I'll take a guess and say fruit abortion from inadequate pollination, and it can be mistaken as BER.

Damon

Fruit abortion??!! Hehe, thats a new one.

Its obviously some sort of disease. Has some similarities to late blight.

I know I've seen fruit marked like that before, but not sure where.

Anyway, have a look at p. 26 of this PowerPoint presentation from NCSU:
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/greenhouse_veg/pdf/physiol.pdf
Yes, I know you said your foliage was fine. I've never seen TSWV except in pictures; I wonder if perhaps tomatoes rot in that same manner under other circumstances besides TSWV.

Consider p. 31 also.

It's a pity that's a PowerPoint presentation; I'd love to know the explanations that were given for some of those photos and conditions.

Somebody has got to know what this is. Rest of the plant is totally healthy. It seems to hit the cluster tomatoes worse. Single tomatoes on same plant are not showing as much disease. Cut off three clusters of four on this plant due to the disease in pic.

Any help would be appreciated.

Maybe Anthracnose, or maybe Spotted Wilt Virus ?

How large are the tomatoes that are rotting? And what varieties/types? What I really want to know is, are they baby tomatoes, half-gown, mostly-grown, fully-grown? Are they all at relatively the same stage of development?

Do the tomatoes that don't have the problem have anything in common (same type of tomato, growing in same area, etc.)?

It might help if you could post pictures of fruit cut in half longitudinally and latitudinally (through the damaged areas).

I know I've seen something like that before -- but this is the first year I've grown large tomatoes since the late 70s. Oddly, it makes me think of frost damage.

And I also think sprtsguy's suggestion -- fruit abortion from inadequate pollination -- is a possibility.

And I'd suggest herbicide damage too, if it weren't that you say the foliage is fine....

Looks like typical fruit abortion to me and the fact that you say it is the cluster plants doing it would only reinforce that conclusion. Inadequate pollination and fruit abortion on clusters is fairly common. If you left them on the plant they would just shrivel and die. Not any disease I know of and the healthy plant appearance reinforces that.

My only qualification might be that these fruit also show signs of injury of some type - hail maybe, pests, etc. - and injury allows for bacterial entry and similar appearance.

Either way all I'd do is remove the affected fruit and monitor the rest.

JMO

Dave

Your other thread on this same topic
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tompests/msg082216288358.html?3

Beyond that, I've never seen fruit abortion look like that on tomato.

Either they begin to form and continue -- that is, all is well. Or they begin to form but drop as *very* tiny pale yellowwed things.

Can anyone point me to images or text discussing/explaining fruit abortion as pictured by OP?

Where's Caroline when we need her?

Here is a link that might be useful: your other thread on same topic

line or lyn? lol!

Okay the tomato is a Burpee Beefsteak hybrid. The fully ripe tomatoes don't get any larger than about 3" diameter. These were about halfway to full size but they were 4 tomato clusters (3 sets). I have four other tomato plants, none with this symptom and all different types. What is unusual is that there are two other "solo" tomatoes on this plant and they are not showing symptoms.

Don't have any of the diseased ones left but the ones that were really bad were just decomposing almost in quarters. Slimy but not black. You can see that in the tomato in the pic closest to the front.

Zero sign of any insect damage on the tomatoes or the plant. Plant perfectly healthy with absolutely no sign of blight.

I will also say that this tomato gets the least amount of light compared to the other tomatoes.

The plant has never been given anything other than MiracleGro and water. No pesticides or herbicides at all. Grown in a container. Watered daily as needed.

Hope this helps diagnose the problem! Appreciate all the help :)

So it has been over a week now since those pics correct? Sounds like no further affected fruit are showing up. Plants still appear healthy and have good color. Other fruit developing normally. No pests, good.

If so then it was just a mild case of fruit abortion dues to inadequate pollination of those particular fruit. The size you describe when it developed also fits. Based on the info available I'll stick with that and wish you good luck for the rest of the season. :)

Dave

the ones that were really bad were just decomposing almost in quarters

The tomato you refer to seems to have the worst damage above the locules. That might be evidence for poor pollination, or it might simply be a tendency of tomatoes under certain circumstances to begin to decompose in the locules (for whatever reason).

===

Inadequate pollination and fruit abortion on clusters is fairly common

I've been kind of sitting on this, hoping I could find something else.

Here's a quotation about fruit abortion. Do cluster tomatoes tend to set more fruit? If so, it would tie in with digdirt's mention that cluster tomatoes tend to abort fruit more often. No pics.

"An unusually heavy fruit set on young plants is another reason for blossom drop. Strong competition by developing fruits for existing food reserves within small or weak plants limits the energy available to the new flowers. Although the plant may set blossoms initially, its poor condition may not withstand the increased competition for food and many blossoms and fruit will abort. Those left will not develop or grow properly. Once fruit is picked. the plant can redirect its energy and grow. A sufficient supply of food will be directed to the flowers and blossoms will then set again."
http://www.unce.unr.edu/publications/files/ho/other/fs8860.pdf

Wow, I can't believe how much new stuff I learn here at the GW tomato forum. To think I had never once read or heard about "fruit abortion dues to inadequate pollination" on any other single site on the web before this topic. I would have never thought that those 3 nearly perfectly shaped fruit, especially the large one on the top right in that picture, would have resulted from an inadequately pollinated pistil. Geez, I'm glad i re-read this thread. Thanks guys.