gardening
Tomato
troubles—
Story by Pat Rubin
It’s no wonder tomatoes top the list of favorite crops. Slice a freshly picked tomato onto a sandwich, eat them like apples, dice for tacos, make a caprese salad—there’s no such thing as toomany tomatoes. Your friends will welcome any extras. Though generally easy to grow, tomatoes sometimes come with problems. Here are a few common woes as well as solutions. and what to do about them
Tomatoes with no leaf cover exposed to the hot afternoon sun can get sunscald. Put a piece of shade cloth or newspaper over the exposed fruit. Sunscald
Wilt, nematodes or tobacco mosaic virus
Most hybird tomato varieties resist viruses and blights, but the heirloom types not so much. Look at the tag: If it says VFN, VFNA or VFFNA, it is resistant to wilt diseases. “V” means the variety is resistant to Verticillium wilt. “F” means the variety shows tolerance to Fusarium wilt. (Two F’s means it is resistant to both types of Fusarium wilt.) “N” means nematode resistance. “T” on the tag means the variety resists the tobacco mosaic virus. “A” means it is not susceptible to Alterneria root rot. If your plants have these problems, or you suspect they do, remove the plants and put them in the garbage—not the compost pile. Start over with different varieties in a different location.
Blossom end rot
This one produces a mushy, dark area on the bottom of the fruit. It doesn’t affect the taste or the entire tomato— just cut the spot off. The problem typically occurs early in the season,
and is related to watering issues and calcium imbalance in the soil. General advice is do nothing; it rights itself as the plant grows.
MORE ONLINE Succulents, cacti and California native plants are among the sun worshippers to seek out this time of year. Learn more in Pat’s Garden Travels. Plus, find a seasonal to-do list and answers to reader questions about tomatoes, all at www.californiabountiful.com.
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July/August 2020
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