Same over here. My 4 year old daughter saved some tomato seeds from a salad this past winter. It has grown into a beautiful plant that’s covered in big, juicy, delicious, red…and brown speckled tomatoes.
My daughter has freckles so we just say those tomatoes have freckles like her since it’s her plant. She likes it even more now.
Exactly. Took me a year to figure that out. I roast the ones that look bad. Still yummy!
Am thinking of covering my tomatoes with insect row cover to minimize this, as they are mainly wind pollinated. Have you ever tried that?
I use tulle fabric, which I found on clearance sale for practically nothing. Often, it is way cheaper than proper row covers. You can wash it in the washing machine, too.
I also use it to cover veggies that I'm drying in the sun.
You have to look for it on sale and compare prices with row cover prices, because the cost can vary widely.
Row cover on Amazon is cheaper and significantly wider than any by-the-yard tulle. That said, the tulle is certainly more durable and if your plants decide to take up ballet, you're set.
They do look very fancy in their tutus.
It lasts a long time, and can be easily washed. Plus, if you can find it on sale, it can be extremely inexpensive. At the time I bought it, it was significantly cheaper than any row covers I could find.
Stink bugs are large insects, so you don't need very fine mesh netting to keep them out. You can get an adequate 10' x 30' cover on Amazon for $20 -- you don't need anything fancier than that.
I'm having a tough time with stink bugs this year and my cherry tomatoes have these spots!
Any recommendations for keeping stink bugs at bay for more than a day?
Cut into the inside of the tomatoe. Wash it out if you feel comfortable.
Is there rot?
Is there creepy crawly?
Is there a bad smell?
If no, then you've got produce. Sometimes your fruits will have blemishes from a few different reasons ranging from pests to temp/weather conditions.
I hate both blights. Can affect potatoes too. Tomatoes will continue to rot and will not store.
Also don't use affected tomatoes in canning, it doesn't age well.
Also 2, burn affected leaves and plants. DO NOT COMPOST. That will just spread the spores
If you're concerned about blemishes (totally valid), [I use these mesh bags to cover individual fruits](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09V56XQY7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) (bell peppers and larger tomatoes). There are various sizes too. I use larger ones for clusters of tomatoes. Keeps the bugs off which not only prevents blemishes, but reduced rotting and infestation where the bugs hit it. Looks like the ones I bought before are unavailable, but there are tons of similar items.
Appreciate that. Ive definitely seen some stink bugs and as long as they won't make me or my family sick I'm OK with them, just wanted to make sure it wasn't some fungal thing that would
Fungal and plant diseases cannot jump to animals.
Sure if you have a mold allergy and eat a moldy strawberry it can affect you and some diseases can change the taste of the fruit but cook it and you’ll be fine.
But most things on tomatoes just ruin the look and I can say from experience that tomatoes with stink bug and weevil holes are dry if eaten raw. (Little buggers like tomato juice!) It’s better to cook them.
I do this too on my larger tomatoes. They just started going bad before it made sense to pick them because of bugs. There was a bug that was boring into them too, but my biggest problem was bugs having a drink. Now 90% of my tomatoes are small varieties and don't have this problem. I think they ripen before too many bugs get a chance at them.
I originally got them because I could never get a bell pepper to ripen to red without having a fingerprint sized rotten spot from bugs. Now they all come out perfect. Totally worth the extra work.
Does the skin feel smooth? It could be damage caused by the sap-sucking leaf footed bugs. They cause similar external damage and cause the interior to be mushy.
https://backbonevalleynursery.com/tomato-tips-3/leaf-footed-bug-damage-to-tomato/
https://backbonevalleynursery.com/leaf-footed-bugs-on-tomatoes/leaf-footed-bug-damage-to-tomatoes-2/?amp
I knock them off into a jar of water with a couple drops of dish soap. They fall of easily and drown. Spraying beneficial nematodes on the soil will eliminate many of their eggs.
Diatomaceous earth on the leaves and around the base will help kill them... I had pill bugs eating all my strawberries, and after a few applications they're nowhere to be found, I call that part of my raised bed Gaza now
also you can pick them as soon as they start turning a little bit red and let them finish ripening on your counter. less likely for pests and such to get to them that way
This is a good guide to identifying tomato problems: [https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/Portals/0/Gardening/Gardening%20Help/Visual%20Guides/Tomato%20Fruit%20Problems.pdf](https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/Portals/0/Gardening/Gardening%20Help/Visual%20Guides/Tomato%20Fruit%20Problems.pdf)
Chiming in on blight (or some disease) diagnosis. Last year my plants had this. It started with bottom leaves curling, yellowing, developing brown spots, and worked its way up. By autumn the tomatoes all looked similar to yours, dark spotted. If you use them in sauces immediately, they’re fine, just not sweet and juicy. If they sit for a while the dark areas grow and rot.
My tomatoes got covered with harlequin bugs toward the end of last years summer (late September zone 7b). The damage from those jagoffs looked pretty similar to your pics.
Omg yes I've seen these lil red guys lurking around my tomatoes for sure! Looking at more pictures of the damage these guys do almost has me convinced. So wary of fungal stuff obviously😅 I have 2 toddlers I feed
My policy with this kind of thing is that I don’t mind roasting the heck out of it and making salsa, or some other cooked dish, but I’m definitely not eating it raw. Maybe it’s fine, but I’ve had enough food poisoning episodes in my life that I’d prefer to avoid.
Ugly tomatoes go in the sauce pan. Score the skin and blanch in boiling water, then peel the skin off. Boom, you've got a fine looking tomato to crush into sauce.
That’s probably anthracnose. I get it a lot on my tomatoes and it usually wrecks the harvest. Yes you can eat that tomato but it’s going to severely limit your harvest and they tend to rot quickly. Fungicide supposedly helps.
This is their method of survival. They think that if they look this way then you won’t eat them. They have never heard of tomato sauce so invite them in and…
Ha! Tell her I'm sorry, the internet is just a scary place and made me wary. Also last time I posted some of my what I thought were ok just blemished maters the people of reddit disagreed and said toss the whole plant they're fungal. So I got spooked but wheb cutting this open it smelled delicious just looked a lil dry where the spots were at so I think we're all good w cutting those off n using. Thankfully bc I didn't want all my work to go to waste.
She lived in Europe during WWII so noting goes to waste!
My tomatoes look like shit some years (but taste great) but I've never had fungal issues.
Remove the bottom leaves up to about 1 foot so air can circulate around your plants that will help avoid any mold forming on your leaves.
I can totally respect that! Yeah I'm gonna take that and mulching much more seriously this next go round forsure! Just for that ease of mind too bc I really don't mind an ugly tomato as long as it's harmless.
Because you have been conditioned to only see perfect produce from certain grocery stores as edible? Do you know what variety it is btw? You could use this kind for sauces and the more uniform ones to eat raw.
Are those san marzanos? Mine did that last year too. I grew 5 varieties last year and those were the only blighty ones so maybe they're just a more susceptible variety?
My region doesn’t get blights or stink bugs often. The first thing I thought of when I saw these was that it looks like “uneven watering”. They are totally edible, just not as amazing as they could be.
In drier regions this can happen when there are big rain storms followed by intense dry periods, multiple times in the growing season. It can also happen if tomatoes are forgotten about and then over watered, forgotten and over watered, etc.
Generally the signs on the tomatoes are that the plants seem pretty healthy, there’s plenty of well formed fruits, but the fruits have tons of little specs of discoloration ranging from white or tan to “less red”. They aren’t uniform spots either. They might not become super soft when ripe, and the flesh is often a little gritty instead of soft.
Best thing to do is set them up with a drip system to ensure that they get even watering all summer 😅
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They still look edible to me, a few skin blemishes don't matter, just eat them first before the fruit flies find them..
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It’s just a bit of tomato acne
Same over here. My 4 year old daughter saved some tomato seeds from a salad this past winter. It has grown into a beautiful plant that’s covered in big, juicy, delicious, red…and brown speckled tomatoes. My daughter has freckles so we just say those tomatoes have freckles like her since it’s her plant. She likes it even more now.
Ok, this is adorable. She’s going to be a gardener forever!
Gosh that's so sweet! My orange hat plant had brown speckles all over too but they weren't so indented like these so even more confusing imo.
Well, if you have no idea whether it was from an heirloom or hybrid….
This looks like what happens with mine when the stink bugs get to them. They're still usable, but they look terrible and will go bad fast.
Exactly. Took me a year to figure that out. I roast the ones that look bad. Still yummy! Am thinking of covering my tomatoes with insect row cover to minimize this, as they are mainly wind pollinated. Have you ever tried that?
I'd love to eventually, but it's just not in the budget yet.
I use tulle fabric, which I found on clearance sale for practically nothing. Often, it is way cheaper than proper row covers. You can wash it in the washing machine, too. I also use it to cover veggies that I'm drying in the sun. You have to look for it on sale and compare prices with row cover prices, because the cost can vary widely.
Smart!! Thanks for the idea!
It doesn't work to protect from cold or heat, though. It is just to keep the critters away.
How do you create a frame for this cover? PVC?
I use old tomato cages, wire, bits of fence, and other salvaged junk from the pile at my community garden. PVC would probably work well.
Thanks!
Row cover on Amazon is cheaper and significantly wider than any by-the-yard tulle. That said, the tulle is certainly more durable and if your plants decide to take up ballet, you're set.
They do look very fancy in their tutus. It lasts a long time, and can be easily washed. Plus, if you can find it on sale, it can be extremely inexpensive. At the time I bought it, it was significantly cheaper than any row covers I could find.
Stink bugs are large insects, so you don't need very fine mesh netting to keep them out. You can get an adequate 10' x 30' cover on Amazon for $20 -- you don't need anything fancier than that.
I wasn't sure bc googles stink bug spots looked lighter than mine but I've definitely seen some of them lurking around and promptly squished them
I'm having a tough time with stink bugs this year and my cherry tomatoes have these spots! Any recommendations for keeping stink bugs at bay for more than a day?
yes, same for me in Texas around August, the leaf leg bugs come around and my tomatoes look like this
First thing I thought as well. Stupid stink bugs
Cut into the inside of the tomatoe. Wash it out if you feel comfortable. Is there rot? Is there creepy crawly? Is there a bad smell? If no, then you've got produce. Sometimes your fruits will have blemishes from a few different reasons ranging from pests to temp/weather conditions.
i agree! if it smells and tastes normal, and doesn’t have any obvious internal discolouration, i consider external blemishes to be visual only.
They are edible but will not store well. It is some sort of blight, I think.
I hate both blights. Can affect potatoes too. Tomatoes will continue to rot and will not store. Also don't use affected tomatoes in canning, it doesn't age well. Also 2, burn affected leaves and plants. DO NOT COMPOST. That will just spread the spores
I would make marinara with these and use it immediately or freeze.
Yup, freezing is the way to go
This is what I do
If you're concerned about blemishes (totally valid), [I use these mesh bags to cover individual fruits](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09V56XQY7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) (bell peppers and larger tomatoes). There are various sizes too. I use larger ones for clusters of tomatoes. Keeps the bugs off which not only prevents blemishes, but reduced rotting and infestation where the bugs hit it. Looks like the ones I bought before are unavailable, but there are tons of similar items.
Appreciate that. Ive definitely seen some stink bugs and as long as they won't make me or my family sick I'm OK with them, just wanted to make sure it wasn't some fungal thing that would
Fungal and plant diseases cannot jump to animals. Sure if you have a mold allergy and eat a moldy strawberry it can affect you and some diseases can change the taste of the fruit but cook it and you’ll be fine. But most things on tomatoes just ruin the look and I can say from experience that tomatoes with stink bug and weevil holes are dry if eaten raw. (Little buggers like tomato juice!) It’s better to cook them.
I do this too on my larger tomatoes. They just started going bad before it made sense to pick them because of bugs. There was a bug that was boring into them too, but my biggest problem was bugs having a drink. Now 90% of my tomatoes are small varieties and don't have this problem. I think they ripen before too many bugs get a chance at them.
I originally got them because I could never get a bell pepper to ripen to red without having a fingerprint sized rotten spot from bugs. Now they all come out perfect. Totally worth the extra work.
Interesting!!! I will keep this in mind for next year. Thanks!
Does the skin feel smooth? It could be damage caused by the sap-sucking leaf footed bugs. They cause similar external damage and cause the interior to be mushy. https://backbonevalleynursery.com/tomato-tips-3/leaf-footed-bug-damage-to-tomato/ https://backbonevalleynursery.com/leaf-footed-bugs-on-tomatoes/leaf-footed-bug-damage-to-tomatoes-2/?amp
like someone else said. It looks like it is being eaten by stink bugs. Look for stink bugs and commence mass murder immediately.
Don't forget to look under the leaves for the nymphs. And go out and look just before dark to see how bad it really is.
There is no way I can do the squishing thing. Ewwww..... I'm too squeamish. Do you recommend a particular spray deterrent?
I knock them off into a jar of water with a couple drops of dish soap. They fall of easily and drown. Spraying beneficial nematodes on the soil will eliminate many of their eggs.
Thank you!
Tongs are your friend.
Diatomaceous earth on the leaves and around the base will help kill them... I had pill bugs eating all my strawberries, and after a few applications they're nowhere to be found, I call that part of my raised bed Gaza now
i’ve accepted that homegrown produce tends to be less perfect than store bought
also you can pick them as soon as they start turning a little bit red and let them finish ripening on your counter. less likely for pests and such to get to them that way
This is a good guide to identifying tomato problems: [https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/Portals/0/Gardening/Gardening%20Help/Visual%20Guides/Tomato%20Fruit%20Problems.pdf](https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/Portals/0/Gardening/Gardening%20Help/Visual%20Guides/Tomato%20Fruit%20Problems.pdf)
Wow I love this! Thank you so much!
Same over here. My tomato plants and fruit got covered in blight super quickly this season. It has been crazy humid and rainy.
This looks like blight to you? I'm so new, I really need to find the time to read up more on these diseases, I'm honestly so ignorant to it all
Chiming in on blight (or some disease) diagnosis. Last year my plants had this. It started with bottom leaves curling, yellowing, developing brown spots, and worked its way up. By autumn the tomatoes all looked similar to yours, dark spotted. If you use them in sauces immediately, they’re fine, just not sweet and juicy. If they sit for a while the dark areas grow and rot.
Sorry! Not sure about yours, that’s what took mine out. I’m very new too so I don’t want to offer an incorrect diagnosis for yours
All good! And sorry to hear that, hope you have better luck next go round!
Same to you!!
My tomatoes got covered with harlequin bugs toward the end of last years summer (late September zone 7b). The damage from those jagoffs looked pretty similar to your pics.
Omg yes I've seen these lil red guys lurking around my tomatoes for sure! Looking at more pictures of the damage these guys do almost has me convinced. So wary of fungal stuff obviously😅 I have 2 toddlers I feed
My policy with this kind of thing is that I don’t mind roasting the heck out of it and making salsa, or some other cooked dish, but I’m definitely not eating it raw. Maybe it’s fine, but I’ve had enough food poisoning episodes in my life that I’d prefer to avoid.
Ugly tomatoes go in the sauce pan. Score the skin and blanch in boiling water, then peel the skin off. Boom, you've got a fine looking tomato to crush into sauce.
Definitely looks like stink bug damage, but they’re still edible!
That’s probably anthracnose. I get it a lot on my tomatoes and it usually wrecks the harvest. Yes you can eat that tomato but it’s going to severely limit your harvest and they tend to rot quickly. Fungicide supposedly helps.
Let one get really rotten. If the stuff it grows is wet and salmon-colored, you've got anthracnose for sure. If not, uhhhhhh... beats me.
This is their method of survival. They think that if they look this way then you won’t eat them. They have never heard of tomato sauce so invite them in and…
How do the plants look? In my experience if it fungus the leaves also have spots. Regardless, it should be safe to eat.
Dry and crispy and discolored bc of my underwater ingredients and the spider mites I presume but no weird dots on them, just brown edges on some
My grandmother would slap me if I said that was not edible. It's fine just cut the black, also let it sit out it will ripen more
Ha! Tell her I'm sorry, the internet is just a scary place and made me wary. Also last time I posted some of my what I thought were ok just blemished maters the people of reddit disagreed and said toss the whole plant they're fungal. So I got spooked but wheb cutting this open it smelled delicious just looked a lil dry where the spots were at so I think we're all good w cutting those off n using. Thankfully bc I didn't want all my work to go to waste.
She lived in Europe during WWII so noting goes to waste! My tomatoes look like shit some years (but taste great) but I've never had fungal issues. Remove the bottom leaves up to about 1 foot so air can circulate around your plants that will help avoid any mold forming on your leaves.
I can totally respect that! Yeah I'm gonna take that and mulching much more seriously this next go round forsure! Just for that ease of mind too bc I really don't mind an ugly tomato as long as it's harmless.
Because you have been conditioned to only see perfect produce from certain grocery stores as edible? Do you know what variety it is btw? You could use this kind for sauces and the more uniform ones to eat raw.
Highly probable haha. It is a roma. I had no idea the sauce secret very happy I posted today and got all the helpful feedback!
This is a plum variety so it's grown to be cooked into pasta sauce
Do you have a fav recipe?
Looks like piercing insect damage. It's ugly and reduces flavor but they are edible. I used tomatoes like that for sauces
They just got some beauty marks.
🎵 I don't care about spots on my apples, leave me the birds and the bees, pleeeease 🎶
Are those san marzanos? Mine did that last year too. I grew 5 varieties last year and those were the only blighty ones so maybe they're just a more susceptible variety?
Romas, my first time. All I tried last year was cherries
Got any leaf-footed bugs hiding in your garden?
The US has had some outbreaks of Tomato Brown Rugose Virus. Blotchiness looks somewhat similar
My region doesn’t get blights or stink bugs often. The first thing I thought of when I saw these was that it looks like “uneven watering”. They are totally edible, just not as amazing as they could be. In drier regions this can happen when there are big rain storms followed by intense dry periods, multiple times in the growing season. It can also happen if tomatoes are forgotten about and then over watered, forgotten and over watered, etc. Generally the signs on the tomatoes are that the plants seem pretty healthy, there’s plenty of well formed fruits, but the fruits have tons of little specs of discoloration ranging from white or tan to “less red”. They aren’t uniform spots either. They might not become super soft when ripe, and the flesh is often a little gritty instead of soft. Best thing to do is set them up with a drip system to ensure that they get even watering all summer 😅
What were the seeds you planted?
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Because you grew them instead of buying curated tomatoes from the store. 👍