Here’s why the ends of your tomatoes look different from the rest

SALT LAKE CITY — Does the bottom of your tomato look strange? Different from the rest of the tomato? It’s probably blossom-end rot.

According to KSL Greenhouse Host Taun Beddes, blossom-end rot is especially common on the first tomatoes of the season, and even more so in Roma and heirloom tomatoes.

What causes blossom-end rot?

When looking at a tomato, there’s the stem end and the blossom end. A problem on the blossom end is likely due to the weather.

“Either it went from cool — like in the mid-60s — to the mid — or high-80s in 24 hours, or there was something like a rainstorm, which this year we haven’t had a lot of, or an irrigation event where the tomato was very dry and it went to very wet,” Beddes said.

Irrigation can also be a factor in causing blossom-end rot.

“If you have a blossom on that’s pollinated and, all of a sudden, you water really heavily when the tomato was bone dry, it interferes with calcium uptake, and then those weather shifts from the 60s to the 90s back to the 60s also interfere with calcium uptake out of the soil.”

Blossom-end rot doesn’t just affect tomatoes. It’s seen in several other vegetables, such as peppers, cantaloupes, watermelons and squash.

Good news, they’re still edible

All you need to do is cut that portion off, and the rest of the tomato remains good to eat.

“You can control the irrigation, you know, putting down mulch, making sure you’re watering two to three times a week so that water penetrates about six inches into the soil so that it’s evenly moist, but besides doing those things, there’s nothing you can do,” Beddes said.

Read more from the KSL Greenhouse show:

• Is spurge invading your lawn or park strip? Here’s what you can do
• Got lawn problems? It may be one of these fungal diseases
• How to prevent billbug damage in your grass

KSL Greenhouse is live on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.