Is this Blossom End Rot?

jhkokst · July 6, 2012

First time poster here.

My girlfriend and I decided to pick up some tomato plants earlier in the year. Our goal was not a bountiful harvest, but more of an experiment to see if we could grow tomatoes that taste better than the bland stuff in grocery stores. We live in the high country of CO, so our growing season is about 1 month. We decided to grow them indoors through early June, and began to let them outside during the day for the past month or so. They still come in at night. We have 1 Supersweet 100, 1 Galina, and 1 Bucks County Hybrid. All are in 3 gallon pots (from my reading i know this is too small, but this is a test year). Our cherries set fruit in late May, and we picked our first this past week. Our Buck's county still has a way to go.

We have begun to notice some "rot" on the bottom of some of Buck's County. I am assuming this is blossom end rot. In the attached photo you can see what I am referring to with the tomato I am holding, as well as the one that that is blushing at the top of the photo. What's the quickest solution to fixing blossom end rot?

Next year will be different. I plan on starting some heirlooms from seed and putting them in more appropriately sized pots. This forum has really opened my eyes to all of the varieties one can grow, looking forward to it!

augiedog55 · July 6, 2012

yes it is. as for a solution thats up for debate . search BER and there are plenty of opinions on the subject. i just pulled 6 tomatoes this week with ber

tam91 · July 6, 2012

You can't search BER on the forum, because the word is too short. I tried

Try "blossom end rot" as a search instead.

Basically, what I've been reading is, you take care of anything that is stressing the plant that you can (like if it needs more water for ex.), and wait until it just gets over it. Can't really fix it.

JamesL · July 6, 2012

As already stated, treatment is open for debate. I fall into the camp that you can't really treat "it" but you can try to resolve the plant stress. Most plants tend to grow out of it, so you end up believing whatever you have done was the fix.
Read Carolyn's post in this thread. She has forgotten more about tomatoes than most of us will ever know.
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=23668

July 6, 2012	#3
tam91 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Crystal Lake IL Posts: 2,484	You can't search BER on the forum, because the word is too short. I tried Try "blossom end rot" as a search instead. Basically, what I've been reading is, you take care of anything that is stressing the plant that you can (like if it needs more water for ex.), and wait until it just gets over it. Can't really fix it. __________________ Tracy

July 6, 2012	#2
augiedog55 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: oak grove mo Posts: 406	yes it is. as for a solution thats up for debate . search BER and there are plenty of opinions on the subject. i just pulled 6 tomatoes this week with ber

July 6, 2012	#4
JamesL Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 1,992	As already stated, treatment is open for debate. I fall into the camp that you can't really treat "it" but you can try to resolve the plant stress. Most plants tend to grow out of it, so you end up believing whatever you have done was the fix. Read Carolyn's post in this thread. She has forgotten more about tomatoes than most of us will ever know. http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=23668