Blossom end rot!

[b54red]

I used to think it had something to do with calcium but since I have had all my beds tested and a couple were low in calcium and one was extremely low and they were beds that tomatoes were grown in last year with no BER. The one sure way to get BER and it seems only on some some varieties of tomatoes is to have big swings in the moisture level of the soil you are growing them in. Uneven watering is very easy to do when growing in containers as the moisture level can change so quickly and so often which only compounds the problem. After over forty years of growing tomatoes with occasional BER showing up I can say that I can't remember it ever happening when I didn't allow the plants to dry out too much from not watering regularly. I still sometimes get BER in a tomato but it only seems to happen when I can't get around to watering when the plants need it and it almost always seems to be round or plum shaped tomatoes that will occasionally get it. The best thing I ever did to almost completely eradicate the problem of BER was to start heavily mulching my tomato plants with cypress mulch which greatly slows the soils loss of moisture even in the hottest and windiest weather. If you could put about 4 to 5 inches of cypress mulch on top of your potting mix in your containers I think it would help a great deal and the cost is very little.


Bill

[zeuspaul]

I usually get a little BER on a few plants and it clears up on its own. The one exception was with unattended plants on a timed sprinkler. I could only visit the plants about once a week. Almost 100 % of the tomatoes had BER. They had too much water. The sprinkler was set to go off every day.

[QAGuy]

Here's an article by Dr Carolyn Male. I think we all knew her.

Basically, she says there's no cure for BER. It goes away all by itself.

http://www.webgrower.com/information/carolyn_ber.html

[nathan125]

My zucchini gets BER. terrible. I added a handful of gypsum soil buster to each plant. Hopefully that does the trick

[biscuitridge]

I don't agree with Dr Carolyn Male on her explanation in that old article, there's newer research that shows what causes it and how to prevent it, one of the things that can be done is to make sure that you have luxury levels of boron in the soil, since it is the trucker of all minerals, there's many other things to that effect calcium uptake, I think that most of us agree that it is not caused by an inadequate supply of calcium in the soil,as others have stated that there usually is plenty of calcium in most soils, but there's many factors that have to be considered as to why it isn't getting to the fruit.

[nathan125]

Carolyn was condescending I felt and stuck in her ways.

[edweather]

I've never been able to "cure" it. An ounce of prevention (cough cough, TTF or End Rot from day one,) is worth a pound of cure.

[imp]

Originally Posted by nathan125

Carolyn was condescending I felt and stuck in her ways.

Disagreeing with another persons opinion is fine, opinions on differing ideas or thoughts sometimes brings clarity or knowledge. In that light, I strongly disagree with your stated opinion about a lady who is deceased and cannot even defend herself.

No matter of your personal opinion, Carolyn was a gracious and generous person, openly giving of her time, knowledge and sharing/introducing many seed varieties to others. She was a great, loyal and dearly loved friend of mine through the years, and of many others as well. Carolyn was also a teacher for years, helping many students to advance in the medical and science fields.

There are quite a few posters on here whose knowledge I respect and pay attention to in regards to growing vegetables and flowers; I would also hate to read of some one speaking ill of them , especially if they were deceased and unable to defend themselves.

[imp]

Originally Posted by biscuitridge

I don't agree with Dr Carolyn Male on her explanation in that old article, there's newer research that shows what causes it and how to prevent it, one of the things that can be done is to make sure that you have luxury levels of boron in the soil, since it is the trucker of all minerals, there's many other things to that effect calcium uptake, I think that most of us agree that it is not caused by an inadequate supply of calcium in the soil,as others have stated that there usually is plenty of calcium in most soils, but there's many factors that have to be considered as to why it isn't getting to the fruit.

What parts of the article did you disagree with and why? What would be a "luxury levels of boron in the soil" and what studies have born this out?



I am not asking in a sarcastic frame, I wish to read the studies, etc., to advance my own knowledge.

[PaulF]

I, too, would like to see the new research on BER. So far as I have been able to find, the causes and fixes for BER mirror the "old" research and debunks the quick fixes some people like to espouse. Carolyn mostly repeated the prominent thoughts of the day by professionals who were agronomists and university researchers.

Boron is one of the essential micronutrients along with several others that are necessary for good plant growth. Nowhere have I been able to see anything said about tomatoes and the amount of Boron needed to combat BER. A lot has been written about several other food plants' need for Boron by some major universities but nothing for tomatoes, peppers or eggplant which are the main BER affected crops.

Being an old guy not necessarily stuck in my ways, I am interested in the research. BER is not a real problem for me but it is there every once in a while and the solution has been to follow the 'old' methodology.

[MissS]

I too agree with Farmer Shawn. I will say that I used to throw a Tums into my planting hole and after that I didn't have anymore blossom end rot. I also now use TTF and it states that if used that there won't be any blossom end rot and so far that has proved to be true. I must say though that due to the BER issues I stopped growing plum type tomatoes.

[biscuitridge]

Boron does not in itself combat BER,but it is the mineral needed in order for the calcium to be able to get to the sink,calcium does not move within the plant very well, it has to have boron to do it. You can check your calcium levels with a refractometer, I'll try to locate the info for you when I get a minute, right now I'm anticipating another WR tomato, will be my 3rd if all goes well, should be harvesting in 3 to 5 days ,so we'll see if it makes WR weight or not. It measures as though it should easily do it,but you never know until it is on the scale.

[imp]

Thank you, would really like to read the studies. Learning more about the science of things and how they work is often fun.

[encore]

threw some tums in my RGGS this year, didn't matter. lol every year on most but NOT all types, the EARLY tomatoes get BER then it goes away , they get all the water they want , rain might be a factor as far as them getting more water, so pretty much know it's going to happen with early tomatoes and watch for it and pick them off. then as everything starts to stabilize the rest are fine. just my 2 cents lol---tom

[brownrexx]

Excess fertilization can cause BER too.