If you are planning to grow your own home garden, then your are likely to grow tomatoes as well. Nothing beats the taste of fresh home grown tomato. However, it’s equally heart breaking if the tomatoes don’t ripe well. Many times, tomato may ripe but may have an ugly spongy black spot at its bottom. This is a “tomato problem”, but you can fix it!
Here is the list of the most common problem faced while growing tomatoes and solutions to those to problems.
Blossom End Rot
The tomato appears healthy but it has an ugly black patch at its bottom. The black spot has a leathery texture to it. This happens due to a lack of calcium in the soil or when the pH level in the soil is too low.
Solution
To avoid this you can conduct a soil test before the springing of tomatoes in your local garden or center. Lime or gypsum may be added for calcium in the soil to improve its current condition. Water the plants regularly to ensure that there is no lack of water.
Blossom Drop
This happens when flowers appear on the tomato plants but they fall off without developing tomatoes. This happens due to fluctuation in temperature. Other reasons for blossom drop maybe insect damage or lack of water.
Solution
Since no one has control over the weather. Make sure that you make the plant strong by using good fertilizers for tomatoes. You can also use neem oil insecticides to avoid insect damage.
Fruit cracks
These cracks appear on the ripe tomatoes. Insects may use these cracks as an opportunity to eat the fruit from inside. These cracks appear due to hot and rainy weather. This is followed by a dry spell this makes the plant vulnerable to crack.
Solution
To prevent the cracking of tomatoes you can even water them during the growing season. This prevents the plant from being extra dry and avoids the chances of cracking.
Catfacing
Catfacing makes tomato look deformed and also makes them look bumpy and lumpy. This happens when flowers pollinate even before petals began to drop off. Some petal sticks to the fruit while others drop off. The petals which managed to stick develop tomatoes.
Solution
To avoid catfacing try to plant tomatoes a little later in this season. Make sure that the weather is truly warmed up to support tomato development. Using black plastic spread on the soil will also help to reduce this problem.
Puffiness
Puffiness refers to the open spaces inside the tomato. The tomato may look perfectly fine at the outside but in its interior, it has large open spaces and not much fruit inside. Tomatoes may feel light when harvested. Under fertilization and poor soil, nutrition leads to the puffiness in tomatoes. Inadequate pollination may also be the reason for its puffiness.
Solution
To avoid puffiness make sure that you feed your tomato throughout the season. Balance fertilizer such as 10-10-10 will work wonders when applied monthly. Tomatoes are heavy feeder plants and they need a lot of fertilizer during their growing season. Home-made compost teas are also a must for tomatoes.
Conclusion
Keep a regular eye on your tomatoes, and in case any problem detected, fix it right there.
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