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seysonn

The BER varieties.

seysonn
9 years ago

BER is in season, judging from the number of current thread.

Without getting into CAUSE, PREVENTION, WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT, let us get a survey here. Maybe we can learn from co-relation.
So here we go :

1- Are you having BER problem ?
2- what has been your weather like ? Got a lot of rain lately ?
3- Which variety in your garden/pot is having BER problem ?

MYSELF:

1- No
2- Mostly dry and on the hot side
3- None. Years ago i had problem with Roma , San Marzano and probably Brandywine and Rotgers. But I am not growing any of them intentionally.

Let us hear your side of story.

Comments (45)

  • sharonrossy
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Right now I don't have enough tomatoes growing yet. I always had BER with Grren Zebra and last year cuore de bue was a problem. We are having very hot weather, not a lot of rain, lots f wind, high humidity. Might cool down for a day, but then gets really hot. My plants seem to be slow starting to show fruit but at least few are finally moving along!
    Sharon

  • seysonn
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks Sharon,

    So then luckily you are not experiencing any BER problem this season, so far. But you mentioned Green Zebra having BER last season. So we enter the GZ (temporarily) to our Black List.:-)
    I am growing couple of them this season, for the first time. I will watch closely. .. bad bad BER ! hehe

  • HotHabaneroLady
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I don't know that I'd call it a problem, but I did have to remove one tomato that had blossom end rot from one of my plants. It was a Radiator Charlie Mortgage Lifter. I thought that was hilarious since I had just posted about how I have never had a single case of blossom end rot since I started using egg shells. Well, now I have! :)

    Angie

  • carolyn137
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Why put Green Zebra or any other variety on a black list when almost any variety can have BER in a particular season and not in the next season?

    And we do have umpteen threads here already devoted to BER and I know b'c I've posted in every one, and all the variables involved have been discussed and rediscussed.

    No Carolyn is not cranky this morning, the sun is shining and all is well, it's just that she doesn't think yet another thread about BER is needed nor a blacklist of varieties, at least in her opinion. ( smile)

  • digdirt2
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I sure wouldn't label any variety a "BER Variety". The broadest statement one can accurately make based on variety is that paste types are a little more prone to develop it when given less than ideal growing conditions.

    The primary causes of BER rest on the shoulders of the gardener and the conditions they provide - that is well documented - not on the variety.

    Dave

  • seysonn
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Why put Green Zebra or any other variety on a black list when almost any variety can have BER in a particular season and not in the next season?
    %%%%%%%%%%%%%
    This is a different approach and view point. Whether or not you need it.
    We are not doing the SCIENCE part. You are doing that part (smile) But we making a survey. Surveys are also a method of study, although not conclusive.
    (THE SURVEY SAYS : !!)

    We are just looking from the "probability and Statistics" . Life insurance companies play this game all the time. If you drive a flame red car and you .. you have to pay higher premium. You can say "what's color to do with it ?".
    As a scientist, you already know and admit that some varieties are prone to BER. Based Einsten Theory of Relativity" everything is relative ( with apology to Albert ).

    I have had Roma and San Marzano in MY black list for years.
    In any venture and adventure, we try to minimize our losses and maximize our gains/returns. Why should I grow Roma, for example, when there are so many choices ?

    Angie,
    I think sometimes, some rots may not be categorized as BER. If a tomato get some open wound it can start rotting from that point. In my observation, this can happen sometimes with cat facing and cracking . I could be wrong.
    We will closely watch ML for further evidence. (grin)

  • HotHabaneroLady
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I agree with Carolyn and Dave that this survey has zero validity for anything, but I'll participate just out of curiosity and for entertainment. I'm not going to take this thread I to account when the time comes to pick varieties for next year or anything else.

    As far as my tomato goes, maybe I should have taken a photo, but I just got rid of it. I do have some cracking tomatoes, but this was not one of them. And I have not noticed any with cat facing so far. This one was unblemished, but with a brown & black, rotten, soft, icky spot on the bottom. I have not seen BER in a long time, but I really think it was BER.

  • seysonn
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The primary causes of BER rest on the shoulders of the gardener and the conditions they provide - that is well documented - not on the variety.

    Dave
    %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
    It is well known that your statement is not accurate.

    First of, as I have mentioned in my opening post, we are not going to get into the the "cause / effect" thing here. There has been/are numerous threads/discussions on that part, for years and years and keeps going on. This is a perennial talk in the garden.

    But blaming the gardener for BER is an unfair accusation. You should know it better that (as Carolyn also mentioned recently), It boils down to this :

    ---that it CANNOT be prevented.
    -- It is not the calcium deficiency, it is not the water that causes it
    -- it is a physiological condition that cannot be cured (practically, not theoretically).
    -- some varieties DEF are prone to it and it is a widely known fact. This is the area of our subject in this thread. trying to identify those with higher probability of developing BER.

    That is all.

  • digdirt2
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If indeed Carolyn said "it cannot be prevented" and offered no qualifiers then I would have to disagree. But I seriously doubt that is what she said or it was taken out of context.

    While it may be true that insofar as the spring weather plays a role in it and we can't control the spring weather, it may not be completely preventable, but there are many ways to improve the odds against BER developing, ways to reduce the possibilities of it. And those "ways" are the responsibility of the gardener, not the variety.

    I did not "blame" the gardener. I merely said they and the conditions they provide are responsible for the primary contributing causes of BER. That means if they educate themselves on those methods they can be fixed and when fixed much of the BER can indeed be "prevented".

    Blame implies failure to act on knowledge they possess. Rather lack of the needed knowledge is the usual case. If we provide that knowledge to them, then once they have it they can improve their odds of it not developing regardless of the variety they choose to grow - even paste varieties.

    That's a far more productive and helpful approach to those wanting to grow tomatoes than just unfairly black listing a bunch of good varieties because somebody says they got BER on them.

    San Marzano is a very paste tomato IMO and well worth growing. Been growing it for many years without any BER issues. Same goes for Brandywine and Rutgers.

    Dave

  • reginald_317
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    3- Which variety in your garden/pot is having BER problem ?Red Lighning Hybrid (prop. to Burpee Seeds).
    Of course it was a one season blunder so I have never grown it since. Nearly EVERY tomato berry on the several plants exhibited BER, and ALL season long when NONE of the other many varieties planted practically next to them had NONE. To add insult to injury, the ripes had a very insipid taste as well and tuff skins. My all-time worst tomato variety. Even Juliet and Yellow Pear come in a distance second or third. Winter supermarket toms picked green are mostly quite superior to this thing.
    Reggie

  • carolyn137
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If indeed Carolyn said "it cannot be prevented"

    I did post that in my long article in ONE of the many BER threads here.

    Seysonn called that to my attention,, and I thanked him and said that it was my error and would change the verbiage when I posted the article again, anywhere.

    So does it surprise you that he repeated here what I said was wrong without sharing what really happened as it being my error, etc?

    After all, the rest of the article I wrote and posted here dealt with several ways of preventing, yes, preventing BER as all who read the article already know.

    Carolyn

    Carolyn

  • dbrown2351
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Lots of BER food fights here. At least one a day recently. I can only add that the only time I ever had any BER problems was when I was growing something in a container. Partially my fault I'm sure as I did not fully recognize the properties of containers versus in the ground, drainage, feeding, etc.

  • labradors_gw
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Reggie wrote

    "Red Lighning Hybrid (prop. to Burpee Seeds).
    Of course it was a one season blunder so I have never grown it since. Nearly EVERY tomato berry on the several plants exhibited BER, and ALL season long when NONE of the other many varieties planted practically next to them had NONE. To add insult to injury, the ripes had a very insipid taste as well and tuff skins. My all-time worst tomato variety. Even Juliet and Yellow Pear come in a distance second or third. Winter supermarket toms picked green are mostly quite superior to this thing."

    Yuck Reggie, but in a way it was good that they tasted awful (worse even than Juliet! Horrors!!!!)

    My experience was last year with Rose de Berne, a great tasting pink tomato variety of which I had planted three. They were all planted in my veggie garden, and there were 18 plants in total. Roma was also hit badly, and I pulled it and swore never to plant it again. I waited anxiously for RdB to outgrow her BER and it took a long time with lots of wasted tomatoes on all three plants. I didn't grow her this year, but am tempted to give her a second chance one day.

    Linda

  • seysonn
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    To Dave and Carolyne : You guys go ahead and help people how to prevent BER. I am sure they will appreciate your help.

    @ HothabaneroLady. ; Fine . you are free and entitled to whatever your heart desires. We are here asking for validation. On occasions i don't go along even with some "experts". This is just a forum.

    Thank you all.

    We are not here to discuss (1)the causes of BER,(2) can it be prevented ? (3) is there a cure for it ? ( and so on and so fort). Just read the opening post , please.
    There are a lot of threads already active talking about it, there is FAQ on it.

    We just want to get a mini survey here according to your experience (maybe not scientific) .

    My reasoning, as I have previously stated, is to MINIMIZE my losses (BER being one cause). There are literally THOUSANDS of tomatoes to choose from. Why should I take a chance (even small) with something that already know it is problematic ? Life is to short to deal with BER (grin).

    Ok: lets get bak to the topic and compile our returns:

    ROMA, GREEN ZEBRA, ML, ROSE DE BERNE,

    (BTW: I am growing GZ and ML, the first time)

  • carolyn137
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My reasoning, as I have previously stated, is to MINIMIZE my losses (BER being one cause). There are literally THOUSANDS of tomatoes to choose from. Why should I take a chance (even small) with something that already know it is problematic ? Life is to short to deal with BER (grin).

    &&&&&

    No one here is talking scientific about BER, including me.You are the one who said that Carolyn says there's no way to prevent it and I pointed out my exchange with you about that and you still went ahead and posted it in this thread and I don't have to think too hard to find an explanation.

    What I object to is blacklisting varieties, such as Roma, ML, GZ and Rose deberne OR blacklisting ANY variety, especially with one or two persons reporting back on those.I've grown them all and as I've said many times here, as have others, a variety can have BER in one season and the same variety not in the next season.

    And in every thread on BER someone has pointed out that true paste varieties are more susceptible to BER, but is that a reason to blacklist them as well?

    In my opinion no since as the plants mature they can better handle the many stresses that can induce BER and it goes away for most growers.

    And I also don't like to see folks who see your blacklist taking those varieties as ones not to evergrow, b'c some will, and you know it.The ratio of lurkers to posters is about 10 to 1 so there you go.

    You posted:

    (My reasoning, as I have previously stated, is to MINIMIZE my losses (BER being one cause). There are literally THOUSANDS of tomatoes to choose from. Why should I take a chance (even small) with something that already know it is problematic ? Life is to short to deal with BER (grin).)

    So we again have a thread that is devoted to your interest as in "MY LOSSES"

    Maybe I should link to Frank Sinatra's rendition of the song MY WAY for you, as I did in another thread here.

    Carolyn

  • seysonn
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    One of the ways to cut your losses , as mentioned before, would be to avoid the varieties that have high incidence of BER.

    Her is some related info from:
    Dr. Sharon M. Douglas
    Department of Plant Pathology and Ecology
    The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station

    >>>>>Cultivar selection can help to minimize
    blossom end rot since differences in susceptibility have been reported .
    ...............
    Cultivars with high incidences include Big Boy, Supersonic, Whopper, and Wonder Boy.
    ............
    Plum or pear shaped tomato cultivars have been found to
    be particularly prone to blossom end rot. There you go.

  • HotHabaneroLady
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ok: lets get bak to the topic and compile our returns:

    ROMA, GREEN ZEBRA, ML, ROSE DE BERNE,

    &&&&&&&&

    I'm growing green zebra as well. So far zero BER.

    And I had a single tomato on a single mortgage lifter plant that got BER. To me, that is a single unlikely fruit. I don't remember my total count of tomato plants, but it's something like 25 I think? And most are mortgage lifters. So if anything, I think my experience is an example of BER being uncommon rather than showing that BER is common in the variety. And of course the various mortgage lifters out there are well regarded varities with long, successful histories. So don't generalize from my single fruit on a single plant.

    I have an Azoychka tomato growing with lots of cracking and a very bizarre shape that I hope to enter in an "ugliest tomato" contest later in the month. That doesn't mean all Azoychka tomatoes are ugly either. And all the rest of my Azoychka fruits so far are perfectly shaped oblate spheres.

    My green zebras are problem free so far, by the way. :)

    I love talking about my garden and hearing about other people's, so I don't mind the thread. But definitely a word of caution is appropriate--don't generalize much from this thread. Actually, a grain of salt is probably appropriate for anything on Gardenweb. It's fun to talk about gardening, but not everyone knows what they are talking about. :)

    Angie

  • seysonn
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We know that BER is NOT an inherent characteristic to certain cultivars. But we also do know that under certain growing conditions (beyond gardener's control) some show a higher incident of BER. So, your and my Green Zebra might not develop BER this year, but we are looking into its history of susceptibility. But I am pretty much decideD on Roma (Plump, pear shaped) types.

    LIFE IS TO SHORT TO SPEND ON PITCHING TOMATOES (grin)

  • sheltieche
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Have grown Green Zebra as well as my friends for few years, nope, no BER noted here.
    Last year I did have something that got BER, out of about 30 plus varieties, which was paste, Orange banana. Great taste otherwise but late tomato. Later read Tanya has had BER with it too, so might be plum paste shape... I think few years back another plum shape was a problem too...
    Linda, I am growing Rose De Berne from your seeds so will see- I report if any issues noted.

  • hoosier40 6a Southern IN
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    In my garden any BER is a very small percentage of the overall production of the plant. They are usually on some of the first fruit that is set. I think people freak out a little more about it since is some of the earlier fruit. If you were picking pounds of tomatoes every day and 2 had BER you wouldn't think twice about it. I grew Roma's for many years and I think about every year I had a little BER but just a week or so later I was picking 2 or 3 - 5 gallon buckets of tomatoes off them. I would be very careful of ruling out any variety because of it. I am growing Green Zebra this year and a few had BER but it is absolutely loaded with fruit that does not. I have a lot of catfacing this year on the earlier fruit on many varieties but it will not play into my decision on growing them again.

  • sharonrossy
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ok, so to clarify, GZ has always been a challenge for me, although I confess that growing any tomato is challenging. But for some reason, I've just had more problems with GZ. It's on my list to try again next year just because I'm stubborn and hate not being successful. Plus I agree with Caroline about giving second chances, for the most part. Just so many varieties to try!
    And I'm pretty sure CDB had BER because I was using the 5-1-1 mix for the first time and was still adjusting to that and using grow bags. So yes, I take responsibility for the conditions my plants are in, and I personally would not refuse to grow a tomato based on a thread that is just making a list for the sake of "conversation" so to speak. BER happens and as gardeners, like Dave said, we have to adjust and correct. Hopefully, most people realize this is not meant to be a definitive or scientific list of any sort, but I can appreciate the concern.
    I try tomatoes based on the opinions of experienced growers and others who share their knowledge and opinions. Of course, taste, conditions, climate, etc has to be taken into consideration. And of course, I try to grow tomatoes based on my personal tastes.
    Carolyn, Dave, thanks for all your knowledge. I've learned so much.
    Sharon

  • seysonn
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sharon,

    I have already explained and provided answers to what you wrote above.
    TO REPEAT:
    1- we are just asking if you (or anybody) had a BER problem with a variety.

    2- NO, this is not a SCIENTIFIC survey. ( already have said that more than once).

    3- you can thak anybody for their expertise. It has nothing to do with this topic and their credibility.

    4- I have also referenced to a scientific source, saying that certain cultivars have higher incidence of susceptibility to BER. That is all I am saying too.

    5- At the end of the day, what you do in your garden, is your business.

    LETS GET THE LIST ROLLING !

  • CaraRose
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Orange Roma, though so far only a few have gotten it.

    It's sharing a bed with a Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Big Beef, Fourth of July, and Bloody Butcher. No other plants have had any BER.

    We have had a LOT of rain. Just got some more today.

  • seysonn
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks for caring and sharing the info, Cara.

    So, this confirms a bit more that Roma (a plump type) is susceptible to BER, half dozen other varieties are not affected.

    Too much, prolonged rain happens to be a condition leading to it. This is a situation cannot be controlled.

  • kathy9norcal
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My first Juliets had a bit of it but subsequently, all are free of it.
    My Cherokee Purples all have had it so far, not a good ripening one yet. Most likely bad container mix or some other newbie failure.
    Green Zebra doing well with only a few BERs.
    Black Prince doing fine, only a few BERs.
    All in containers.

    We are in a drought with NO rain and low humidity.

    While this survey probably won't change my behavior, based on its small size so far, I find it really interesting to follow.

  • seysonn
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks Kathy.

    We are not here to make converts.

    Now that you mentioned those with BER, please list the ones without BER, just to make a comparison.

    But OTOH if all your varieties have had BER problem, then it must be the potting mix , watering and soil chemistry problem.

  • sharonrossy
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This is my first year growing CP and it's doing the best of all my plants except for Miracle BPF. It's been a slow start for me this year, which was probably due to the fact that I started seeds too early and ended up pinching off flower heads. I have no way of knowing. We also had some serious heat and humidity, but things are starting to happen. Trying to keep a handle on watering and fertilizing.
    Ii did have some BER on Juliet last year, not much. I didn't grow it this year cause I wasn't a fan of the flavor and there were other cherry types I wanted to try.

  • labradors_gw
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    "Linda, I am growing Rose De Berne from your seeds so will see- I report if any issues noted."

    Great! I thought they tasted excellent, and I will be most interested to see how they perform in your garden! Do let me know.

    Linda

  • lkzz
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    1- Yes
    2- hot (90's), humid (60% and higher), intermittent rain...dry and then a deluge.
    3- San Marzano

    Plants look fantastic - heavy laden with fruit, little EB (unlike the Large Red Cherries) but so far the only fruit I have picked (and tossed) are those with BER. Most likely due to irregular watering.

    Hoping it will dissipate.

  • donna_in_sask
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I grow Big Beef every year along with a number of open pollinated varieties. I normally get the BB starts from a nursery and do the other varieties myself from seed.

    Last year, I decided to start the BB from seed as well, and I grew them in the back of the garden where the growing conditions weren't as ideal as in front (soil more compacted and didn't seem to retain water as well). Last year was the only time I ever had BER on BB tomatoes. This year has been off to a slow start but none of my tomatoes are showing any signs of having BER.

    There may be some varieties that are more prone to BER, but I would have to say growing conditions play a large part.

  • ncrealestateguy
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I grew San Marzano a few years back. Worst case of BER I ever had. Never grew it since. Opalka was another bad one.
    I now spray once a week with calcium and have never had another BER case. But the only paste tomato I now grow is Polish Linguisa.

  • seysonn
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Alright. Lets keep going.

    So far our mini non-scientific polling/survey shows that ROMA and SanMarzano both are "BER prone". That confirms my own experience as well. Now I think I had BER with Juliet too .
    How about Opalka ?

    Sometimes cat facing might end up with something like BER but I think that is different.

  • kenzo
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Roma, especially roma in containers. I have not seen any BER yet on my in-ground roma plant, but have pulled several BER fruits off the container ones.

    I also got hideous BER on one of my Costoluto's but I blame that on the specific container as the other costoluto in a container is fine as is the one on the ground.

    Never a roma in a pot again, which is frustrating because they are pretty compact and a good fit for containers otherwise. I think I will just buy paste tomatoes at market and grow beefsteaks and cherries only.

  • carolyn137
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yes, Opalka and the rest of the long red true paste varieties are more susceptible to BER than non-paste ones, in certain seasons and certain environmental conditions.

    Also true for almost all true paste varieties, which has been discussed here before at GW and quite recently in fact.

    Carolyn

  • nwheritagegardener
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My plan to combat possible BER (aside from mulching and as consistent watering as possible) is to grow tomatoes for sauce of all different shapes. This year I am growing mostly plum-shaped Romas for sauce, but next year I am also going to grow Russian Big Roma (which is more pear-shaped), Italian Heirloom and Costoluto Genovese. If I can find room, I'm also going to grow Linnie's Oxheart. Hopefully that will give me enough variety in shapes that if one variety struggles with BER *in my garden under my conditions* I will still have enough others to accomplish my preserving goals. :)

  • 73dave
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    1- Are you having BER problem ?
    Yes, minor

    2- What has been your weather like ?
    Got a lot of rain lately ?

    Cool wet spring , then hot and too dry and now back to
    normal rain/temps.

    3- Which variety in your garden/pot is having BER problem ?

    Burpee Big Bush determinate growing in DWC Hydroponic.

  • Kimadano
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My garden has ten different varieties of heirloom tomatoes. All are drip irrigated and receive the same amount of water.

    Varieties with blossom end rot:
    Moskovich
    Black Prince

    Varieties without BER
    Cherokee Purple
    Caspian Pink
    Druzba
    Cosmonaut Volkov
    Djeena Lee Golden Girl
    Brown Berry
    Red Pear
    Yellow Pear

    The Moskovich was a problem for my mother last year as well.

    Mike

    This post was edited by Kimadano on Fri, Jul 18, 14 at 1:05

  • aphidsquish
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    1. Not sure, but I think my Early Girl might have some BER developing on the bottom of some of the fruit. It looks like very small amounts of brown discoloration and speckling happening on the bottom of some of the green fruit. It's not wet or anything, just some speckling right at the bottom.

    2. We have been getting multiple days of rain at a time, sometimes a week of heavy rain at a time. We just had a period of multiple days of heavy rain right before the brown discoloration showed up.

    3. I have three tomato plants in 5 gallon buckets (Early Girl, Husky Red, Yellow Pear Cherry). Only the Early Girl looks like it might be having issues that might be BER. The red cherry tomato has been having EB problems. The bottom half is totally bald from having diseased leaved pulled off. It looks like it has had a full Brazilian.

    I picked the ripe tomatoes off of the Early Girl but I left the others since it seems so minor right now (and I'm not entirely sure). I went ahead and fertilized with Tomato Maker so maybe it won't go any further.

  • seysonn
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Varieties with blossom end rot:
    Moskovich
    Black Prince
    ----------------------------------------------
    Varieties without BER
    Cherokee Purple
    Caspian Pink
    Druzba
    Cosmonaut Volkov
    Djeena Lee Golden Girl
    Brown Berry
    Red Pear
    Yellow Pear
    %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
    Thanks ,Kim.

    That is whatwe are trying to survey. 2 out of 12 showing BER in your garden., While they all are growing in the same garden, same care.

    Someone else has also reported BER with Black Prince, I think. also Moskovich.

    So until they find a cure for BER, I would avoid those and find an equivalen or bettere replacement for them. There are hundreds of tomatoes to choose from.

  • HotHabaneroLady
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I got a couple of green zebras with blossom end rot. It is in a container like my one mortgage lifter that got blossom end rot.

    I'm not quite sure what to think. I mean, green zebras have been successfully grown by thousands of people since they were first introduced in 1983. They are an exceptionally popular variety with a nifty taste and appearance. So maybe we should disregard the 31 years of past experience and conclude that no one should grow green zebra because of BER. My two tomatoes would certainly suggest something is wrong with the millions of green zebras that have been grown.

    I guess I could also conclude that perhaps there is something deficient in the environment I provided. It's my first year growing tomatoes in containers. In the past, I have grown them only in the ground. But this year I wanted to try a hanging garden of tomatoes, so I decided to grow in containers for the first time ever.

    Hmmmmmm..... Well, the only reasonable explanation seems to be that people should avoid green zebra tomato.

    :)

    Angie

  • digdirt2
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Right Angie. :)

    Obviously the only reasonable conclusion one can draw from all the vitally important info in this thread is that

    (1) growing conditions plays no role at all in BER,

    (2) we should never grow tomatoes in any container,

    (3) until they find a cure for BER we should only grow a few "approved" hybrids, or

    (4) since there are some hybrids on this list too, we just shouldn't try to grow any tomatoes at all. Yeah, that would be best.

    Dave

    (I sure hope any future readers of this thread do so with at least 10 lbs of salt and a massive amount of skepticism.)

    Have grown Black Prince for 4 years now and no BER. Have grown Rose de Berne 2 years with no BER.
    Have grown Green Zebra twice and while I consider it yucky my records don't show any BER issues with it.

    I don't waste space with Roma or Early Girl but San Marzano has been a regular here for over 10 years and notes show only 3 instances of BER on the first fruit in 2 different years.

    Have grown Moskvich last year and this year In a 10 gallon container) and no BER.

    I also don't waste my efforts on 5 gal buckets as past experience as well as many reports from others have well proven that no tomato plant except maybe a small dwarf type does at all well in them.

    This post was edited by digdirt on Thu, Jul 24, 14 at 12:44

  • sharonrossy
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    To follow out on that note, I've grown GZ both in ground and containers and have had BER in the initial fruit under both conditions. At some point I figured it didn't like my particular growing conditions or it didn't like me, lol! But it certainly wasn't the only tomato that I grew that got BER. And I can't remember if I started them from seed or bought them at the nursery. In any event, in any given year, growing conditions change and IMO, not that I know very much, whether it's BER or any other condition, some things we can correct and some things we can't! That's why gardening is so much fun! Even when you think you have it figured out it doesn't always work out, and I for one, have made the mistake of over fertilizing, over watering, etc etc. all of the inexperienced home gardener mistakes, but GZ is on my try again list because we really love the taste.

  • aphidsquish
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    OMG, digdirt, LOL. Right. I am off to go throw away all my maters then. Then I will never have BER ever.

    My plants are okay, but the bucket that my 6 foot yellow pear is in is definitely a solid block of roots. However, I just counted 100 tomatoes on Heather (that's the plant's name lol) so I guess it ain't dying anytime soon. I thought that 5 gallon buckets would be overkill but now I realize why people say it's a bare minimum.

  • seysonn
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    BER susceptibility is a known fact. Amongst those some are more prone to it than others. What causes it an how different varieties are affected, are different issues. we are not concern with them in this thread. It is the same/similar case about certain disease resistance that can affect our choices.

    As gardeners, we try to maximize our returns and nobody likes to pitch rotted tomatoes. Just going by the laws of probability and statistics we can minimize our losses, by simply avoiding the varieties that have a higher probability of developing BER. Luckily there are many many choices out there and one is not limited in choice to a known limited varieties . AND THAT IS WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT.
    Ultimately at the end of the day one can decide for him/her self.
    Peace, brothers and sisters !