I think I may know the answer but......

[cheekey_munkey]

I have a number of lovelly looking tomato's on one of my plants see pic below :



However....

If you turn them over they aint so pretty ......



I think its probably Blossom End Rot but the affected area seems to be quite firm and not squidgy in anyway.

Any grapes out there able to make a diagnosis ?

[Tomatoking]

Nothing wrong with it, or anything you could have done about it, Cheekey.
It is not blossom end rot, it just developed like that as some larger tomatoes do.

[womble]

But on the plus side, I think you will find that when you ripen and eat the tomatoes, the bit at the bottom is very very shallow and easily cut out. Sometimes literally skin deep.

[rustylady]

Why did you pick them when they were still hard and green?

[smallblueplanet]

Its a bit of a shock at first, but non-supermarket tomatoes can be quite weird in the way they grow & a bit ugly in the way they look.

I've some Black from Tula & Ananas Noire that are positively twisted!

[cheekey_munkey]

I picked one so I could give you s picture of it ...... the others are still on the vine....... I have about 6 varieties in the greenhouse and only the one plant is like this ....

I wrongly assumed blossom end rot so thought they were doomed !!!!

[Snadger]

I picked a similarily large tomato thinking it was blossom end rot. It had a dark dry patch on the bottom so maybe it was? I cut into it to find out how deep the rot had permeated and to my surprise it was only skin deep and was a useable tomato. Chooks got it for a treat! The next one I will leave on the vine!

[Alison]

A lot of the beef type have a base like that, not pretty but easy to cut off when you eat

[jacob]

Are you supposed to remove tomatoes with blossom end rot? I think it was primarily a symptom of underwatering. Does it spread? I think I'd better head out and remove the dodgy one!

[gojiberry]

I am growing some beefsteak tomatoes this year for the first time and they are decidedly ugly looking. Still they are getting a good size and I will only need one slice per sandwich at the current growth.

Ian

[teakdesk]

Are you supposed to remove tomatoes with blossom end rot? I think it was primarily a symptom of underwatering. Does it spread? I think I'd better head out and remove the dodgy one!

No, it doesn't spread but you'd be surprised how many can be affected if you leave sons to water them while you have a short holiday!!!

It is caused by a shortage of trace elements which normally means lack of water has prevented their proper uptake. Assuming you are feeding with tomorite or similar then under-watering will be the cause.

[katiegr]

All my Brandywine tomatoes have a base like that. I've had two very large ones ripen and they were delicious. We just chopped that bit off!

[Flummery]

As people have said, it's a specific feature of the beefsteaks. They get a corky, hard bit at the base. If, like me, you leave on the big wierd double flower that often comes first, you get the corky bits running up into the inside in sort of hard veins. Just cut it out - but only after you've left them to ripen!