this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2025
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Gardening

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Southern Ontario, Canada. It has been crazy hot and humid - 33C plus humidity.

Do we need more water? Less? This is happening to about 1/3 of the tomatoes and they are not resting on the ground.

Edit: thanks everyone. She's going to start with a bit of lime and some more attention to how much she's watering.

She may even create a lemmy account now that she's seen how many helpful fellow gardeners around here, so win-win!

Thanks again

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[–] InvalidName2@lemmy.zip 22 points 5 days ago

Blossom end rot.

Most commonly this is due to insufficient levels of calcium, which can be caused by too little available calcium in the soil, pH of the soil being out of range, or too much of other competing ions on the soil, amongst other issues.

Most often, this can be fixed with the addition of a little lime (i.e. calcium powder lime, not the fruit) added to the soil. Will take about 2 - 3 weeks to resolve if that's the issue.

[–] Iamsqueegee@sh.itjust.works 9 points 5 days ago

Blossom end rot caused by lack of uptake of calcium. This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to add more calcium to the soil though! It’s largely a watering issue. The plant is getting too much or not enough water and can’t make use of the calcium that may already be present in the soil. Tomatoes want about an inch of water a week and they are moody! Be consistent with your watering. Don’t over do it. Tomatoes will let you know when they feel neglected. There is a product called Rot Stop that is a calcium spray. Apply directly to the plant so it can uptake the calcium it’s not getting naturally.

[–] anabollocks@masto.nyc 4 points 4 days ago

@UnrefinedChihuahua Looks like blossom end rot - most frequently caused by inconsistent watering but can be a number of other things.

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Tomato end blossom rot. Add calcium.

[–] Bakkoda@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

While calcium uptake is the problem, other nutrients might be causing the lack of uptake. Inconsistent watering is also a culprit. Just adding more of a nutrient is not always the answer.

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

yeah but in end blossom rot it's usually that simple

[–] Sprocketfree@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Was gonna add blossom rot but y'all got it covered

[–] Sprocketfree@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 days ago

Always toss your egg shells where you plant tomatoes

[–] pirateMonkey@lemmy.world 4 points 5 days ago

Some places will say nutrient deficiency (Ca) but mine have done that and the issue was largely solved by more water.