My tomatos on my plants turn red but they are rotten on the bottum why is this?

Question

Can I do something to pervent the others of becoming rotten?

Answer 1

I took bamboo skewers to keep mine away from the ground, they are getting bruised and rotting.

Answer 2

You have to keep the tomatoes from touching the ground or they will do what you are describing.

There are round wire mesh cages that you can buy at your local home and garden store to put around the plant when it is smaller and still growing. You wil have to lift he branches of the tomatoe plant and put them through the wires on the cage to keep the tomatoes off the ground.

You can also use a small stick or surveying stake to do this. Just hammer it in the ground by the tomatoe plant and use string to tie the branches up.

Here are a couple of links to the cages.

http://www.tomato-cages.com/
http://www.tomatocage.com/
http://home.earthlink.net/~merrillscott/id8.html

Good luck with it and enjoy the tomatoes.

Answer 3

Sounds like Blossom End Rot (black bottom rot). The cause is lack of calcium and sometimes overwatering. Add some calcium to the soil. It is too late for the tomatoes that have already ripened but you may save some of the ones still growing.

Answer 4

Have you staked your plants to keep them from resting on the soil? There are tomato cages that fit around the plants--best to do this before the plants get too large.