Well this was a depressing little harvest ! These are the rejects from the two plants of this variety. I have now (sadly) developed an eye for when things are going wrong before the ‘leather look’ takes hold. The green tomatoes get a sort of dappling of darker green. So I snipped those off as well.
There are some left on the plant which seem ok – so let’s hope. It’s disappointing not to get any of a variety to ripeness !
In the spirit of scientific discovery I also cut them open to see what BER looks like on the inside. Ignoring the disappointment of the ruined fruit, it’s quite a fetching colour combination. Reminiscent of those Chocolate Lime sweets which along with Chocolate Eclairs and Raspberry Ruffles would be in my favourite ‘quarter of’ stripy bags….It’s important to remember the sweet things when things have turned a bit sour…
PS – Just after writing this post I came across this article on Blossom End Rot. Interestingly amongst other things it recommends watering at night as this is when calcium uptake is at its optimum. This very question of timing re watering came up last week in the post on Belriccio and Blossom End Rot.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
That’s sad to see! I had to remove a yellow brandywine the other day as it had started to rot, but it was in the middle of the outer skin, just a patch. Hopefully the remaining fruits will rally round for you…
Oh not again, that’s a shame. Just a thought – are your pots drying out quickly in the hot weather? I don’t know what time of day you water – I water in the evening, when there’s more time for the plants to have good a drink before it dries out.
At least you can use the tomatoes for chutney; I hope this BBC recipe cheers you up a little.
Interesting indeed. Shuch a shame though. Darn you BER!! After our last discussion, I’ve switched back to watering in the morning but based on this new evidence perhaps the evening is the way forward. Kind of makes sense that the water isn’t evaporating out of the soil before the roots get their fill. A friend of mine using grow bags in a green house says that he gives each bag 3/4 gallon every evening without exception and never has a problem with BER I guess grow bags are far better at conserving moisture, . Also, don’t know if you’ve seen this but quite a good idea for self watering pot planting which i may have a go at next year. All the best, Daniel
http://earthtainer.tomatofest.com/
Worse to lose a brandywine – the bigger they are the more significant it seems to be one down ! Last year with Carbon which was the heaviest I grew I was always amazed how the plant could ‘hang’ onto them.
I’m hoping for rallying too….. there were dark mutterings (from me !) about no more plum shaped…. but in a way it makes me more determined to get it right – at least with this it’s a disorder – so unlike blight – it’s controllable by doing something differently.
Watering in the evening seems to be getting the thumbs up.
At the moment I water in the morning and again later in the day if they look a bit heat stricken.
However the San Marzano does wilt quickly – maybe its because the water has to travel round so many branches of the plant to the fruit – as opposed to up a central stem. They are also quite big plants – sprawly – and I think I undersized the pots in which I put them. And one is a terracotta pot and they dry out more quickly.
Still it’s all learning !
And Chutney would be a good alternative to the compost heap !
To avoid surface evaporation I put a capless ‘bottom cut off’ water bottle into the bigger pots so I can water down to the bottom of the pot and I’ve seen people do this on allotments as well.
The containers that I’ve found have held onto the moisture best this year – are similar to growbags but are used seed compost bags refilled with multipurpose. Seed compost is a bit of a premium priced product but the upside seems to be that the bags are good quality plastic . They hold one plant and are quite ‘dumpy’ so have good stability but light enough to move round the garden if need be !
Thank you for the link – impressive looking system – compact, robust and the plants have grown to a really good height. A few of those lined up would give space for a really good crop. And allow the gardener a long day at the beach without the need to rush home to water !!
Well…. so it’s that simple? watering at night? This is my 1st time at growing San Marzano’s and I was starting to get worried. I’ve picked roughly a 3rd of them off with the same end rot, but that still leaves 2/3, so hopefully I’ll get a handle on this before I lose more. I’ve also got them in pots, roughly a 5-6 gallon size, which so far seems adequate.
On a side note, could anyone advise on a simple mixture to take care of odd looking catapillars? They are green with little white thingy’s (babies?) on their back. I picked 2 of them off the same plant and really don’t want any more… the little buggers are tough to spot until it’s too late. Yeah, I’m new at this but trying. I’m not real big on insectisides, but if that’s my only recourse, I’ll do it. Surely there has to be something that will deter these critters without resorting to harsh chemicals and still not harm the plant or affect the fruit. Any help will be appreciated in this and any other concerns I should be aware of with San Marzanos.
Thanks in advance!!!
Hello
Thank you for stopping by and adding to the number of BER sufferers – its good to know we’re not alone ! It is that shape of tomato which seems to have particular sensitivity. And if you have them in 5-6 gallon pots which I ‘ translate’ at 4.55 litres to the gallon so that would be 20 litre pots which is at least twice the volume of the pots I have mine in. I am going to keep going with mine and see how they turn out eventually – i.e the ones that I haven’t had to pick off . Last year I did in the end get decent pickings from the Roma and Cream Sausage which were similarly afflicted !
Regarding your caterpillars – I’m very lucky in that I don’t seem to get plauged by ‘critters’ of any kind. Even the neighbour cats walk round the top of my fence rather than shortcutting through the garden !
So I had to look this up to see what I could find out.
I don’t know if you are in the UK or not.
It could be the Tomato Hornworn which is the caterpillar of the hawk or sphinx moth but I don’t think its something that really crops up in the UK – although the white things could fit the description of the parasitic wasp which is good as they would be intent on eating/killing it.
Otherwise I’ve had a look in the RHS guide to pests and diseases and they refer to the catepiller of the tomato moth. Which it describes as ‘up to 35mm fully grown either brown or pale green with a yellow line marked by many tiny white dots along each side of the body.
Advice is to remove on sight – the earlier after hatching the better or spray – with insecticide – pyrethrum or bifenthrin. although bifenthrin has now been withdrawn with a date of May 11 as the last legal date of use. Pyrethrum is still avaliable . Here’s a link to the RHS on caterpillars and chemicals if you want to read more.
Good Luck and it would be great to know how things turn out !
Hi! I just discovered this blog. I have been growing tomatoes for 3 years now. This is my first year growing San Marzano. The first few tomatoes were pitifully small with BER. Since then, I have been adding epsom salt to my tomato plants as well as some dolomite, as recommended by this lady. The new crop is much more interesting – very large tomatoes with no BER.
On another note, I have San Marzano in two pots, a large one and a rather smaller one. The roots of the one growing in the smaller pot have escaped the pot & have anchored into the soil below. Looking at the two plants now, the one growing in the smaller pot with the roots into the soil is healthier, with stronger stems & looks like it’s going to bear more fruits. I’m still not going to grow my tomatoes in the soil next year, but I’ll surely change to much bigger pots.
Hello. Welcome and thank you for stopping by and for sharing your tomato stories.
Thanks also for the link – I watched the video and enjoyed listening to the presenter’s Southern accent – and as well as the technical advice the nice little touches – like calling early cropping tomatoes- Early Girls or First Ladies – lovely !
In a way the tomato growing in the small pot is like the practice of ring culture – where you put a bottomless pot of compost/soil for the tomato to grow into and rest it either on a grow bag or soil. I’m sure who ever invented it – started with the accidental – just as yours has !
It sounds as if you are going to have a great crop this year.
I just have to chuckle… (mostly at myself). I’m still getting the BER on the San Marzano’s and the only fruit I’m going to end up with are the ones that started out early. I suspect due to the very wet spring and early summer. Plus the potting soil I used was fairly well balanced in PH & nutrients. I obviously haven’t given up, but it’s been pretty disappointing. The lime and less nitrogen make perfect sense… NOW!! (hense my chuckle). I have 7 tomato plants in pots (3 different varieties) and treated most of them differently. The ones I added nitrogen in the spring shot up very quickly, but ended up with the leaf-curl. The fruit was sizable for Roma’s, at least for the 1st picking, but it looks like the rest will be smaller and not sure if they’ll make it to maturity. As mentioned before, the San Marzano’s are not looking promising. The plants appear healthy and vigorous, but the fruit is a disappointment. On one of my other Roma plants, I opted to put it in a wider pot, but not as much depth as the other. I didn’t add any extra fertilizer to this one other than what was already in the potting soil and it’s been an outstanding producer… go figure (but it’s not as tall as I would have hoped and the excessive heat this summer has taken it’s toll being in a pot). Ultimately, the major question for myself is: “What have you learned from this?” Well… 1) I suck at growing tomatoes! lol 2) Next year pay more attention to lime and less to nitrogen (yeah, I’ll try again next year). 3) Seek out a soil mixture that is compost based and add dolomite lime. There is an over grown area behind where I live and may fill a few pots with that soil as opposed to potting soil. (Well… the weeds, bushes, and trees sure like it back there!) It seems a given that the natural earth as opposed to “manufactured” potting soil may be considerably better (at least it doesn’t dry out as quickly). And I’ll plop a few in the ground just for the sake of it and ammend the soil with lime & compost. Guess I’ll find out next year as the experiment continues… who knows, perhaps I’ll get it right before they put me in the ground! (if they plant healthy tomatoes over my grave, I’ll rest in peace!). Best of luck to all…
P.S. All of the links have been very helpful throughout this blog. Thanks to all that have contributed to my addiction! lol
In a way the tomato growing in the small pot is like the practice of ring culture – where you put a bottomless pot of compost/soil for the tomato to grow into and rest it either on a grow bag or soil.
A great idea! I do my own composting. I may let the pots sit on a pile of compost next year. I’m so scared of planting tomatoes in the soil having come across so many dire warnings about disease-causing organisms getting in the soil. Instead, I plant them in pots & get rid of the year’s soil on the frontyard lawn, far from where I grow my tomatoes & chili peppers (not a stupid practice, I hope!). I have a small backyard with an even smaller space that gets enough sunlight for tomatoes to grow adequately so that rotation is not an option. Anyway, thanks for the tip!
Ah – I need to be clearer in my terms of reference – so as not to cause confusion! When I said compost I was thinking of what I ( cos I have no soil !) have to buy in bags – which in the UK is termed multi-purpose compost. I know lots of veg gardeners who grow their courgettes directly on top of their compost heaps/piles which is the kind of compost I think you are referring to but I don’t know about tomatoes. However I’ve also read articles where people grow tomatoes from bales of hay or straw ( can’t remember which !) .
What your comments made me realise though is I’d like to know more about the whole soil/ disease link…. what are they likely to get – how does it build in the soil etc etc. I haven’t had to look at it because of growing in pots but you’ve inspired me to do some research – so watch out for future posts !
Well we have to make sure you get to enjoy some lovely home grown tomatoes before you’re pushing them up ! I like that though – forget the daisies – I want to be pushing up Sungold !
That is another way to approach it though – you have Roma and San Marzano – both of which seem to suffer from BER – whereas if you grow some cherry types as well (some a bit prone to splitting ! – but different problem to deal with) then they’re not sensitive in the same way.
The more I think about this the more I think we need to find some Italian tomato growers to bombard with questions! San Marzano is the variety in all those cans of tomatoes – so they must know something about growing plum tomatoes and avoiding BER !
And on the nitrogen front you are right about it being for leafy growth – it’s why they to say not to apply nitrogen fertililzers to plants and lawns in the autumn – because plants and grass put on spurts of green growth – but it’s new and soft and so then when frost and cold weather comes – late autumn and winter – it’s not tough enough to withstand.
Not that that is of concern to us tomato lovers – our plants are goners at the first frosts !