Nice Plant, no Tomatoes? Cure or Prevent Blossom End Rot.

Sometimes you will have a nice looking tomato plant that is not setting any tomatoes. Like this:

Healthy looking tomato plant not producing many tomatoes?

Blossom end rot is a plant disease that attacks the blooms of the tomato plant as they attempt to set fruit. Just in case you need to explain it to a friend, when the bee fertilizes the flower, the base of the flower (containing the ovary) makes seeds. The fertilized ovary houses the seeds, makes nutrients for them and turns into the tomato that we eat. Blossom end rot causes the flower to turn brown and get droopy. The base of the flower (the ovary) will eventually drop off. It looks like this:

Blossom end rot on tomatoes looks like this. The disease attacks the blooms and the place where the ovary is attached to the plant

The problem is caused by a calcium deficiency. Long ago farm ladies would save egg shells and put them around the tomato plants. This takes a long time to react, though, so at the first sign of this problem on our plants, I went to my friendly hardware store and purchased the two items shown below:

You will need a spray apparatus and a bottle of blossom end rot treatment, the active ingredient is calcium

The main ingredient is calcium. The product label says it has 10% calcium derived from calcium chloride. As with most chemicals, brand names don’t matter, read the contents on the label.

Mix the product at a rate of 2 tablespoons per gallon. Apply it in the morning while it is still cool. Spray the foliage and particularly the flowers of the plant(s). Repeat the treatment once a week for three weeks. Make sure the plant is well watered and not stressed before application. You will see a dramatic difference in tomato production.

If you see the problem on your plants, get right on it. It won’t heal itself.
Happy Gardening
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Published by John P.Schulz

I lost my vocal cords a while back due to throat cancer. The laryngectomy sent me on a quest to find and learn to use my new, altered voice. I am able to talk now with a really small and neat new prosthesis. My writing reflects what I have learned in my search for a voice. My site johnschulzauthor.com publishes a daily motivational quote and a personal comment. I write an article a week for my blog, johntheplantman.com which deals with a lot of the things that I do in the garden. I am also the author of Requiem for a Redneck and the new Redemption for a Redneck--novels portraying the lives and doings of folks around the north Georgia hills. I have an English Education degree from the University of Georgia and very happily married to the lovely Dekie Hicks. You may enjoy my daily Quotes and Notes at http://johnschulzauthor.com/ View more posts

2 thoughts on “Nice Plant, no Tomatoes? Cure or Prevent Blossom End Rot.”

John, Thank you so much for sharing your good information. I had no clue what caused tomatoes to wilt like that.
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY and GrandFather’s Day.

One has to be looking for something else to find real treasures. I was looking for Dr. Jack Runninger when I found your blog. It frightened me that it ended abruptly in the tomato vines, so I searched through until I found a Facebook link which I am now following. I noticed we have a mutual FB friend, Ms. Gilbert who is my imaginary friend, actually a friend of my cousin Barbara Knott.