The Rot

Ick! The tomatoes look all red and juicy from the top, but sometimes when you go to pick them off the vine your thumb goes right through the bottom. The culprit is Blossom-End Rot or, as I like to call it, The Rot. Theresa says this is quite common in our first round of tomatoes. According to NC State University:

"Blossom-end rot of tomatoes is a physiological disorder caused by a lack of sufficient calcium in the blossom end of the fruit. This disorder results in the decay of tomato fruits on their blossom end. Dry brown or tan areas the size of a dime, that grow to the size of a half dollar, characterize this disorder. This disorder is usually most severe following extremes in soil moisture (either too dry or too wet)." (http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-28-d.html)

As many of our CSA members are aware, a number of our crops have suffered set backs this season due in part to adverse weather conditions. The early spring was extremely wet, and we have now suffered a major dry spell. We continually irrigate all our fields, but, unfortunately we have still lost some of our tomatoes to The Rot.