What to do if tomatoes turn black?
Tomato is a rather difficult crop to grow. The gardener carefully chooses, then prepares the seeds of the varieties he likes for sowing, carefully grows seedlings, prepares the plot, waits for the right weather and plants the plants on the garden bed. Then the care of these demanding vegetables begins. And now, when most of the trouble remains behind, and it remains only to collect the already ripening crop, the leaves of the tomatoes turn black, the fruits themselves turn black. Why is this happening? Why do tomatoes turn black? There may be several reasons.
It so happens that beautifully growing bushes suddenly become covered with brown spots in the middle of summer, plaque appears on the leaves, sometimes they dry and break, the fruits rot or acquire spots. And it also happens that the owner does not notice the troubles, harvests, and then incomprehensible spots appear on the fruits, the tomatoes begin to turn black and rot. The most common cause is fungal diseases.
Late blight develops in conditions of high humidity, often a sharp drop between day and night temperatures becomes a trigger for the disease. July - August is usually characterized by cold nights, dew fall, this exposes the plants to stress, they become vulnerable. And spores of fungal diseases accumulate in the soil, easily move to different objects. Late blight is manifested by the appearance of a gray bloom on the underside of the leaves, then brownish spots appear on the upper side, and the green fruits turn black. An inattentive owner can only notice a blackened tomato, and skip the initial stages of the disease.
Gray rot is also a fungal disease, it first captures the stalk, and then spreads to the entire fruit. Excess nitrogen fertilization combined with dry, hot weather can lead to an infectious disease called apical rot. First, the fruits become covered with gray spots, then the spots darken more and more, rot covers the entire tomato starting from its top - hence the name.
There are known examples when tomatoes turned black due to lack of calcium or too acidic soil. Violations of the balance of trace elements often lead to a decrease or even loss of tomato yield in the garden. But tomatoes turn black in the greenhouse most often from fungal diseases - fusarium, cladosporiosis, macrosporiosis. If the spores have already hit the plant, then the fungus spreads to the entire bush for a period from a week to a month. Worst of all, if only tomatoes or eggplants, cucumbers or peppers, subject to the same diseases, grow in the greenhouse, then the disease quickly spreads throughout the entire territory, without encountering resistance.
It also happens that the tomatoes did not turn black while they were growing, and the already picked ones suddenly become stained, turn black, and become unusable. The cause may be fusarium disease or anthracnose. The plants were affected by the spores of these fungal diseases, the spores reached the fruit, but their effect appeared somewhat later. So, with anthracnose, almost imperceptible, slightly depressed spots appear on tomatoes, which then grow and darken, destroying the vegetable. These are diseases of open ground.
Video "Causes"
From the video you will learn why tomatoes can spoil and turn black.
Remedies
Before starting the fight, you need to establish exactly why the tomatoes turn black. If the reason lies in the excess or lack of mineral fertilizers, then you just need to restore their balance in the soil. If the reason is high acidity of the soil, dolomite flour or at least wood ash should be added.
Any fungal diseases can be defeated with fungicides. But since tomatoes will be eaten, I would like to use less substances harmful to the human body. You need to carefully examine the plants, do not allow tomatoes to thicken in the greenhouse and in the garden. At the first manifestations of fungal diseases, it is necessary to remove and destroy the affected parts of the plants, spray all the bushes with calcium chloride or Bordeaux liquid, which are not absorbed by the fruits. The easiest and most harmless way is to spray the plants with salted water, it covers the surfaces of the bushes with a shield insurmountable for fungal spores.
There are folk methods that work great against fungal diseases, if they have not gone too far. The bushes are sprayed with garlic infusion or a solution of fermented milk products. Lactic acid prevents the spread of spores, you can dilute kefir or whey with water, treat the bushes with this solution several times in a week or two. All plant treatments are best done on a cloudy day.
Copper sulfate increases the resistance of plants to diseases, they are sprayed with bushes, and some gardeners pierce the stem with copper wire at a height of 10-15 cm from the ground, then all the juices that rise above this place are already enriched with copper ions. This is the kind of injection of copper that works from the inside of the plant organism against fungal infections.
Fungal spores accumulate in the upper layer of the soil, so it is important to follow the rules of crop rotation, not to grow tomatoes for more than three years in a row in one place, not to plant them after potatoes, eggplants or peppers, which have the same problems. The land around the bushes (and after them) needs to be thoroughly dug up, the greenhouse soil should be changed as often as possible.
Pest control
It also happens that because of pests, tomatoes turn black, which is understandable, you need to drive out the pests. But this is not always easy to do. Bears, scoops, whiteflies, wireworms can cause great harm to vegetables in the garden. Medvedka loves humus-rich soil, often found near water. She arranges nests at a depth of 15 cm, lays up to 300 eggs, it is thanks to her activity that leaves, branches, and fruits can turn black in tomatoes. Experienced summer residents advise pouring a solution of vinegar with hot pepper into each mink, but first all these minks need to be found.
There are special biological preparations for scoops and whiteflies, it is recommended to collect insects by hand. Wireworms are attracted by root crops specially buried on the site with sticks inserted into them, they are left for three days, and then destroyed along with the pests. Timely application of lime will help get rid of insect larvae and correct the acidity of the soil.
Preventive measures
To protect your tomatoes from fungal diseases, you need to properly prepare the planting material at the seed stage, dig up the area thoroughly, maybe even replace the top layer of soil. You should not be zealous with fertilizers, but you can never fertilize tomatoes with manure, this will not lead to anything good, it will only attract pests and provoke infections.
Seeds must be disinfected before sowing by keeping them in a solution of potassium permanganate. You can not plant tomatoes after their relatives eggplant, pepper, also potatoes, it is advisable to change the place every three years.
Fungal during shading, high humidity, therefore, it is imperative to monitor the growth of bushes, pinch in a timely manner, remove excess leaves, the lower leaves should be at least 15 cm from the ground in adult bushes.
Watering should be done so that moisture does not get on the green part of the plants, only on the ground. Spraying of plants is allowed only for special protective or medicinal purposes, but not during watering. After watering or rains, you need to loosen the soil so that air is always available to the roots.
It is imperative to weed the garden bed, weeds only contribute to the spread of infections, weaken the plants, taking away their nutrients, keeping shade and dampness.
For tomatoes, you need to choose bright, well-ventilated areas, potatoes should not grow nearby - this neighborhood can multiply all fungal or infectious diseases by two, both crops will lose the quality of the harvest.
In greenhouses, before planting vegetables, you need to treat the soil with special antifungal drugs, change it more often. Tomatoes must be tied up, make sure that the leaves start at least 15 cm from the ground, monitor the level of humidity, prevent temperature changes, overgrowth of weeds, and remove withered or dried leaves in time. Damaged or infected plant parts should be removed as soon as possible to avoid causing disease.
It is advisable to inspect all plantings carefully as often as possible, preventive or therapeutic measures should be started as soon as the first signs of infection are found on tomato bushes.
Video "Pests of tomatoes"
From the video you will learn how to effectively deal with tomato pests.