I still haven’t managed to tackle blossom rot of tomatoes.  Each year, I am saddened as I pluck large tomatoes that have blackened bottoms off of our tomato plants.  There are still plenty of tasty tomatoes ripening on the tomato plants, but I’d love it if every tomato that develops could be happy and healthy.

The main cause of blossom rot is calcium deficiency.   Irregular watering can lead to calcium deficiency in parts of individual tomato plants. The heavy rains we had in June may have been part of the problem.

We’ve tried to fight blossom rot this year by adding crushed TUMS tablets to water as soon as we saw blackened bottoms.  Next year I’ll try adding calcium to the soil before planting the tomato seedings into their large pots.