Why is the fruit on my tomato plant rotting while it's still green?

Question

I'm growing a beefsteak-type tomato plant called a "Parks Whopper" on the south-facing balcony of my apartment. It's in a medium-sized pot, gets plenty of sun, gets watered every other day, and fed "Miracle Grow" every other week. The plant itself looks healthy and is nearly four feet tall and is well staked. I even added crushed egg shells to the hole when planting it to avoid blossom rot. But so far, every tomato that's formed is turning black on the bottom of the fruit and rotting from the outside in while the fruit is still green, hard, and about the size of a ping-pong ball. What's going wrong and how can I turn it around; me and my waiting, tomato-less cheeseburgers want to know!

Answer 1

Blossom End Rot .. luckily.. you can treat it.. go to your local greenhouse or garden center. But you will lose the fruit that have it already.

Answer 2

tomatoes don't do that great in pots. The problem you're experiencing is called "bottom end rot" I grow some in large container (30 gal). I've even grown some in 5 gal buckets but that's really pushing it. #1 yes the problem is caused by lack of calcium intake. But adding calcium to the soil doesn't necessarily fix the problem, because it has to do with the plant's ability to use the calcium. If the soil is too dry or too wet or it varies too much, that plant is stressed and it won't be able to take up the calcium it needs. #2 SCREW MIRACLE GROW. that stuff is crap. Giving your tomatoes too much nitrogen actually causes it to have difficulty absorbing calcium. Remember this: calcium and nitrogen don't get along. You have too much of one and it impacts the plant's ability to uptake the other one #3 You said the plant grows very big... that's an indication of too much nitrogen right there. cucumbers can tolerate a lot more nitrogen, but not tomatoes. I don't know where you are whether you have hot weather or cold, but you do not need to water tomato plants every day if the soil is still moist. It sounds like your plant is stressed though... If it gets over 80 degrees then that soil in the pot can get really warm and dries out fast. Good luck but don't try so hard to babysit that plant to death... give it a break. Oh, by the way, bottom end rot can happen from too cool temperatures too, but it doesn't sound like that's the problem in your case.

Answer 3

The plant is getting too much water.The plant also needs to be staked and supported to where the fruit hangs from the vine off of the ground.

Answer 4

It's called bloom end rot...you can go to walmart and get something to spray on the blossoms before the bud out called
Tomato Bloow spray...by Green light. It works great and it's about $6.00 a bottle.

Answer 5

My guess is that it has some type of disease, or possibly maybe it is not in enough sunlight or in a dry enough atmosphere to develop properly. I do know that they require plenty of sunlight.
Best of luck!!!
There is nothing much better than a yummy, fat, juicy, cheeseburger topped off with homemade tomato's!
; )

Answer 6

Too much water and Miracle Grow.

Answer 7

You're either watering them too much or your putting too much Miracle Grow on them. I had a very similar problem and my dad (aka: "Miracle Grower") said I was watering too much. I began watering about twice a week and it worked.

Answer 8

did you recently transplant it? and if not did you give it too much plant food... if you transplanted it it could be rootrot or it gone into shock (itd b limp if in shock) and if its too much plantfood then flush the soil

Answer 9

Birds got into it probably.

Answer 10

You are overwatering the plant. That or they are overripe.