Tomatoes Disease - Large Brown Marks - Help please
Betty BigSpud
Posts: 2
I wonder if anyone can please help me identify what is wrong with my tomatoes. I get unintelligible error messages when trying to upload a photo so will try to describe.
Pale beige marks on sides of developing tomatoes. Turn gradually darker, eventually, after some days, become larger, spreading round the fruit and becoming dark brown and sunken in patches. Not slimy on outside. On inside, the brown appears to be just under the skin, spongy-looking in texture, slightly wetter than surrounding flesh and not deep i.e. appears not to extend into the centre, nor to the top or bottom.
Have removed fruits with emerging marks from 5 plants. Most remaining fruits appear unaffected after 2 weeks, though have found a second one on one plant.
I've discounted Blossom Rot as the problem appears not on the bottoms of the fruit, but only on the sides.
Affected tomatoes are Costoluto Fiorentino and Costoluto di Parma. Grown in large pots in greenhouse. Good manure-enriched soil. Feeding normal tomato fertiliser, but was feeding every two days. Now not feeding at all as concerned about magnesium deficiency???? No shading on glass as greenhouse has small apple tree on south side so gets shade from that. Problem appears not to be scorch as affected tomatoes not in full sun.
San Marzano and Gardeners Delight unaffected by this problem...so far.
Rain water every morning and night (enough to maintain damp but not sodden soil).
Any ideas much appreciated.
Posts
Hello Pansyface. Thanks for reply. The US site didn't solve my problem.
Buddyboy - no sign of blight on leaves though I did remove some lower leaves that had curled and were quite blotchy with purplish-brown mottles (I identified this as magnesium deficiency caused, possibly, by overuse of potassium tomato feed). Can't find any info on what magnesium deficiency will do to the fruit.
Affected tomatoes were not on the sunny side and the development is quite different to your photos. All of my tomatoes are still green and the thing develops from a small almost invisible change in colour beneath the skin to beige/very pale brown, then gradually spreads around the sides of the fruit.
Wish I could figure how to upload a photo so you could see. Anyway, thanks so much for your kind help.
Betty, very difficult to tell without a photo. As Buddyboy asked, is there any sign of trouble with the plant stems?
One thing I'd say is that feeding every two days is way too much. Not a good idea to keep the mix permanently damp either. Most diseases will manifest on leaves as well as fruit, some on stems as well as leaves and fruit. If you don't have those sorts of associated symptoms, it could be a case of overdosing with food and water.