Tomato Plant Problems

[frankvena]

I'm growing my tomatoes in containers this year. I tried last year and had a problem with what I can only assume is blossom end rot. When I discussed this problem with multiple sources last year I was told to use good container soil that had nutrients, perlite etc. so I bought organic container soil this year. I supplemented the soil with horse manure (just like my Italian cousin who has the best tomatoes in his neighbourhood) and added some tomato specific fertilizer with added calcium as recommended. The plants themselves look very healthy with plenty of blossoms and a few fruit starting. However, I noticed today that one of the fruit is suffering from the same malady as the ones last year, even though it is completely different soil in different (larger) containers with supposedly all the right nutrients. I water the plants every other day by soaking them with the hose. When I check the soil in a couple of days, it's dry to a couple of inches below the surface but not bone dry. Could I be watering too much? I'm also getting a lot of curling on new formed branches at the top of the plant which I assume is from too much nitrogen from the manure. Can anyone confirm what these problems are and make any suggestions as to how to resolve them. I lost 70% of my crop last year to end rot and will be devastated if that happens again after so much effort to avoid it!

[Ed of Somis]

F...like you, I have been studying tomatoes in containers this season. Here is what I know: BER can be caused by watering issues. It sounds like you are holding back on water. As long as you drain well...keep it moist. They are big drinkers and feeders (especially in containers). I sprayed a product that foliar fed calcium. I think it helped me. Also, BER traditionally strikes early in the season.

[cythaenopsis]

I'm no expert on this, but I've seen a few people attest that calcium deficiency is a frequent cause of BER. A good way to stave it off or deal with an impending run of BER is to get some calcium into the soil rather quickly. You can do this with a limestone slurry. Check out Gary Pilarchik's video about this: How to Treat BER.

[peppero]

some t'villians use crushed egg shells at planting time. i think that someone runs eggshells through a blender with water and then boils the water, lets it coll and then sprays the plant. i run my shells through the blender and put some in the planting hole. i rarely have any blossom end rot.

jon

[NarnianGarden]

I've tried the egg shell paste in my containers, but did read somehwere that the absorbtion is very slow. Difficult to know what to believe. I tried to crush the egg shells as small as possible, but could not get them totally pulverized.
Anyhow, they are there, in the soil, whenever the plants are ready to absorb them...

So far no BER in my tiny babies, but instead I have seen many well-pollinated flowers fall off.. that's not a pleasant sight either.

[cythaenopsis]

Yeah, I had accumulated a lot of eggshells that I was intending to use for planting purposes. I crushed up a bunch into tiny pieces and mixed into my tomato plant soil just prior to planting. Later I used a coffee grinder to pulverize the eggshells into powder. It's not a "true" powder as when mixed with water, it will eventually settle to the bottom as sediment. But when stirred up the water is milky white. I added that to my pots and expect it is helping to some degree.


As for aborting pollinated flowers, I think it's some kind of nutrient deficiency issue. I have some trusses that established a few pollinated flowers and then shortly afterward rather healthy looking flowers and buds on another arm of the truss ended up starved and fell off... I suspect due to nutrient priorities to the fertilized flowers. If the plant had enough nutrients then it would probably have kept them all.

[NarnianGarden]

Blossom drop seems to be a common problem when a heat wave hits - I have read many comments that there is not much that can be done. It's not that the soil doesn't have nutrients, but somehow the excessive heat messes things up.
Apple juice didn't help, although some experienced gardeners recommend it in YouTube videos.
Ah well, soon the weather will cool off a bit and we'll have a 'normal' Nordic summer..

[dipchip2000]

Not that I think it will help but if you insist on added calcium why not buy a bottle of Ca tablets at the dollar store, about 2 bucks. grind these with your grinder or blender and mix with water or put some of the dust in the planting hole. Easy solution and should work as good as or better than pulverized egg shells. Just a thought
I personally think BER is caused by erratic watering habits

ron

[frankvena]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'm going to get a soil hygrometer today to ensure proper watering. I'd also heard last year that calcium might be the problem so, as mentioned, I added 4 tblsp of tomato specific organic fertilizer with added calcium to the pot at root level at transplant time (one month ago) and also a couple tablespoons to the top of the soil 2 weeks later. So, I doubt it's a calcium deficiency. Knock on wood that so far, only one fruit is suffering from BER but it's the largest one. I guess we'll see as the others catch up in size if it's a systemic problem or is only isolated to one plant. Someone told me it might be a magnesium deficiency. Anyone ever hear of that as a cause?

[zipcode]

I've had Mg deficiency 2 years ago, quite a bad one, and it didn't translate to BER. It might help, but I don't think it can be the main cause.
Some other tips to avoid BER: most important, use other varieties next year unless you reaaally love these. Some varieties are very prone to it, while others almost never get it. Another tip is fertilizing. Doing daily or weekly fertilizing will keep a stress on the plants during heat. I think using slow release is better with regards to BER.

[frankvena]

OK, on the advice of a gardening shop I checked the PH of the soil and discovered that it's too acidic, which apparently inhibits the uptake of calcium leading to BER. So, I did an emergency soil amendment using a slurry of dolomite lime mixed with water. I gave each plant about 2 18 oz cups. Now time will tell. Keeping my fingers crossed.

[cythaenopsis]

^ Hope it works! I've not bothered to do any pH testing of my soil, but I think I'll invest in a tester just to be on the safe side. Lastly, you may want to reconsider what you mixed together for your containers and see if you can identify what may have caused the heavy acidity.

[frankvena]

The soil was a store bought organic container mix that is peat based with added nutrients. Perlite etc. What I imagine caused the additional acidity was the horse manure. It was not composted and still green. Besides the fact that peat tends to be slightly acidic the manure is the only thing I can think of that could have added the acidity but I haven't done any research to know if I composted manure is acidic. Anyone else know if that could be it?

[Balr14]

I really thinks it's the containers. I've never heard of anyone with Earthboxes having problems. I have 18 of them. Friends and family members have seen my garden and bought their own Earthboxes and all have had excellent results.

[ArthurDent004]

You didn't say if you were using Self-watering containers or not. I think I would have left the manure out of the mix and used a slow-release fertilizer. Manure can make the soil too dense and restrict water/air flow. You can amend your soil with gypsum if you want Calcium but don't want to change the soil PH.