Why does my tomato or pepper have a white or pale papery patch on the side of the fruit?
White or tan papery patches on the shoulder or side of a tomato or pepper are sunscald — the fruit tissue has been killed by direct sun exposure, often after the plant lost foliage cover.
Sunscald on tomatoes appears as a white, tan, or pale yellow patch on the side of the fruit that was facing the sun. The surface of the patch is slightly shrunken and papery in texture, not raised or water-soaked. It's most common on the shoulder of the fruit — the area near the stem end — or on whichever side faced southwest during the hottest part of the afternoon. On peppers the same pattern occurs: a pale, slightly sunken, papery patch on the most sun-exposed surface. The underlying flesh is typically intact at first, though the patch often blackens and rots secondarily as fungi colonize the dead surface.
Fruit tissue, unlike leaves, isn't adapted to regulate temperature through transpiration the way leaf tissue is. When fruit surface temperature exceeds about 86–90°F in direct sun, pigment is destroyed and cells are killed. This most often happens when protective leaf canopy is suddenly removed — after aggressive pruning, after a disease has stripped the plant of foliage, or after a windstorm. Plants grown in very hot climates or during unusual heat waves are at higher risk. Peppers are somewhat more susceptible than tomatoes because their fruit sits more upright and exposed.
The damaged tissue won't recover. Harvest the affected fruit if it's at all mature — the rest of the flesh is typically fine after cutting away the sunscalded area, provided secondary rot hasn't penetrated deeply. Going forward, preserve canopy where possible; indeterminate tomatoes and peppers use their own leaves to shade developing fruit naturally. If you've pruned heavily and a heat wave is forecast, temporary shade cloth can protect exposed fruit. In consistently hot climates, varieties bred for high-heat conditions tend to have better canopy coverage or thicker fruit walls that tolerate more sun.
Secondary fungal rots (Fusarium, Alternaria) commonly colonize sunscalded patches quickly. If you see black or brown moldy growth developing on or around the pale patch, that's secondary infection, not the primary cause. Harvest promptly once you notice sunscald so you can salvage the fruit before the secondary rot spreads inward.
- AnthracnoseSunken, dark circular lesions on ripening fruit, sometimes with salmon-colored spores in the center.
- Blossom DropFlowers fall before setting fruit, often during temperature extremes or after weather stress.
- Blossom End RotDark, sunken, leathery patch on the blossom end of tomato or pepper fruit — a calcium deficiency disorder.
- Gray Mold (Botrytis)Gray-brown fuzzy mold on fruit, flowers, or stems — soft, collapsing tissue beneath the coating in cool, wet conditions.
- Brown Marmorated Stink BugSunken, corky dimples on fruit and pods caused by a mottled brown shield bug feeding through the skin.
- What are the white or tan papery patches appearing on my leaves during a heat wave?White or tan dry patches on the upper surface of sun-exposed leaves are heat scorch — the leaf tissue has been killed by a combination of excessive temperature and direct solar radiation.
- What is that black leathery patch on the bottom of my tomatoes?Blossom end rot is a calcium deficiency at the fruit level, almost always caused by irregular watering rather than a lack of calcium in the soil.
- Why do my tomatoes, cabbage heads, or carrots split and crack open?Cracking in fruit and root vegetables is almost always caused by a surge of water after a dry period — the interior of the fruit expands faster than the skin or outer layers can accommodate.
- My tomatoes wilt every afternoon in hot weather — is something wrong?Midday wilt on hot days is often a normal, temporary response to heat load — if plants recover by evening, the roots are functioning and the wilting is a water conservation mechanism, not distress.