Garden Lawn | Ask A Gardener: Drought And Your Veggies
Dry weather slows down fungus diseases, but it brings its own problems. Here at Tompkins County Cornell Cooperative Extension, we have had many questions about dark lesions on the bottom of tomatoes, the blossom end. The culprit is called “blossom end rot.” Please call 272-2292 for a handout on this problem.
Blossom end rot (which attacks peppers as well) is a physiological problem caused by a calcium deficiency in the developing fruit. There usually is plenty of calcium in the soil, but when rain is deficient, and supplemental watering is inadequate or uneven, the calcium is not transported to the blossom end of the tomato. After a month of hot, dry weather, we can expect to see blossom end rot for a while longer in tomatoes that started developing during that time. Hopefully, the rain will be sufficient from now on, and newly set tomatoes will not be affected.
The cure is to keep the roots of the tomato plants as evenly moist (but well-drained, of course) as possible. Thorough deep watering once or twice a week, depending on soil type, size of the plant, amount of rain, if any, and how hot it is, is better than just sprinkling with the hose a little every day or two. Sprinkling just encourages shallow rooting, whereas deep watering encourages roots to grow deeper and wider to seek out water. Mulching will cut down on evaporation
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