BER with Hearts

[Gerardo]

BER sneaks up on you, first fruits have been the ones
to go down for me. On one occasion it was excess
liquid ferts. Heavy mulch, drip irrigation, dolomitic
lime, cal nitrate-Epsom salt smoothies, a thriving
microbe population and booting San Marzano XYZ varieties has kept BER at bay.

[taboule]

Originally Posted by Gerardo

BER sneaks up on you, first fruits have been the ones
to go down for me. On one occasion it was excess
liquid ferts. Heavy mulch, drip irrigation, dolomitic
lime, cal nitrate-Epsom salt smoothies, a thriving
microbe population and booting San Marzano XYZ varieties has kept BER at bay.

Amen to this Gerardo. I've totally given up on pastes and San Marzano types, never did well with them three years in a row.

[TexasTomat0]

Originally Posted by JLJ_

"Know what to do to fix the problem" ? That's information that is certainly widely sought, including my many commercial growers. [g]

Many say they haven't seen BER in hearts, but there was a thread within the last couple of years where several of us mentioned seeing it in hearts (but not just hearts and not all hearts growing in the same area) -- varieties that had never had a problem before and where there was no obvious cause . . . irregular watering, too much nitrogen, etc.

The first post in this old thread quotes one of the best short discussions of BER I've seen. Among other things, it clarifies the calcium issue that is often confusingly expressed -- that BER is due to calcium deficiency, of course -- but not necessarily, or even often, calcium deficiency in the soil, or in the plant -- just at the blossom ends of some developing fruits -- and discusses possible cause for this.

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=8306

There's other good info in the thread, also.

I guess everyone keeps getting hung up on the "I know what to do to fix the problem" statement I made. What I meant is that I'm trying the typical remedies, i.e. more even watering and addressing calcium issues in soil. My question though was if HEART varieties are more prone to BER, and there doesn't seem to be a consensus like there is with pastes.

I appreciate the link to the article and I look forward to reading through it. This is my first time BER has shown up for me and it is hitting the only heart on the bed.

I did end up giving them a cal nitrate with some epsom salt and I'm waiting to see if that will help. So far it hasn't shown back up, but I did lose 6-8 nice greenies to the rot.


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