what's wrong with my tomatoes?

[dirtyfingernails]

help - my outdoor tomatoes are lovely - but the ones in the greenhouse are a complete mess - I admit I haven't staked them very well so they're falling about all over the place and (another sin) I forgot to put drainage holes in the compost bags I planted them in  ??? - and (yet another sin)  :-[they've had a bit of neglect water wise (oh dear did I do anything right?) - anyway, they are fine when green, but when going red the bottom halves go mouldy - I've only been able to eat about 3 so far (they taste lovely by the way)

should I give up for this year or can they be saved?

[dirtyfingernails]

[Robert_Brenchley]

That sounds very much like blossom end rot; does it look like the pic in this thread? http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,26/topic,12180.0 It's often due to toms being too dry. A lot of mine had it when they started to fruit, and then it largely disappeared.

[dirtyfingernails]

Hi Robert - yes just like that - I'll persevere - thanks

[supersprout]

Hi df, my first year growing tomatoes this year, and I'll not be growing them in the greenhouse again - the outdoor ones grew and tasted so much better than their pampered siblings! Any with BER are fine if you just chop the brown bit off :)

[Gadfium]

My outdoor tomatoes are also much better than the greenhouse ones. Just like last year.

Outdoor: I took a left-over Gardener's Delight tomato plant down to a relative's, stuck it in half a growbag and sat it on the patio. It was stopped after three trusses, and has over 150 tomatoes on it.... In my garden are 4 plants, and they are also bulging with tomatoes, with ripening more advanced than those in the greenhouse.

Indoor: ...the ones I have in the greenhouse, despite more trusses, and watering down, have nowhere near the same output, aren't ripening well, and don't look very happy.

It could be the excess heat has hurt the greenhouse plants this summer (?), but equally, the temperature in the sun on my relative's sheltered Norfolk patio was at, or above, 90 degrees F for about 5 weeks (the wall thermometer stuck at 110 degrees on several days).

[Robert_Brenchley]

The only reasons I can think of for growing toms indoors are to get them earlier and later than the short outdoor season, and to reduce the danger of blight. I made some enquiries with US friends about toms in very hot weather, and was told that they shut down when it gets too hot; someone said 75 degrees was about the critical temperature. Mine did shut down for a bit outside, so the weather has probably been the critical thing this year.