Sonofamotherfuckingbitch!!! There’s something wrong with my damn tomatoes!! Specifically the San Marzanos. Grrr.
Tomatoes have always done really well in my garden. One time I had some blossom-end rot, but that’s an easy fix. And last year I had an abso-fucking-lutely disgusting and massive infestation of whiteflies. Fucking pesticles!! That was horrendously heinous, but I still had a terrific harvest.
This year I rotated the toms to another part of the garden for soil health and also to try a different configuration of plants so that I can reach and see all parts of the plants. Last year’s whiteflies got a hold in an area that I couldn’t see or reach; that’s how they evaded treatment until they had fully infested, and then I couldn’t get rid of them. Gross!
This year’s crop has been looking spectacular and bug-free all season, but now there’s a potential nutrient problem that’s making the San Marzanos look like shit. Time to find out what’s wrong with them.
The San Marzano plant has been losing leaves at the very bottom; they’ve been turning yellow and falling off. There’s a gazillion tomatoes on the huge tall plant – and the others – but they’re not turning red. Some of the tomatoes have been full grown for weeks, but just not turning red. I did some research and learned that they might not be turning because it’s too hot! Well shit. There’s nothing I can do about that. Believe me, I’ve tried for my whole adult life, but enough folks have ignored the data and believed climate change is a hoax or some other nonsense for so long, that even if we stopped all carbon emissions today, we’d still see temperatures and sea levels and extreme weather events rise for another decade or two before stabilizing. But I digress.
So maybe it’s too hot for the maters to ripen, but I can’t do anything about that. Also, there’s no insect activity in any of the tomato plants, so I’m ruling out pesticles.
The three Romas next to the San Marzanos are looking kinda shitty, too. Their oldest leaves are curling with purple veins. I’ve read that the purpling is related to a phosphorus deficiency.
San Marzanos looking shitty at the bottom. 
Roma with curling purply old leaves. 
Purple veined tough and curling Roma leaf. 
Crappy looking San Marzanos on the far left. 
A gazillion green tomatoes.
While doing this careful inspection of the tomatoes for symptoms of problems, I found a sure-fire indication of nutritional deficiency: Blossom End Rot.
Blossom-end rot (BER) is due to calcium deficiency in the tissues of the tomato. It’s most often seen in the first tomatoes of the season, and can be caused from overwatering, soil deficiency, or very rapid growth and inconsistent moisture. I’ve seen this in my garden before (I was horrified and disgusted!!), so I recognized this as a non-terminal issue, and one with an easy fix. I’ve read that you can still eat the BER tomatoes, but eww, I’m not willing to try.
So…having found a phosphorus deficiency and a calcium deficiency across my tomatoes, it’s clear they need some nutritional love. I had used my general Miracle-Gro tomato and veggie fertilizer at least once, but now will institute a weekly treatment to make sure. This should cover the phosphorus problem, as that is one of main ingredients at 18-18-21.
However, blossom-end rot is a calcium problem, and not addressed through my general veg fertilizer. Therefore, I will use a solution I picked up the first time I had the end rot problem:
I’m going out of town for a week, so I’m going to use these two treatments on the tomatoes, and see the results when I return! Here goes!
The Pottymouth Gardener 