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What is it?
This tomato plant condition occurs on green and ripening tomato fruit when they are exposed directly to the rays of the sun during extremely hot weather. Although the tomato fruit may still be edible on affect tomato plants, it does make them unsightly and can damage large areas of the garden crop.
What does it look like?
When sunscald occurs on tomato plants, the first sigh of the condition you may see will be a series of light, hard patches appearing on the tomato fruits themselves. The tomato fruits which are most susceptible are those tomatoes which are still green or in the ripening process, and of course, those tomatoes which have been exposed to direct sunlight over a long period on a hot day. The light, hard patches appear on the tomato fruit on the side which faces the direct sunlight. These patches will then blister over time and eventually become sunken. Once these patches have begun to sink on the tomato fruit, the patches will then begin to grow a grayish white substance which has a thin almost paper-like consistency. The affected area of sunscald may also begin to grow black mold which causes the tomato fruit to rot and become inedible.
How does it manifest?
Sunscald occurs, quite simply, with overexposure to direct sunlight of tomato plants during hot weather. Tomato sunscald occurs most often on tomato varieties which have sparse foilage. Tomato foilage may be sparse due to the variety of tomato plant, or due to a variety of tomato leaf diseases such as septoria leaf spot, fusarium wilt or verticullum wilt. Additionally, both early and late blight are factors in sparse foilage on tomato plants. Leaf roll is also a problem at times because it can thin the tomato leaves, which leaves the tomato fruit exposed to the sun. Additionally, tomato plants which have been pruned back to help their ripening process are more susceptible to tomato sunscald. You can still eat the tomato fruits as long as you remove and of the gray or hard, light patches in the sunscalded areas of the fruit. Taste should not be affected. However, if you notice and signs of black mold or other bacterial breakdown in the tomato fruit it is best not to consume it. Often, the areas of sunscald which sink in are prime breeders of a variety of fungi which take the sunscald damage as an opportunity to invade damaged fruit tissues and set up a moldy, disease process.
What can you do about it?
Salvage any tomato fruit which is showing signs of sunscald by slicing off the affected areas and eating the remainder of the unaffected tomato fruit promptly. Exposed tomato fruits should be covered with straw or a lightweight screen or other material which protects the tomato fruits from the damaging effects of the sun. Although it may be tempting to prune back leaves to hasten the ripening process of your tomato plants, don’t. This merely exposes tomato plants to the possibility sunscald damage. You will also want to be sure to control any leaf diseases which arise and may consider growing varieties which are resistant to both fusarium wilt and verticillium.
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