Nanny, I know how hot it can get inside a greenhouse. Shading helps but, without proper ventilation, the hot air is simply trapped inside. The danger is a vicious circle of overheating hence overwatering, a recipe for stressing a plant.
Many years ago a very experienced grower told me more toms are damaged by pampering than by neglect. Toms are tough critters, tougher than many realise. A couple of years ago the greengrocer in my little town gave me a couple of mature seedlings. I left them in the garden in their tiny pots, planning to plant them out later. I forgot all about them. It was summer, so hot. I found them a couple of months later. They'd had no water, no nothing. Not only had they grown, they had set fruit before dying. This isn't advocating harsh treatment, it's just evidence of how tough a tomato plant really is left to its own devices.
Here are my toms on the terrace. It's early, the sun hasn't reached the terrace yet.
Cherokee Purple on the left, Camp Joy on the right. CP is in a smaller pot with smaller stake because it doesn't grow to anything like the size of the CJ. They're in full sun for 8 or 9 hours, temps in the low 30s, watered every second day, even the smaller pot. They're thriving.
seyfades, nothing wrong with your foliage or stems. Very healthy. And an outstanding crop. Are they Costoluto Fiorentino? Fungal diseases usually manifest on the foliage and stems before the fruit so it's mysterious. How widespread are the blemishes across the plant?
seyfades, nothing wrong with your foliage or stems. Very healthy. And an outstanding crop. Are they Costoluto Fiorentino? Fungal diseases usually manifest on the foliage and stems before the fruit so it's mysterious. How widespread are the blemishes across the plant?
Yes they are Costoluto Fiorentino, they are on the first trusses in the two plants I have. The trusses above are still in flower.
Italia, there is a world of diffference between a tomato in a pot, even in extreme heat, and a tomato in a greenhouse, where the heat is more intense, and heightened by the glass, even with shading material, amazed you get away with watering every 2 days, mine are done outside, twice a day at the moment. 2 years ago, when we had external temps in the twenties by day, 8c at night mine got blossom end rot, usually caused by fluctuating temps and lack of water, as you say stressing the plant,and magnesium I read, water with epsom salts, one dose cured it, together with copius watering and damping down. I see my "other" garden mag says to damp down the greenhouse 3 times a day at present. But agree with Dove, the pics look like blight, not blossom end rot.
Agree with what you're saying about watering, and trying to reduce extreme swings of temperature.
But Epsom Salt is not good advice for BER. I would guess it was some sort of coincidence, or other factors, and not the Magnesium in the Epsom Salt that 'cured' your BER.
Epsom Salt: there's no reason or benefit to use it unless you think your plants will otherwise be deficient in Magnesium. Good tomato feeds will already contain some Magnesium.
In fact, I think Epsom Salt can make BER worse, because the Magnesium can interfere or 'compete' with the Calcium uptake or distribution.
Chris is correct that too much magnesium can lock-out calcium making calcium unavailable to the plant. But as has already been said it's not BER. It could be an infection related to blight such as phytophthora parasitica or phytophthora capsici or something like Anthracnose - I don't know if treatments are available. Sometimes the stem of the plant just above the soil may show blight-like markings that look like a bruise.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I thought about Anthracnose but it tends not to show up on green fruit. It rears its ugly head as the tomato ripens. It also manifests as a spot which grows in size rather than the lesions we're looking at. It's a good suggestion to check the stems at the base. The rest of the foliage looks fine.
I agree re Epsom Salts. Years ago it was seen as a bit of a cure-all. It will add magnesium but, with modern potting mixes and fertilisers, a magnesium deficiency would be unusual.
Posts
Many years ago a very experienced grower told me more toms are damaged by pampering than by neglect. Toms are tough critters, tougher than many realise. A couple of years ago the greengrocer in my little town gave me a couple of mature seedlings. I left them in the garden in their tiny pots, planning to plant them out later. I forgot all about them. It was summer, so hot. I found them a couple of months later. They'd had no water, no nothing. Not only had they grown, they had set fruit before dying. This isn't advocating harsh treatment, it's just evidence of how tough a tomato plant really is left to its own devices.
Here are my toms on the terrace. It's early, the sun hasn't reached the terrace yet.
Cherokee Purple on the left, Camp Joy on the right. CP is in a smaller pot with smaller stake because it doesn't grow to anything like the size of the CJ. They're in full sun for 8 or 9 hours, temps in the low 30s, watered every second day, even the smaller pot. They're thriving.
But Epsom Salt is not good advice for BER. I would guess it was some sort of coincidence, or other factors, and not the Magnesium in the Epsom Salt that 'cured' your BER.
Epsom Salt: there's no reason or benefit to use it unless you think your plants will otherwise be deficient in Magnesium. Good tomato feeds will already contain some Magnesium.
In fact, I think Epsom Salt can make BER worse, because the Magnesium can interfere or 'compete' with the Calcium uptake or distribution.
There are other less common forms of 'rot', so maybe 'Bacterial Soft Rot' is a possibility?
If that's the case, then the hot weather could be a contributing factor, with optimum temperatures for the bacterial growth in the infected fruits.
Where did you get the seeds/plants from?
But as has already been said it's not BER.
It could be an infection related to blight such as phytophthora parasitica or phytophthora capsici or something like Anthracnose - I don't know if treatments are available.
Sometimes the stem of the plant just above the soil may show blight-like markings that look like a bruise.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I agree re Epsom Salts. Years ago it was seen as a bit of a cure-all. It will add magnesium but, with modern potting mixes and fertilisers, a magnesium deficiency would be unusual.
Like Chris, I'd be interested to know if they were grown from seed. Seeds can carry nasties.