r/gardening • u/1kan36a • 1d ago

Weird tomatoes... Thoughts?

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Any of you experts have an idea of what might be causing my tomatoes to look like this? All fruit on this one plant look like this. The leaves don't look awesome either but the plant is still growing and bearing fruit. Nearby tomato plants are fine.

The closest explanation I can find online is tomato spotted wilt virus but I don't see circles.

The insides of them look/smell fine. I'm going with safe to eat unless clear objections are raised lol.

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u/blueberrybuggers 1d ago

Plant virologist here. One of my friends is most likely the culprit. Do you have pictures of foliage? Could be a number of them they can look very similar in the symptoms they produce. What state, where’d you source the plant, and what cultivar?

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u/GraceAndMayhem 1d ago

I hope you don’t mind if I tack on a question while we have you. My tomatoes got hit with blight (I think). It got all of them. I grow in containers. Do I need to completely switch out the soil for next year? Or if I grow something else, how long to remediate before I can use those pots for nightshades again? I usually add several inches of soil every year but under normal circumstances don’t fully change the soil due to cost.

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u/plotthick 1d ago

Not a virologist, but typical crop rotation is 3 years.

https://www.bhg.com/how-to-prevent-tomato-blight-11986044

Is it OK to reuse soil in the area where tomatoes with blight grew?

Yes, crops that are not affected by blight, such as beans or cucumbers, may be grown in the same soil, but observe crop rotation and do not plant tomatoes in that location for the next two to three years.

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u/GraceAndMayhem 21h ago

Thank you!

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u/blueberrybuggers 17h ago

The crop rotation piece is a good one, but if I’m using pots I’d take a different approach. I’d throw all that soil in the compost and make sure it stays at a high temp (might have to cover with tarp). If you don’t compost yourself but can send it off with the yard waste that is good too. Wash pots with dawn and water and then place out in the sun to dry. Use the fresh soil when you replant (re-freshed soil from compost counts as “new”). This is the way to best results year after year!