Tomato blight

[AngryOldDem]

Just popping in to this forum to get your insights on this.

We live in Indiana and have a modest vegetable garden around our house. This year we have so far lost about a dozen or so tomatoes to some kind of disease. The tomatoes show white patches of rot, and are rotting on the bottom. Tomatoes that look ripe on top are flat and extremely soft on the bottom. We didn't have this issue last year, and we're wondering what could be the cause, and if there is anything we can do to save the rest of the crop. Like most of the country, it's been extremely dry here this summer (this will be the driest July in Indiana history, in fact).

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

[LiberalLoner]

1. I hope this might help some.

http://www.veggiegardeningtips.com/tomato-blossom-end-rot/

[CanonRay]

2. I ran into something called "blossom-end rot" a number of years ago in Illinois.

Some kind of fungus. I think I used bone meal in the soil, but I'm not positive...perhaps you could google it.

[TwilightGardener]

4. Blossom end rot is related to either calcium deficiency or irregular watering, maybe both.

Edit to add: for me, watering on a schedule (not allowing them to get too dry) and Schulz tomato fertilizer granules cured the problem.

[izquierdista]

7. Drywall works too

I scavenge building sites for throwaway pieces of drywall and use is as soil amendment. My clay soil needs LOTS of calcium, and I leave the drywall out in the weather until it is nice and crumbly and till it under.

[Old and In the Way]

3. We thought we had blight on our plants this year, but we put Miracle Grow

for Tomatoes on our plants and they rebounded nicely. I think we had a phosphorous deficiency in the soil.

[Name removed]

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[Viva_La_Revolution]

5. mix a half cup of nonfat dry milk and a pinch of epsom salt in a gallon of h20

and spray the plants down. This is an official DU miracle formula that I have found to keep fungal diseases at bay, and especially helps the plants process potassium when the ground is cold and wet here. The calcium will help with the blossom end rot, do your best to keep them deep watered.

[Name removed]

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[AngryOldDem]

6. Thanks, all!

:hi:

I read this forum often, so I knew I'd get a lot of good advice.

[Name removed]

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[newfie11]

8. when I was a young woman and started my first garden

I had the same problem. Blossom end rot is what it is, however in those days I was told to put a little ivory laundry detergent in the soil when I planed. Never had the problem again. That was in Virginia. Now many years later in the corner of nebraska/Wyoming/Colorado my only problem is GRASSHOPPERS!!!

[Name removed]

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