I have 2 questions dealing with my tomatoes. The first is what causes the tomato skin to turn leathery and tough,because that one is almost ready to pick. And is it possible for one tomato plant not to produce ANY tomatoes while the plant right next to it do all the producing???? ( photo / image / picture from Edlou8181's Garden ) A slightly better picture ( photo / image / picture from Edlou8181's Garden ) almost dead ( photo / image / picture from Edlou8181's Garden )
Ed, sunscald will cause a tomato's skin to become leathery. Do your tomatoes have enough leaves to protect the tomatoes from direct, hot sun? Also, hot, dry weather will cause leathery skin on tomatoes. Watering deeply helps, but there's not much we can do about the temperatures. Yes, one tomato plant can be a non-producer while sitting next to a high producer. It may be that the no-tomato plant is shielded and wind can't reach it to pollinate the blooms, or it just may be a dud. If it doesn't have blossoms, I'd yank it out and give the producer more room.
Along with those reasons, variety can also affect skin on tomatoes. What variety are yours and did you buy plants or start them from seed ? But I would guess that its probably just the weather. My early tomatoes were fine but the later ones are thick skinned. Try some hand pollination or put a fan in front of the producing one to blow the pollen or it may be a later variety. You can also just shake the two plants together to spread pollen. I have one plant that is just now at peak while all the others are long past that,,and they were all planted within a week of each other.
Mine are the same. Some vines loaded and some scanty. The main problem is blossom end rot. I tried to water regularly and also used epsom salt. Am I alone with this problem this summer?
tomato Your not the only one with the tomato problems,but I never heard about the epsom salt treatment,what does it do for the plant. My one non-producer I was thinking about removing it,but even with no fruit it looks lovely. Keep cool ed
Ed, epsom salts help plants take up trace elements and add magnesium to the soil, which may not be needed. The salts are either scratched into the dirt around the base of the plant and watered in, or mixed at the rate of 1 tblsp. salts to 1 gal. water and watered in or applied as a foliar spray. With blossom end rot, the problem is either erratic watering (letting the soil dry out completely before watering--the soil needs to be kept moist) or lack of calcium. Adding calcium to the soil when the transplant is put in the ground is a good preventive for BER. Blossom End Rot will sometimes cure itself when rainfall is frequent enough to keep the soil moist.
Although I had more tomatoes than I knew what to do with,,I am going to lime my garden next year because of BER. I had about a 30% loss this year.
I added "Mater Magic" to each tomato hole while up-planting this year and it has made a world of difference. I'm nut really plugging the product I mentioned, but any product designed for tomatoes with increased Calcium is what I was after. The beds are mainly compost so the extra calcium was need for tomatoes. No more problems with rot at this point in this very HOT season. Hope that helps a bit.
I added "Mater Magic" to each tomato hole while up-planting this year and it has made a world of difference. I'm nut really plugging the product I mentioned, but any product designed for tomatoes with increased Calcium is what I was after. The beds are mainly compost so the extra calcium was need for tomatoes. No more problems with rot at this point in this very HOT season. Hope that helps a bit.
I added "Mater Magic" to each tomato hole while up-planting this year and it has made a world of difference. I'm nut really plugging the product I mentioned, but any product designed for tomatoes with increased Calcium is what I was after. The beds are mainly compost so the extra calcium was need for tomatoes. No more problems with rot at this point in this very HOT season. Hope that helps a bit.
