Tomato plants are a popular addition to vegetable gardens, but they can be a real challenge.
Sea Magic is easy to use and safe for the home garden.
It can also be due to drought stress, or inconsistent watering.
Soil conditions, like compacted or poorly draining soil, can also hinder calcium uptake.
The most critical time to avoid BER is the first two to three weeks after fruit set.
Avoiding BER means getting your soil tested to make your pH is 6.2-6.8, and has enough calcium.
According to Awot-Traut, its important to avoid over fertilization, since that can result in too much nitrogen.
Mulching and watering at the base of plants prevents this problem from happening.
Choosing to grow varieties that have gooddisease resistancecan help as well.
Remember, in the garden you are the most likely vector of disease spread.
This is also the reason it is critical you keep your pruning shears clean between plants.
A spray bottle of Lysol that you use between plants is effective.
Septoria leaf spot is a fungus that appears as black spots on your leaves and spreads quickly.
Leaves progressively turn yellow and die.
Blight, another common fungus, manifests as irregular black shapes on your tomato leaves.
Anthracnose is a whole class of fungus that will cause large black or brown spots on your tomatoes.
Mosaic virus is likely the cause of shrunken, twisted and curled leaves.
The most effective treatment for virus or fungus is being bold about removal.
While some fungicides may help treat the problem, you are then introducing those chemicals into your food.
Its safer to take the loss and hope your other plants do better.
The upside is that many of these pest problems can be treated.
Tiny white or yellow spots can mean spider mites, which will steal chlorophyll from your plants.
Hornworms are gigantic green worms on your tomato stems that look like tomato stems but will devour your plants.
They can simply be removed by hand.
But the road to getting a healthy tomato is long and full of threats to derail your fruit production.
