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khabbab

Tomato problem

khabbab
11 years ago

Hi,

This is beefsteak variety of tomato i have grown from seed. It is spring here and temperature is in 20's. Is this a pest or disease? Do i need to spray something?

Thanks,
Khabbab

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Comments (2)

  • tripleione
    11 years ago

    I think it is damage from too cold of temperatures when the tomato was developing. Could be wrong, though.

  • missingtheobvious
    11 years ago

    khabbab is from Pakistan, so the temperatures are probably Celsius. In that case, the 20s are 68 - 84.2 degrees Fahrenheit: nice tomato-growing weather.

    khabbab, the fruit on the left shows cat-facing (the holes: and no, I don't know why it's called that) and also zippering (the brown scars: which look like a zipper).

    It's not related to pest or disease, and the fruit is perfectly edible.

    Catfacing can have various causes. It tends to happen more with beefsteaks, and more with particular varieties (I don't know which varieties).

    Causes are said to include high nitrogen, uneven soil moisture, cold temperatures while the blossoms are forming, and exposure to pesticides (I don't know which pesticides). It is often blamed on the very large blossoms which are called fused blossoms or megablooms.

    Zippering is often found on catfaced fruit, but can also appear as longitudinal lines on otherwise-normal fruit, caused when parts of the flower adhere to the fruit.

    The fruit on the right is an example of fruit abortion. The cause may be incomplete pollination or heavier fruit-set than the plant can support. The fruit will not develop, and will fall to the ground.