BER and Calcium!

When we lived in Louisiana, I always had to add calcium to my soil to prevent BER on my tomatoes. Normally the condition occurs due to moisture excursions either up or down. In some cases, it occurs due to unavailability of usable calcium in the soil. It isn't unusual for mineral deficiencies in plants to occur even when the minerals are present. Some minerals simply get locked up in forms that can't be absorbed by the roots.

I started using an amateur method of making sure calcium was available by placing calcium antacid tablets on all four sides of every tomato plant when I planted it. It worked or at least I can say, my BER problems ended.

Living in Texas, I believe I have enough "available" calcium in my soil to normally prevent BER. Last year was not normal. We had a three or four day period early in the spring after the tomatoes had formed when we had about four inches of rain. My tomato beds were soaked and the plants absorbed a lot of water with rapid growth. It resulted in many of my earliest tomatoes having a lot of BER. It was especially hard on my beefsteak varieties.

This year, I plan on adding some extra calcium in case we get another extended rain event. I can't make up my mind if I want to use my amateur method with the Tums tablets (cheap and easy) or the expert way with Calcium Nitrate ( a little more expensive and complicated).

I would appreciate comments about the two methods.

Ted