This is BER, right?

[MSchep]

Just to confirm my suspicion that this is BER, what does everyone think? The only reason I hesitate to be sure is that some of the affected toms (two of the five shown) have rot that is starting somewhere other than at the blossom end.

Is this something other than BER that I should be worried about?

[tryno12]

That is what I get a bit every year early and that is what I believe it is: BER

[zipcode]

It is ber.

[Koala Doug]

As the others have said... definitely BER.

I, unfortunately, do see a bit of it every year on at least one plant. Luckily, it only lasts a short while before it goes away.

And it doesn't always appear on the blossom end (despite its name) - it can happen anywhere in/on the fruit.

[slugworth]

I have seen it on plants with 2 shapes of tomato on the same plant.
The round tomatoes were fine,the plum shaped had the BER.

[MSchep]

Thanks all for confirming my diagnosis. It’s bittersweet that I can now not worry about it being something else, but a bummer that BER seems to have gotten bad all of a sudden, just when I thought I was seeing less of it this year.

[Greatgardens]

I only have it on Dwarf Arctic Rose this year (so far). I just pick off the affected fruit when they are very small. OTOH, if you have a lot of plants, that might not be so easy to do. What is weird is that I get it on plants that are in EarthBoxes, where watering never, ever misses a beat. I only replace about 1/4 of the mix in each box every year, and have plenty of Dolomite. None this year on any IND plants. I would say from my experience that it is more common on dwarfs and DET varieties, and slightly more common on OP than hybrids. Never on cherries that I can remember.

[slugworth]

Originally Posted by MSchep

Thanks all for confirming my diagnosis. It’s bittersweet that I can now not worry about it being something else, but a bummer that BER seems to have gotten bad all of a sudden, just when I thought I was seeing less of it this year.

the heatwave doesn't help matters.

[simmran1]

Slug, As mentioned hundreds of time here on T'ville inconsistent water to the root zone is the main problem causing blossom end rot. Where calcium is not delivered to the developing fruit. There are gardeners that swear by adding Tums to the planting hole, adding calcium nitrate at or after planting and/or Cal Mag. I believe soil Ph is a key factor. Before planting if you get a soil test done and it shows a Ph in the acidity range below 6.5 you should definitely add lime and/or gypsum to raise the Ph to at least 6.5. With that said, I believe more in the Cal-Mag type of approach due to tomato plants not requiring an abundance of Nitrogen as in calcium nitrate, and adding Tums to the planting hole is probably a waste of an antacid.

[MSchep]

These are all Earthboxes/Earthtainers, so inconsistent watering isn't really part of the equation here. The temp fluxuations have been extreme in the last week or two, but when these affected fruit set, weather was pretty optimal.

[slugworth]

Originally Posted by simmran1

Slug, As mentioned hundreds of time here on T'ville inconsistent water to the root zone is the main problem causing blossom end rot. Where calcium is not delivered to the developing fruit. There are gardeners that swear by adding Tums to the planting hole, adding calcium nitrate at or after planting and/or Cal Mag. I believe soil Ph is a key factor. Before planting if you get a soil test done and it shows a Ph in the acidity range below 6.5 you should definitely add lime and/or gypsum to raise the Ph to at least 6.5. With that said, I believe more in the Cal-Mag type of approach due to tomato plants not requiring an abundance of Nitrogen as in calcium nitrate, and adding Tums to the planting hole is probably a waste of an antacid.

I used to use sheetrock back when I could get it for free.
The plants I have in cement blocks seem to do fine.

[JRinPA]

When I get BER it is almost always on the first truss of the plant, on 1 or 2 per truss at most, on larger tomato types. The majority of plants are fine and don't get any. I grow in ground and water only when necessary for the most part.

The reason? It might be inconsistent water but I'm more inclined to think just inconsistent fruit growth in general, since the earliest tomatoes have the coolest night weather and the plant strives for rapid green growth during that time. This is pure speculation based on my observations of in ground and raised box tomatoes.

I can think of two cases where there was a lot of BER. One was a remote garden on a very dry year with strong midday sun and florida weaved plants that basically had no shade or water. The first tomatoes from most of those plants had some serious BER.

A second case was a single row of four Roma in our regular backyard tomato garden. They had lots of BER, practically the whole first round, but the other types in same plot did not. They are the only determinate tomato I ever tried. Even the latter ones that were BER free were practically tasteless, so no need to grow their type again.

[zipcode]

Since this transformed into what we think causes ber, I will say that I'm pretty sure there's a relation with the time organic fertilizer kicks in the most (rapid growth as has been mentioned) and ber. Rapid growing plants wilt easily due to a lagging behind of root growth, so you can have insufficient hydration during hot days even with consistent watering.

[Milan HP]

Imho, BER is mainly caused by extreme temperatures of the soil that prevent the roots from absorbing calcium to nourish the fruits. Insufficient watering then "helps" in two ways: doesn't cool the soil and makes transportation of nutrients including calcium within the plant difficult.

The usual advise I get is to use either calcium nitrate (max. 0.5% solution in water) or Wuxal Calcium and spray the leaves. It makes good sense to me: if the roots are "out of order", the leaves can still absorb nutrients as well. Even though just to a certain extent.
The trouble is that this should be applied before the first heat wave so that calcium deficiency is prevented. And repeated if need be. If we apply this procedure only after we detect BER in tomato fruit, it affects just newly developing tomatoes. It doesn't help those that were formed during the time the plant didn't have enough Ca. It's obviously no "miracle cure".

And one more thing: as BER is physiological and not caused by a pathogen, I normally eat the fruit. Just cut off the bad part and enjoy the rest. Actually, it's only an impression of mine, but I often think the BER fruit are sweeter than the rest.

Milan HP

[slugworth]

I don't get BER til it's hot/dry and improper watering.
Green ones with BER never ripen for me,so a moot point.
I was trying to save a precious one for seed but it never made it to that stage.