Dealing with Tomato Blossom End Rot

Blossom end rot is generally considered the most common tomato problem for backyard gardeners in the US. It causes a dark, sunken, leathery spot on the bottom of the fruit, and it’s usually caused by inconsistent watering (not actually a soil calcium deficiency in most cases) that disrupts calcium uptake in the plant.For those of you at home keeping score, close runners-up are early blight and septoria leaf spot, both fungal diseases that cause yellowing and spotted leaves, especially in humid climates.The big difference between blossom end rot and all those runner-up problems? Blossom end rot is an abiotic disorder, not something you can blame on a disease or an insect (“Abiotic disorder” is plant nerd talk for “it’s the gardener’s fault”). This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardenbasics.substack.com/subscribe