growing tomato question

John asked me to write and see if anyone had suggestions for preventing our Roma tomatoes from beginning to rot on the ends. We have some lovely looking tomatoes from a distance and get up close and nearly every one has a blemish. Calling it a blemish is being nice....they have big rotten spots on the bottom of them. I am just cutting them away for now but we would like to know what this might be and if there is a prevention. Thanks all.

Ruby

Ruby, Most likely blossom end rot, check out this link. Ric
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/3000/3117.html

Ruby--

There has been a lot of talk going on about tomatoes-fertilizing or not, soils, the role of Calcium in growing Tomatoes, etc....in this post.
I jumped in near the end--"tapla"--a soil and composting "guru" has contributed a lot of great info.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1095346/#new

My tomatoes are not great either----many of them are splitting on top and some are chewed up from one side....
I have Mortgage Lifters and Cherokee Purples growing. The MG's tend to "catface" a lot--and the Ch. P's have splits going all around the tomato. They are still so sweet!
I think I have read that splits occur if the tomato grows too fast...not sure...
Of course--in this heat and drought we have had--and now all the rains--anything can happen...

Check it out......Gita

Gita, This is the first year that I haven't had any splitting. I guess that's due to the lack of rain. I had blossum end rot on my Romas too, Ruby, but only on the early fruits. It has gone away and the later fruits have been wonderful.

Oh good Stormy, you give me some hope. Ours have just started coming in, so maybe there is hope for some pretty ones after all. Yesterday John brought some real whoppers inside. They are Beefsteak I believe. Same as with Gita, they have the cat face scars but are so large that it can be cut away without sacrificing too much of the yummy fruit.

Thanks Ric and Gita for the links. I will check them out. All in all, for being first time vegetable gardeners, we have had a good bounty so far. My freezer is getting fuller every day it seems.

Thanks to everyone, we are getting quite an education.

Ruby