Bone Meal/blossom end rot

[payorda]

Hello and a question from Cape Cod. Does bone meal give as good protection against blossom end rot as lime?

It’s calcium that stops ber... I use a Texas Tomato Foods liquid fertilizer and have never had a single tomato with it.
I’m sure all the experts here in TV will offer advice as well ...

[VC Scott]

Originally Posted by PlainJane

It’s calcium that stops ber... I use a Texas Tomato Foods liquid fertilizer and have never had a single tomato with it.
I’m sure all the experts here in TV will offer advice as well ...

Agree. Use Texas Tomato Food and water regularly. You will not experience BER. BER is caused by lack of calcium. Sometimes calcium is in a form that the plants can't take up. Other times irregular watering interferes with calcium take up. Use TTF and water regularly and you will have no BER.

[encore]

maybe move this down to general questions, more people would see it there.

[MissS]

No. Bone meal is not for short-term use. It takes months to breakdown so the calcium will not be readily available to the plants in the beginning of the season when they most need it to help to prevent BER. Your best bet is to use lime which is very fast acting.

[slugworth]

old sheetrock
recycle and save

Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard chalk and wallboard.

[Koala Doug]

Originally Posted by slugworth

old sheetrock
recycle and save

FYI - It was very common for sheetrock/drywall to contain asbestos.

[hdrider]

Originally Posted by Koala Doug

FYI - It was very common for sheetrock/drywall to contain asbestos.

The following is what I found on drywall and asbestos in the US, not sure if it pertains to any where else.

From: https://baronandbudd.com/news/at-hom...sbestos-walls/

IS THERE ASBESTOS HIDING IN YOUR WALLS? THE TRUTH ABOUT ASBESTOS DRYWALL

If your home was built after the 1930s, your interior walls are probably at least partially constructed of drywall, which was (and still is) typically sold in four-foot by eight-foot panels. In single family dwellings these sheetrock boards did not usually include asbestos fiber, although until 1980 heavier, insulated cement boards used as firewalls between units in apartment houses and commercial buildings often did. Decorative paneling installed in mid-century homes, however, may well have contained asbestos, including panels made to look like brick, such as GAF’s Hearthglow faux-brick paneling. Asbestos panels are generally not harmful as long as they remain in one solid piece.

Joint Compound
Whether there is asbestos in your home’s drywall or not, most sheetrock mud (also known as wall-joint compound) which was sold between 1940 and 1980 did contain asbestos fiber. This product came in two forms and was used to fuse the seams between drywall panels once they were installed.


So as long as the product you are using is newer than 1980 you should be safe.

Tracy

[SQWIBB]

BER can be caused by many things.
Is this a container plant?
Sometimes it's not a calcium deficiency in the soil but rather in the plants ability to get calcium to the fruit.
Are the leaves curling? A lack of transpiration could cause BER.


Water stress contributes to BER.


optimal pH will help.



Back off on high nitrogen fertilizer and fertilize with something like Jobes Organics Vegetable and Tomato 2 - 7 - 4 when flowering starts.
Over fertilizing with a high nitrogen can contribute to BER.


High magnesium can compete with calcium uptake in tomato roots contributing to BER.


Do not use Epsom Salts, this is magnesium and can add to the problem.




Foliar Sprays do not work


I have had luck with calcium sulfate dihydrate and my BER issue in my indoor garden

[slugworth]

I had a mutant speckled roman tomato plant one time that had the normal plum type tomatoes and also round tomatoes.
The plum tomatoes developed BER but the round tomatoes were fine.
All on the same plant.
Explain that one.

[GrowingCoastal]

Fusion?

[slugworth]

1 round one that I kept growing out.
Looked like a big tigerella
I lost all the genetic materiel when I stupidly froze the seeds one year.
Years of work down the drain.
This years fun is a speckled roman plant with 3 cotyledons I am babying.
In the past I noticed plants like that have 30% more foliage.
The plant is over 1 month old and doesn't want to give up it's cotyledons.
They are still attached and healthy looking.

[Greatgardens]

I've never had much of an issue with BER on plants grown in ground. EarthBoxes are a different matter. Also, some varieties seem to be much more susceptible to it, and I've only had much of an issue in the first year that I've completely changed the potting mix. I rarely do that any more, and instead I replace about 1/3 each year. I've used a lot of granular fertilizers, frequently with the typical EarthBox fertilizer strip (as 10-10-10, etc.), but with a long acting organic fert. such as Jobes or Burpee's mixed into the media along with dolomitic limestone. I've never used TTF, but every year I keep thinking "this might be the year..."

[SQWIBB]

BER? what is BER? I never had a problem with BER.

[GrowingCoastal]

I love Paul Robeson but cannot grow it in a pot without risking BER any time I miss watering it on time. Any wilt at all and it gets BER. Any drop too much water and it splits. No amount of bonemeal in the mix or lime or additional calcium help. Watering is crucial.
Dear Paul..... It breaks my heart but yes, this is a break up letter.