Gardening and Horticulture - sick tomatoes

:(hi everyone, have aproblem, i planted big boy tomates. had some that were ripe. harvested them . when i cut into them they have all had dark hard spots in the center. the spots inside takes uup over half of the tomatoe. i have never seen anything like this before. anyone know what is causing this. my plants are loaded. i sure hope we dont loose the entire crop.thanks again.

"Might" be lack of calcium during fruit development.

Unven watering and excessive nitrogen top 2 casues.

Byron

bryon thanks for your reply, but i have acouple of questions.first how do i find out if itts lack of calcium, and how would they get to much nitrogen? i use a soaker hoe in the garden. i check the soil with my finger to see how dry the soil is , by sticking my finger into the soil all the way. if it comes out dry then i water. i also use miracle grow on all my veggies. oh 1 more thing ,i used bloom set on the tomatoes for the first time this year, i was wondering could that be the culprit?as always thank you .

Mirical Gro is your problem

Tomatoes only need an N = 3, MG is N = 15 or 5x more than they need. in a single application.

Did ja know you can grow great tomatoes with 2 cans of tuna fish. (;-,)

Hi Texas Lady,

Sorry for butting in, but Byron, would you please explain the tuna fish comment. That's a new one.

Gami

Someone on GW said she only grows a couple plants a year. Instead of buying fertilizer, she feeds the plants a couple cans of tuna fish. About the same as fish fertlizer..

Well, Byron, all I can say is she must not have cats--or any other animal around that smells it. That fertilizer wouldn't last long in our garden. Neither does the leavings after fish are cleaned and buried in the garden unless it sets until it's rank--and that's not always left alone.

Gami

Gami
1 can spread out over a 2ft dia. worked in the soil seems to be OK

byron, thanks for your response. i didnt know that about the miracle grow. question, what kind of fertilizer would i use? and what about the 2 cans of tuna. could you please explain. also is there a better all purpose food, for all veggies or what? also should i keep using miracle grow on my flowering, such as ferns, vines, marigolds, etc. any and all help is very appreciated. thanks again texas lady

Hi Texas Lady,

Byron isn't into flowers, so I'll butt in again and answer that part. I use Miracle Gro on my flowers, and I think it works great. I also look up each individual flower and check to see what the recommended fertilizer is. It can get confusing. Some call for 10-10-10, some 20-20-20 and on and on. I have those on hand, so I use it for the plants that call for it and Miracle Gro on everything else.

Gami

The objective is to keep the NPK numbers low, Like 5-5-5 or less

A plant the grows a little slower also grows stronger, High nitrogen forces a plant to grow rapidly at the expense of cell side wall strength.

Tuna, H'mm dead fish was used to raise corn on the Plymouth plantations in the early 1600's Nothing new.

Byron

Yep, Byron. That is probably the FIRST fertilizer. Our plants do seem to respond to the fish "guts", and the water that is diluted that they have set in for awhile. It takes awhile for them to decompose, and if some animal digs them up, it gets a little on the smelly side.

Gami

hi gami, thanks again for your response. i have just really gotten into gardening in the past few years. i read a lot on plants, gardening and etc. but i have yet to really get a good grip on it.my grandmother use to say , if you want to get next to God and Mother Nature just garden for a while. its the greatest of pleasures. and she sure was right. i wish i had a way of putting pics on the site, for everyone to see. everything is just beautiful. and you wonderful people at this site has helped so much. thanks again texas lady :p

Hi Texas Lady,

You're welcome--again. :)

Some of us here are also members of another garden board. Here's the link. This will take you into the General Gardening section. You can post photos there, or you can ask Marilee, the moderator to notify the techies and have them set up your own Gallery. To save time, tell her what you want your gallery named. Click on "ADD DISCUSSION", give your post a subject line and ask away.

http://community.sierra.com/WebX?13@164.Gv9Dab7KO8F^0@.ee74251

You'll have to copy and paste the link.

Some of DIY's members have figured out how to post photos here, but you need to have them on a website. :(

I agree with your grandmother. Nothing like gardening and getting close to nature and God. It's the most rewarding hobby I have.

Gami

"Who plants the seed beneath the sod, and waits to see, believes in God."