Big splotches on fruit

[cecilsgarden1958]

Originally Posted by zipcode

It's not very clear what the problem is in that picture. Sometimes a tomato has like one side growing slower and remaining green when the other is ripe. Is that it? Not sure what triggers this, probably something to do with pollination but some varieties are quite susceptible to this (Azoychka for example does for me often).

Oh, it is definitely Blotchy. I provided the info on soil, pest spray and fertilizer, just in case I triggered it and could avoid it next time. My BIL alos has Blotchy this year. He is growing all Whopper plants.

[bower]

I dread to say I am having the same problem again, and this is three years in a row.
Starting late again, no choice really as spring was so cold, and then high temperatures during fruit set in the greenhouse. I am not seeing it at all on the outdoor fruit - although not that many of them have ripened yet either, so it may still show up I guess.. They're mostly small fruit or cherries though which I believe are less susceptible...
Some varieties are affected more than others, some not at all, others a little...You can see the damage always on the same side of the fruit in one corner so it has something to do with heat or shade or both afaict. And I have two plants in one container which are the worst of all, maybe beyond salvage.. not sure why they were so much worse affected because they are very similar to their eight siblings in every way except they had a bigger container and more resources. And a bigger crop of much more useless fruit. Ho hum.
As for salvage, you can cut away the unripening parts and make sauce of the rest, if you dare or care to do it.

[bower]

Here's an interesting link about "yellow shoulders":
http://agdev.anr.udel.edu/weeklycrop...omato-ripening

".. We measured fruit (pulp) temperatures of between 86o and 105oF morning through evening hours in July. When temperatures are greater than 85-88oF lycopene is not produced. Temperatures need to drop below 85oF before it is consistently produced. Inside the plant we see a reduction in potassium (K) just before yellow shoulders is seen. This year in our tissue testing we saw drops in K of 3-4% in a matter of weeks going from 4-6% (which is good) to 2-3% (which is poor). Usually within a week or two of this drop we see yellow shoulders start up. There are also drops in calcium (Ca), nitrogen and at times magnesium (Mg)..."

"We see the same problems in high tunnels; only we see them a month earlier than in the field. For now, best recommendations are to add more potassium and calcium to plants and make sure plants are well watered. You can add either nutrient through the drip or as foliar sprays. Foliar sprays will help, but it is difficult to raise the potassium levels 2-4% points as would be needed. I have found that boron also plays a role in helping with the uptake of K, Ca, sulfur and Mg, but all the data are not in at this time to make a recommendation..."

I would like to know what you did with ferts, AKMark, to solve the problem!
I managed to find some soluble high K ferts but it was obviously too late for fruit that had already grown to full size in a deficient condition.

This article also says:
" One unusual way of avoiding the problem all together is to harvest tomatoes when pink color is first seen and let the fruit ripen at room temperature in the dark. Because the lycopene is produced as the fruit ripens it is often possible to avoid yellow shoulders by removing the fruit from the high temperatures and other stresses. "
But I'm not sure that would work, where the potassium deficit (from any cause) has already affected the fruit during setting and growth. It might help if the cause (heat) has just kicked in when they're ready to ripen.