I'll take a stab at it. Nice pictures, by the way. I'm jealous. The small dark holes or marks--I'm just not certain about that. It could very well be bird damage, or you may want to watch and see what else develops. Bird and other critters will peck at green fruit, particularly if it's dry and they need water or their other sources of food are sparse. I have to bring my maters in as soon as they start to blush or somebody else eats them for a snack.

The last picture of the tomato with the large hole that has scarred over--now that resembles caterpillar damage, which might explain the sparrow ripping off the leaf. Perhaps it was trying to eat a small (first instar, maybe) caterpillar. Caterpillars will eat holes in green fruit--I've seen it with my own eyes. Do you spray with BT? Have you done so lately?

Good luck!

Thanks srbruk,

So, just to make sure I understand, do you think the large spot on the end is caterpillar damage, and not BER? Or just the smaller spot? I do have hornworms and what I think are cabbage loopers. I only have 4 plants, so I am trying to control with hand picking (and getting them when they are small), although I have sprinkled Bt powder once, and it worked. I don't mind some incidental leaf damage, but if they are getting to the fruit, I will bring out the Bt again (last time I used it was 6/21).

I keep trying to catch the birds again ripping off the leaves. I've added a photo of the leaf stumps left behind by the birds. I sure wish I could have gotten a photo, or better yet video, of the bird. It looked like when a dog is playing tug with a rope; its head was just jerking back and forth like it was in battle with the leaf! Quite comical!

Thanks for the help (and for the compliment on the photos). It's good to know that it might not be BER after all. I'll be inspecting the fruit now as well as the leaves when doing "caterpillar patrol".

Here is a link that might be useful: updated photos including stumps (scroll to bottom)

I'm only guessing, mind you. It very well could be BER, but from all I have read BER is believed to be an environmental problem, and there is not much to be done about it. Often, the next set of tomatoes doesn't have it.

I honestly don't know why the birds would do that...I see that they have really ripped the entire thing off. I don't think this would be appropriate nesting material or a food source, so I'm guessing they are picking the caterpillars for you.

I will say that once I saw tomato hornworms on my plant, they increased in number for several weeks. I was forced to spray weekly with liquid BT (more often if it rained) because I could not keep up by just picking them. I often missed them or spent a half hour trying to find where the caterpillar was because I could see the poop and I knew he was there somewhere. :) If you think the damage is mostly birds, you could try netting, I suppose...Or maybe a windmill or a scarecrow or something you can move around that moves to scare them off. Just to be on the safe side, though, I'd go ahead and dust with the BT.

I AM so jealous. Tomato season is OVER here. I am just waiting for the plants I have left to start to ripen fruit. I have a bad, bad case of blight that has just toasted the plants.

I have spent the better part of the morning researching on the 'net about BER and its causes (as well as what kind of damage the different caterpillars can cause). I think I have a combination of both problems. I am going to take your advice and use the Bt and also try some things to keep the birdies away (maybe setting up a water source, maybe netting, but trying to stay budget here).

One thing I have discovered for sure is that my tap water has a high pH level (8+), verified by my city's most recent water quality report and by testing with pool test strips. I water my tomatoes with this water, and I'm sure it's causing problems (my toms are in containers, not the ground). I'm going to try adding vinegar to the water as suggested here at GW, to lower the pH level. Maybe the pH is doing something that ties up the calcium, causing BER? I don't know? :-) Just trying to figure this out!

This is only my second year growing tomatoes (1st year a disaster) and I think I have gotten lucky with some good weather (daytime temps in the 80's, rarely low 90's, nightime temps regularly in the 60's). I started late (didn't plant until late May), but I have started some seedlings for fall and they are doing well so far. It can be very humid here, though, and that comes with its own set of problems. Do you have seeds started for fall? I understand in TX (as well as here in SoCal) people usually grow two crops of toms, spring and fall, in order to avoid the intense heat of mid-summer (something I didn't know until recently).

Thanks for taking the time to help me out. I sure appreciate it. I hope you get some great tomatoes out of the plants you have left!

Bird damage to tomatoes has angular edges.

The browning/rot on the blossom end of the tomato is likely blossom end rot. Most likely a temporary thing -- that is, as long as you supply adequate water.

The "dimples" in the sides of the tomatoes -- at least that's what they look like to me -- are likely due to insects, now long gone.

As for the water's pH, mine was the same when I lived/gardened in SoCal which, is perhaps where you are? Wasn't a problem.

I could certainly take a stab at getting some short season tomato in and done before freeze, since that doesn't usually happen here for awhile. But I'm a budget gardener, too--no stores nearby for transplants, and no setup for seedlings. (Plus, I've got kiddoes and kitties who would definitely snack on the plants....). I think I will concentrate on building up the small bed and seeing if I can find the resources to make more over the "winter", such as it is.

The one picture does show BER. The plant will grow out of it. They have proven that the calcium is available to the plant, but the plant can't distribute it quickly enough. Sprays aren't going to do anything.

I can't see the holes well enough in the pics. If the holes are smooth and mostly round it is not bird pecking, but instead insect damage.

Good luck.

Randy

Thanks so much everyone! I'm so grateful for the internet and for the helpful people here at GW.

I'm convinced it's BER and insect damage. The Bt is coming out tomorrow, and I'm crossing my fingers that the remaining fruit on the plant isn't affected by the BER (it's a determinate plant, and I think it's at the end of it's growth).

I think there may be some bird pecking going on as well, because there are some long scratch type "injuries" on some of the fruit (I'm not completely convinced: I could have caused the scratches!). But, I hope to avoid bad damage by harvesting once the fruit blush.

srburk, I understand the budget thing! I started seeds for fall in a small disposable foil loaf pan inside an open plastic storage bag set on top of the fridge. Once they started to sprout, I moved the little pan outside to a shady spot, then potted up the seedlings (once they had true leaves) to small "pots" made from clear laundry detergent measuring cups with holes drilled in the bottom. Only real cost was for a small bag of seed starting mix and the seeds. So, it can be done on the cheap! I don't have many seeds (just starting out here), but I can send you some if you want. Just let me know!

jean001, Yes I am in SoCal, coastal. I've been reading that tomatoes don't like soils that high in pH, and since I grow in containers and use my tap water to irrigate, I just assumed that the water pH affected the plants. This is my first year with tomatoes in containers (and I only have one disastrous year with them in the ground under my belt) and I'm trying to learn as much as I can. Maybe I'm overanalyzing... :-)

Many thanks to you all!

Keep in mind that plants can be cloned by taking off the suckers and rooting them. If you already have short-season varieties growing, you can root the suckers in pots and have them ready faster than you could from seed.

High pH is much better (from a BER standpoint) than low pH. Low pH binds calcium, while high pH binds iron, causing yellow leaves with green veins... I suspect that as long as you aren't seeing iron deficiency problems, the soil pH is fine. If you want to check, you can get pH test kits for a few bucks at most garden stores.

I have no idea why sparrows do the crazy things they do. I wouldn't put it past them to take off leaves for some unknown reason of their own. If the marks on the sides are angular, I'd suspect them of pecking the fruit, too. Sometimes a rubber snake helps... and if they start pecking ripe fruit, there are a couple of cheap and ingenious tricks you can play on them, involving hats and gloves.

Removing spent petals -- so long as you do it gently -- doesn't hurt. I do it too. If the blossom drops, it was likely to drop anyway; I tend to hold the cap gently anyway, to make sure I don't pull the whole thing off.

One of those pictures is definitely BER. The rest are probably also BER, at least when it comes to the stuff on the absolute bottom of the fruit. As wvtomatoman said, water them enough and they should grow out of it.

--Alison