How to deal with tomato peak rot

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The nightshade culture often suffers from such an unpleasant phenomenon as top rot of tomatoes. Moreover, the problem is equally common, both in the maintenance of greenhouse crops and those grown in the ground. It is worth saying that rot spreads quickly enough, affecting a huge number of fruits, which can deprive you of all kinds of harvest. To prevent this from happening, you need to figure out what the horse rot of tomatoes looks like, how to prevent its appearance and what control measures exist.

Fighting tomato peak rot

Signs of tomato damage

It should be said right away that it is difficult to detect the disease at the very beginning, since there are practically no obvious signs. While the appearance of brown spots on the leaf and stem signals that the tomatoes are sick. A characteristic feature of such spots is some wateriness, which is usually absent in the absence of rot.

Provided that the tomato bush will not be treated, the plant will cease to bear fruit, while the focus of the appearance of rot will become dry, and later it will grow into a depressed depression. After that, you can observe the process of compaction of the peel, the fruits become shapeless, and at the end of the life cycle they simply fall off the stem.

It also happens that tomatoes begin to rot from the inside, here it is extremely difficult to talk about visible signs and symptoms. All you see is an accelerated growth, after which the tomatoes fall off. The root of the problem is revealed only when the vegetable is placed on the table and cut. There will be black rot in the middle of the tomato, and the vegetable itself will be extremely tasteless, watery.

It is important to note that the seeds of affected tomatoes cannot be used for seedlings as they are infected with top rot.

Why does rot appear

It is worth saying that the top rot of tomatoes can appear for several reasons, it can be a fungus or an agronomic reason. In the first case, the plant is affected by fungal organisms of the sex penicillium, alternarium, fusarium and others. These fungi tolerate low temperatures quite well, spread by air from the affected bushes to those that have remained untouched by rot.

The second reason for the appearance of superficial apical rot on tomatoes is due to the human factor, that is, a mistake was made in caring for tomatoes, which led to such disastrous consequences, causing the appearance of the fungus.

It also quite often happens that the fruits become infected for other reasons:

• A sudden change in weather conditions contributes to the appearance of wet rot disease
• Poor quality soil, meaning PH, significant deviations from the norm, will negatively affect the cultivation of tomatoes
• Lack of calcium. It is important to note the fact that the fruits need calcium, for this they use calcium nitrate to fertilize the bushes.
• Overfeeding with nitrogen fertilizers can provoke the appearance of a vertex rot disease in a tomato.

Separately, it should be said that a person often independently creates all the conditions for the cultivation of the top rot of tomatoes. For example, abundant watering can contribute to its appearance, especially if it alternates with prolonged drought, that is, lack of watering. Such conditions for growing tomatoes are often at dachas, because they often go there only once a week for the weekend.

In order to preserve the crop and overcome rot with the least loss, it is necessary to carefully study what methods are used to combat the top rot of tomatoes.

How to deal with rot

When treating a disease, prevention is important

It is important to understand that the fight against top rot is a complex of measures that consists of many processes, these include:

• Prevention of infection with diseases such as top rot on tomatoes
• Treatment of top rot of tomatoes in case of infection

If you decide to abandon prevention and confine yourself to only treating the disease, then there is a real likelihood that the weight of the crop may be lost, the top rot of tomatoes in the greenhouse multiplies quickly and covers more and more new plants.

The need to prevent rot

Prevention helps to eliminate the very unfavorable conditions that contribute to the fact that the bushes are affected by apical rot on tomato fruits. We list a list of all the necessary measures:

• Agricultural technicians recommend choosing those varieties that are considered more resistant to vertex rot on tomatoes.
• Seed material should be prepared before planting, the same applies to the soil.
• You need to adhere to the rules of a standard crop rotation
• If tomatoes are grown in a greenhouse, you need to create the required microclimate for the crop.

Rot-resistant varieties

To find varieties that are affected by the fruit top rot of tomatoes less often than others, you do not have to memorize all the names. It will be enough to pay attention to the packaging in which seeds for seedlings are sold, all information about resistance to the fungus is located there. However, there are the most resistant varieties that need to be put on a separate list:

• Tomatoes Pharaoh
• Snezhana
• Atlant
• Fatalist
• White filling
• Borodino
• Oak

If you decide to buy tomato seeds from your hands, then you need to decontaminate them before planting. The methods of disinfection will be discussed further.

Disinfection of seeds with potassium permanganate

Manganous potassium must be dissolved in a glass of warm water, only a few crystals are needed, be guided by the popular criterion - the color of the solution, it should be barely pink.

• Seeds must be put in cheesecloth, tie them in a bag
• The resulting bag must be placed in a glass with diluted potassium permanganate for 15-20 minutes
• Then the seeds are freed from gauze and dried.

Disinfection of seeds with copper sulfate

The preparatory stage remains the same as in the previously described version with potassium permanganate. Only the method of preparing a solution of copper sulfate is changing, which is recommended to fight the pest. What do we have to do:

• Heat 1 liter of water to a temperature of about 30 degrees
• Solvent in water 2 g of copper sulfate
• In such a solution, the seeds should spend 24 hours.
• After this time, the seeds must be dried.

Disinsection of soil before planting

Contaminated soil can ruin crops

In addition to preparing the seeds, it is worth taking care of preparing the soil, this will help protect the bushes from the appearance of rot on the stem top. Usually, lime is used for this, which is added to the soil used.

You can also use soil steaming. To carry out this procedure, you will need a bucket with a capacity of 10 liters, a smaller bucket with a capacity of about 5 liters, water and a standard tripod. The steaming process itself is as follows:

• Place a tripod on top of a larger bucket, then fill it with water.
• Several holes need to be made in a smaller bucket.
• Place the soil for the tomatoes in a smaller bucket, then set it also on the tripod below.
• The whole structure should be on fire, after boiling water, remove the heat and cover the boiling water with a lid

The procedure should last at least one hour, after which the earth should cool completely.

Treatment of infected bushes

If it was not possible to avoid infection, then you will have to use the most conservative methods of struggle, that is, to treat the top rot of tomatoes. If you apply them promptly and correctly, you will be able to save the bushes and the harvest will be saved. Consider what treatments are effective in combating tomato apical rot.

Ash application

If the problem of tomato apical rot has not taken on a global character, you need to remove all damaged leaves and shoots, then treat healthy ones with a special solution of wood ash. How to prepare such an infusion yourself at home? You will need:

• Black wood ash - 100 grams dry powder
• 10 liters of boiling water

Dissolve the ash, wait for the solution to cool completely, then strain the solution through cheesecloth to exclude the presence of undissolved ash particles.

Next, you should pour the resulting solution into a spray bottle and fight rot by spraying. It is worth saying that it is necessary to process not only the leaves, but also the fruits and roots. Do not be afraid that such a treatment will harm the culture, the composition of wood ash is completely natural, wood ash can save the plant from many diseases.

Get rid of rot with calcium chloride and calcium nitrate

These components are also dissolved in water, after which the resulting solution is used for further spraying of crops in the greenhouse. To prepare such a solution, you can use these options;

First option

• Calcium nitrate - 7-8 grams
• Warm water - 1 liter

Second option

• Calcium chlorine - about 30 grams
• Room temperature water - 10 liters

Regardless of which option you choose (nitrate or calcium chloride), the spraying procedure is carried out after abundant watering of the soil.

Destruction of rot with a superphosphate extract

Top rot can be overcome by treating the bushes with a phosphorus-based fertilizer. Gardeners note that the extract from superphosphate is the most effective. it is also used in the conditions of growing tomatoes in a greenhouse. To prepare it you will need:

• Water - about 3 liters
• Superphosphate - 15 tablespoons

The water will have to be brought to a boil, as the superphosphate dissolves completely at high temperatures. Powder is poured into boiling water, after which they remove the wolf from the fire and interfere periodically throughout the day, this is the only way to achieve complete dissolution.

As for the tomato, it is recommended to add 20 grams of nitrogen fertilizer to the finished solution, so the fight against the top rot of tomatoes will be more effective and efficient.

The use of growth stimulants against rot on tomatoes

In order to harvest the maximum yield, special solutions of preparations are often used that prevent rot from infecting the tomato bush. With their help, you can effectively protect the root system from pests, including from sudden changes in weather.

There are drugs that are used more often than others, reviews of their use are mostly positive. These are drugs such as:

• Megafol - This product contains substances such as amino acids that help the root system absorb the maximum amount of moisture, which increases the rate of feeding. It is customary to use it for foliar and root processing;
• Gumifid. It is necessary in order to protect the tomato bush from adverse weather conditions, in addition, it reliably protects against the formation of fruit apical rot on tomatoes;
• The drug Mir. This remedy for top rot of tomatoes is used in order to significantly accelerate the ripening of fruits, as well as help to reap a good harvest. Also, the preparation for feeding Mir helps to get more attractive tomatoes, improves their taste. It works most effectively in combination with the drug Gumifidol.

Now you know how to deal with tomato peak rot. It is worth realizing that all the preparations that were mentioned earlier are only an auxiliary means, without proper care of the crop, they cannot protect tomatoes from fruit top rot. To achieve success and protect the vegetable from it, it is recommended to adhere to all of the above rules, as well as observe preventive measures.