Knowledgebase

Tomato problem #913908

Asked August 13, 2025, 3:11 PM EDT

As you can see in the attached photo, we have a problem with tomatoes grown in our back yard. As they ripen they develop bad spots, which slowly grow. The bad parts can be cut out, and the rest of the tomato used for sauce. Can you say what causes this, and what to do about it? These are Gladiator tomatoes, a hybrid Roma-style tomato. Any information and guidance would be much appreciated.

Montgomery County Maryland

Expert Response

The lesions on the fruits resemble an anthracnose infection, a fairly common fungal problem for a variety of vegetables. Nothing can cure infected fruits, and while a copper-based fungicide can suppress this and several other tomato diseases, it may not be needed if other practices can reduce the likelihood of infection. (Don't let fruits touch the ground - use a mulch barrier to keep spores from splashing off of the soil surface; remove all plant debris at the end of the growing season; irrigate in a way that only waters the root zone and does not get the plant wet, if possible.) Some tomato cultivars can be more vulnerable to diseases than others, though Cornell doesn't list much for anthracnose resistance specifically.

Picking fruits once they begin to color-up but before they ripen fully can also reduce the risk of anthracnose damage. (They can finish ripening on the counter, and should taste the same as those that are vine-ripened.)

As noted in our Key to Common Problems of Tomatoes page, if you've been saving seeds from this tomato variety for planting the following year, discontinue so you don't keep seeds that may be contaminated with fungal spores. If you have space in the garden, planting tomatoes in a new location next year can also reduce the risk of re-infection, though that method works best with farm-scale plantings more so than home garden-scale plots, but it's still a helpful tactic to rotate crops (if feasible) when there have been disease outbreaks.

Miri

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