what the?

[tessa]

this is a fruit from the dwarf project. it's a stumpy.



this is now the second fruit from the dwarf project to fall off the vine. it happened to the first fruit of happy as well.
what could be happening here?
is there something i can do to help the fruits stay on the vine?


and is this fruit fly sting?



and...as you can see there is an ever so slight blush to the fruit. if i allow it to ripen (miracle with that gaping wound) do you think the seeds will still be viable?

thanks folks.

[Grub]

In my neck of the (no) woods that's fruit fly for sure. The buggers are especially good at getting in the stem end, as your first pic shows. Often, even if you spray with pyrethrum, it doesn't cover the area under the green thingy on the top of the fruit. So I spray around here with extra diligence.

There should be maggots inside when you cut it open. You need to get some traps that at least remove the male flies.

[tessa]

thanks grub.
i was worried about that...as it's my first fruit fly evidence on the property.
i tried to let the tomato ripen on the bench, but it just rotted instead. no magots inside, but they might not have had time to develop. the seeds didn't have time either...as i couldn't find any when i went valiantly sifting through the miasma.

[Grub]

The maggots might have morphed into flies and flown the tomato. In a bad year I can find fruit fly on my kitchen ceiling. In a good fly year, though not so good for fruitset here as its wet, wet, wet, I only lose a few fruits. Also, good husbandry helps, as in disposing of all infected or rotten fruit, including fallen citrus, and not putting fruit in the compost pile.