot area as I’ve only been here just over 12 months from Sydney so it’s been a bit of trial and error. And yes it is dry. Such a big difference to last year with all the rain we had and now we can’t get any rain, but it doesn’t seem to stop the weeds coming up and boy have we got some doosies. I will go and put some lime on now and give them a good water, it may stem the rest of the fruit going off.
Will keep you posted.
🙂
December 5, 2012 at 6:37 pm #529516porgey
MemberHi Mrs Potatohead, It certainly looks like BER. You can start solving future problems by composting as much as you can and adding as finely crushed egg shells as you can to the compost.
It might be wise if you have the time & space to plan next seasons plot and start growing green manure and marigolds over summer, then digging it all in over autumn/winter and let the worms do what they do best whilst adding as much calcium enriched compost as you can.
Best of luck, cheers, porgey.
December 5, 2012 at 6:43 pm #529517lostinthefog
MemberCrusader Beetles is the name (thankyou better half)of those bugs..may be what is causing the problem of the mottled fruit…
December 5, 2012 at 8:56 pm #529518Lady Bee
KeymasterWe get Green Vegetable Bugs that cause a mottling on tomatoes. They’re buggers of things, they give off a very pungent smell when disturbed or squished.
Picture of them here: The little black dotted things are the babies.
December 5, 2012 at 9:06 pm #529519Anonymous
Guestapparently an application of dissolved gypsum can help? we have not had any for yonks now in the same time upped our gypsum usage. plus also watering can cause it by inconsistancy best couple times a week let them fry a bit deep water in the evening around the root zone not over the foliage.
len
December 6, 2012 at 12:51 am #529520BlueWren
MemberEmergency calcium treatment for current BER may help – crushed “TUMS” tablets in a little water and applied at ground level.
December 6, 2012 at 5:06 pm #529521barefoot_misty
MemberTy Mrs Potato Head, I have a few tomatoes that look like that that I have just been removing. At least I know the problem now. Most are fine though, so maybe there was a short period where they lacked water.
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