Episode Details

Tomatoes may be the most popular garden crop, but they can also be the most frustrating. If your tomatoes are cracking, developing black spots on the bottom, refusing to ripen, or showing strange yellow shoulders, you're not alone. In this episode, Chris and Ken dig into the most common tomato fruit disorders caused by weather, watering, heat, and nutrient imbalances. We also discuss late-season tomato care, including topping plants, ripening green tomatoes indoors, and cleaning up the garden to reduce problems next year. 

Skip to what you want to know:
00:42 Hey Ken! Where are we making our tomato problem observations this year?  
04:09 Ken has tomato fruitworm (corn earworm), and he's proud of it.  
05:33 What's a psychological disorder?  
08:06 Tomato fruit cracking  
11:45 Tomato yellow shoulder  
13:27 White core of tomatoes  
16:00 Blossom-end rot  
21:00 Tomatoes are not ripening, or there are no tomatoes even though there are flowers  
29:50 Late-season tomato maintenance  
30:14 Topping tomatoes  
33:22 Tomato plant full of green tomatoes with a frost imminent  
35:17 Cleaning up the tomatoes from the garden at the end of the season

Troubles with Tomatoes https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing/2020-05-01-troubles-tomatoes

Stalled Green Tomatoes: Why won’t they turn red? https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing/2025-08-29-stalled-green-tomatoes-why-wont-they-turn-red

Contact us! 
Chris Enroth: cenroth@illinois.edu
Ken Johnson: kjohnso@illinois.edu 
Emily Swihart: eswihart@illinois.edu 

Check out the Good Growing Blog: https://go.illinois.edu/goodgrowing
Subscribe to the weekly Good Growing email: https://go.illinois.edu/goodgrowingsubscribe

Any products or companies mentioned during the podcast are in no way a promotion or endorsement of these products or companies.

Barnyard Bash: freesfx.co.uk 

--
You can find us on most podcast platforms.  
iTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/good-growing/id1446630377     
Tunein - https://tunein.com/podcasts/Gardening/Good-Growing-p1187964/  
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/202u3siWExE1tTqrVgtmCR    
Vurbl - https://vurbl.com/station/good-growing-4pljnNlUtyG/    
Listen notes - https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/good-growing-chris-enroth-cHLPMWpvEOG/    
Ivy - https://ivy.fm/podcast/good-growing-167902    
Castbox - https://castbox.fm/channel/Good-Growing-id4302614?country=us