Tomatoes Are Black Inside

[Marsha]

Our tomatoes are in cages and there are no weeds we treated the plants with a fungicide. The tomatoes look great on the outside but look inside.

What is this, can it be stopped or is our crop lost?

[Marsha]

Originally Posted by Marsha

Our tomatoes are in cages and there are no weeds we treated the plants with a fungicide. The tomatoes look great on the outside but look inside.

What is this, can it be stopped or is our crop lost?

This is what the tomatoes look like inside.

[carolyn137]

http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/95/4/571

Without seeing a picture my suggestion is internal BER. Most folks know external BER at the blossom end but not that many folks know that it can also occur internally.

In the link above scroll down until you see on the left the panel of four pictures with one showing internal BER.

I've spent over 30 min trying to find other good pictures with no luck. I wish I could transfer the picture of internal BER to here, the one that's in my Seminis Tomato monograph, but I can't.

Just know that when you cut open the fruit that the black can be just around the edges or can involve a small black area in the center or a much larger black area covering most of the internal part of the fruit.

The same information you know about BER , which is a physiological condition not a disease, and what causes it can also be applied to internal BER.

Edited to add that there are some other causes of black areas on fruits that are caused by infectious agents such as Black Mold and Rhizoctonia but the lesions for those can be seen externally whereas with internal BER the exterior looks fine until you cut the fruit open.

[dustdevil]

I see a lot of tomato leaf curl in the first photo...probably too much water. You also may need more calcium in the soil around your tomatoes. Heavy clay soil tends to hold a lot of water...water sparingly when the tomato plants start to droop. And of course, your toms might be paying the price due to excessive rain.

[feldon30]

It's hard to tell from that picture, but it looks like hard pan clay and just a few sheets of newspaper for mulch. Irregular watering and inability of the tomato plant to take up and regulate water is a sure cause of BER.

[Paul R]

Here are the pics Carolyn refereed to.

Paul R

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Paul R

Here are the pics Carolyn refereed to.

Paul R

Thanks Paul, I'm not clever enough to do that.

A is the one with internal BER and as I said above sometimes much larger internal areas of black can be seen.

B and C are external BER and you can see that b/c the integrity of the blossom end fruit wall is gone as opposed to the complete fruit/wall at the blossom end with A.

[Paul R]

Your welcome Carolyn.

[Marsha]

Thanks to all of you for the excellent diagnosis of our tomatos disease. I guess at this point there is nothing that can be done to save them. Would you put calcium in the soil now or is it too late?
Thanks again!

[BlackestKrim]

Tomatoes often "grow out" of blossom-end rot; my cousin's plants had this problem on their first fruits but now they are producing just fine . I would suggest more mulching and more regular/even watering. I have limited experience with BER compared to most on Tomatoville, so there may be more to do than that.

[Mischka]

I don't think you'll lose your entire crop from BER, perhaps the first few ripe fruits, even if you're growing all determinate varieties.

I've attached a bulletin from OSU that describes the condition in detail and has some good advice for prevention, as well as treatment.

[feldon30]

And the "d" picture is when your tomatoes are radioactive and glowing blue and yellow. Just kidding!

I hope things clear up for you.

[hasshoes]

Could also be bacterial pith necrosis, but it's rare so that's not likely.

[hasshoes]

Tomato plants can fight through bacterial pith necrosis especially during warm, sunny weather, however you can still end up with NASTY tasting tomatoes, some with black inside, others without. Been there, done that. . . hope that isn't your problem. Totally heartbreaking! You can google it to find a picture. Good luck.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by hasshoes

Tomato plants can fight through bacterial pith necrosis especially during warm, sunny weather, however you can still end up with NASTY tasting tomatoes, some with black inside, others without. Been there, done that. . . hope that isn't your problem. Totally heartbreaking! You can google it to find a picture. Good luck.

Heather, when you posted above about pith necrosis I was surprised b'c while I've never had that disease I know about it and it affects primarily the pith inside the stems, as I know you know.

So I checked my tomato pathology book and a couple of sites online and yes, it can also cause black areas on primarily green fruits on the exterior, but no mention was made of internal black.

What have I missed here?

And as you also said, with which I agree, that it's a rare disease, which is so very true.