What has Gone Wrong with Your Tomatoes?

Most of us love fresh tomatoes from our garden but sometimes despite our best efforts something goes wrong during the growing season.  Here are some common problems and solutions to keep in mind.

• Splitting of the fruit starts to happen. The plant starts taking up large amounts of water, causing the fruit to swell with moisture until its skin cannot stretch anymore. This could be a sign of over watering and you need to cut back.  Also, be active about harvesting during this time. When a tomato plant starts producing fruit, it only needs about 1 inch of water per week.
• Greasy brown patches all over your plants means you have blight. If this is happening there is not much you can do to salvage the crop.  The disease will eventually kill your plant.  Remove the plant and hope that is has not affected the other plants. Blight causes a fungus to develop, which in turns produces millions of fungual spores that can travel through the air to other plants.
• All your ripe tomatoes are watery and tasteless.  This is due to over watering.  When a plant starts fruiting, it starts looking yellow and tired. That’s when we often rush out and water the plant to perk it up. This is the wrong thing to do and it ends up compromising its flavor and texture. So, when your plant starts to look haggard late in the season, leave them alone because they are busy putting all their energy into producing delicious fruit.
• Chew holes are showing up and ruining the fruit. Holes can be attributed to several different pests. The most common problem is slugs who love to snack on fresh tomatoes. Slug bait or traps are one option. You can also wrap a strip of copper tape around the base of your plant to prevent slugs ability to climb.  Squirrels can also be a culprit.