How to Identify and Prevent Sunscald on Tomatoes

24.07.2024 - 02:54 / gardenerspath.com / Kristine Lofgren

How to Identify and Prevent Sunscald on Tomatoes

I might be about to blow your mind by telling you this, but when it comes to growing tomatoes, there is such a thing as too much sun.

We always hear about how important it is to plant tomatoes in as much sunlight as possible with lots of heat, and that advice generally holds true.

However, it’s possible for the fruits to be exposed to too much light, especially during hot and humid conditions, and when that happens, it can result in sunscald.

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Tomatoes require around eight hours of sun per day, but more than that, especially during the hottest part of the year, isn’t ideal.

You can learn more about the perfect conditions for growing tomatoes in our guide.

When tomatoes suffer from sunscald, it can mean saying goodbye to those particular fruits.

It’s pretty easy to avoid this condition, though. We’ll explain how to do that and why this disorder happens in the first place, in this guide.

Here’s what I’ll cover:

I’m sure you’re excited to get to the part where you find out how to deal with the problem, but let’s first define what sunscald is.

Sunscald isn’t a disease; it’s a physiological disorder, which means it’s caused by environmental issues rather than pathogens.

The good news is this generally means you can take action to prevent the disorder when you understand the cause.

Sunscald, as the name suggests, happens when a fruit is exposed to too much direct light.

I know what you’re thinking because I thought the same when I first encountered this problem. How on Earth can a tomato have too much light?

Whenever I planted a new garden, I would