Catfacing
A physiological disorder, not a disease, in which tomato fruit grows scarred, puckered, and misshapen at the blossom end, with holes, ridges, and bands of brown scar tissue. It traces back to something disrupting flower formation, usually cold weather at bloom, and is most common on big heirloom beefsteak types early in the season.
🔎 How to spot it
Look at the blossom end, the bottom, of the fruit for deep puckers, cavities, holes, and corky brown scars, often with protruding ribs or bands of leftover flower tissue. The fruit is lumpy and distorted rather than round. It affects scattered fruit, typically the earliest ones set under cool conditions, while later fruit comes in normal.
🥀 Damage it causes
Catfaced fruit is misshapen and scarred, so much of it is downgraded or has to be trimmed heavily, and deep cavities can invite secondary rots. The disorder does not spread or harm the plant, and mildly catfaced fruit, once trimmed and free of rot, is perfectly fine to eat.
🔬 What causes it
Catfacing comes from a disturbance to the flower as the fruit begins to form, most often cold or cloudy weather at bloom time. High nitrogen, aggressive pruning, contact with hormone-type weed killers, and damage to flower buds can also trigger it. Large-fruited and heirloom varieties such as the big beefsteaks are the most prone.
🛡️ Prevent it
Do not set transplants out too early; wait until the weather and soil have warmed past the cold spells that trigger it at bloom. Avoid heavy nitrogen and overly aggressive pruning, and keep hormone-type herbicides well away from the garden. Favor varieties less prone to catfacing, especially smaller-fruited and modern hybrids, if it is a recurring problem.
🧯 If it is already here
There is nothing to cure on an already-catfaced fruit, so trim away the scarred tissue and use the sound part, discarding any with rot in the cavities. The disorder usually fades on its own as the weather warms and later flowers set under better conditions, so no treatment is needed beyond waiting out the early, cool-weather flush.
💡 Good to know
Catfacing is a cool-weather, flower-formation problem, which is why it clusters on the first fruit of big heirloom tomatoes set during a cold snap and disappears on the summer crop. It is easy to tell from blossom-end rot: catfacing is lumpy scarring and holes, while blossom-end rot is a smooth, sunken, leathery dark patch.
🌱 Plants it affects
61 plants in the library can be affected by this problem
Aji Amarillo Pepper🍓Albion Strawberry
Amish Paste Tomato
Anaheim Pepper
Banana Pepper🍅Beefmaster Tomato
Better Boy Tomato🍅Big Beef Tomato
Big Boy Tomato
Black Cherry Tomato
Black Krim Tomato🍅Box Car Willie Tomato
Brandywine Tomato
Carolina Reaper Pepper
Cayenne Pepper
Celebrity Tomato
Cherokee Purple Tomato
Cubanelle Pepper
Early Girl Tomato
Fresno Pepper🍅German Queen Tomato
Ghost Pepper
Green Bell Pepper
Green Zebra Tomato
Habanero Pepper
Hardy Kiwi
Honeoye Strawberry
Hungarian Wax Pepper
Indigo Rose Tomato
Jalapeño Pepper
Juliet Grape Tomato
June-Bearing Strawberry
Kellogg's Breakfast Tomato🍅La Roma IV Tomato
Lemon Boy Tomato🍅Mortgage Lifter Tomato
Mr. Stripey Tomato
Orange Bell Pepper🍓Ozark Beauty Strawberry
Padrón Pepper
Pimento Pepper
Pineapple Tomato
Poblano Pepper
Purple Bell Pepper
Red Bell Pepper
Roma Tomato🍅Rutgers Tomato
San Marzano Tomato
Scotch Bonnet Pepper🍓Seascape Strawberry
Serrano Pepper
Shishito Pepper🍅Striped German Tomato🍅Sungold Cherry Tomato
Sweet 100 Cherry Tomato
Sweet Banana Pepper
Thai Chili Pepper🍅Tiny Tim Cherry Tomato
Trinidad Scorpion Pepper
Yellow Bell Pepper
Yellow Pear TomatoFor educational and informational purposes only. Disease management advice is general guidance drawn from university cooperative extension sources; always identify a problem positively and read and follow the label on any product before use, especially around food crops, children, and pets.