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Vegetable Gardening

What causes hard corky spots in tomatoes?

10 years ago

I grow mostly heirlooms. This year has been nearly ideal growing conditions: hot, but not too hot, regular rain. I just spent the afternoon canning tomatoes. Many of them have hard core-like spots about 1/3 of the way down from the shoulders and forming a circle, though not solid, around the fruit. A few of them had turned black. What causes this? The only ones that don't seem to have it are Big Beef and Creole.

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Comments (2)

digdirt2
10 years ago
Sounds like it might be stink bug damage or have you seen that before and this is different? The other possibility that comes to mind is what is called green shoulders - a hard cape-like formation that forms over the top 1/4 of the fruit caused by uneven ripening due to fluctuating temps.

Any chance of a photo?

Dave
Donna
Original Author
10 years ago
Stink bugs! I have seen a lot of them this year for the first time. Oh, well. Just cut out the bad spot, as my grandmother used to say.

Thanks, digdirt. I rather think you are right. Odd I've never seen this before. (Counting blessings)
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