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otomatoo

Blossom End Rot

otomatoo
18 years ago

I am having a terrible problem with the beefsteaks i have in containers-not only are we in a drought situation here, but i understand this is caused by too much nitrogen in the soil..

Please tell me how can i self-correct this soil in these containers? Why aren't the cherry tomatoes being affected and only the beefsteaks? What can i do?

ruth

Comments (8)

  • worth1
    18 years ago

    I my self have never had a cherry tomater get BER.

    Worth

  • carolyn137
    18 years ago

    oto,

    Please go to the main Tomato Forum, link at the top of this page and click on the link to the FAQ area there at the top of that page and read the blurb about BER.

    There are many many factors/stresses that can induce BER and growing in too rich soil or overfertilizing are but two of those factors.

    Growing in containers makes BER more probable for all the reasons you'll read about.

    And please come back here and ask any further questions you might have.

    Carolyn

  • crabypaty
    18 years ago

    I have read the forum page and was wondering if you use the dry milk dry, or do you mix it with water??

  • carolyn137
    18 years ago

    Other various suggestions consist of powdered milk, crushed egg shells tea, bone meal tea, Tums tablets, etc. but prevention is the key. Some recommend removing affected fruit from to reduce stress in the plant.

    Is what's written in the BER blurb and I don't agree with it at all.

    There are all kinds of stresses that can induce BER and the two most under control of the home grower are ensuring even delivery of water and not overfertilizing, which is a stress.

    Other stresses which can induce it are too hot, too cold, too windy, too wet, too dry, and some varieties, such as paste tomatoes are very susceptible.

    Milk and all those other things have been mentioned and tried but they simply are not that effective.

    I suppose that FAQ should be updated at some point but we just finished doing the three new ones at the bottom of the FAQ's.

    So I really can't encourage you to try milk, nor leaf applications of Ca++ of any kind.

    Nor applications of Ca++ in any form to the soil b/c plants that have fruits that have BER have plenty of Ca++ in the tissues, so uptake from soil is OK, it's bad distribution and Ca++ just doesn't get to the distil portion of the first fruits.

    The only two reasons to apply Ca++ to the soil are if the soil is devoid of Ca++ or the soil is so acidic that it prevents the uptake of Ca++ and those two situations are exceedingly rare.

    Hope that helps.

    BER is only seen on first fruits and as plants mature they are better able to withstand various stresses and so BER goes away.

    Carolyn

  • Lisaj_OH
    18 years ago

    Oh, Carolyn, You've made me SO happy! I've spent the last few hours in utter depression thinking all of my tomato plants were gonners since I found a few small, green tomatoes tonight with BER. Hopefully, the few fruit I picked off of one plant will be it (??) and my tomato plants and I can move on and I promise I will not fertilize again until the canister says I should!

    I didn't realize that BER goes away.....??

  • otomatoo
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    I just keep picking and tossing all the affected fruits..hope it helps..RAIN would help!

    ruth

  • tomatoesaretops
    15 years ago

    so my green sausage toms definitely have end rot -

    unfortunately I fertilized all my tomatoes thinking that my plants lacked nutrition - but there's nothing I can do at this point...but that's neither here nor there -

    I'm more concerned about whether end rot is a disease or a condition located within a single plant - are all of my plants going to get this because the green sausage has it?

    thanks

  • lilacs_of_may
    15 years ago

    I just discovered BER on my Sausage tomatoes. It's in a self-watering container, so the water delivery is about as even as it's possible to get. And I've actually been fertilizing it LESS than my other tomato plants that aren't in self-watering containers. It's the biggest, greenest, healthiest, and most productive of my tomato plants, so I figured it didn't need that much fertlizing.

    But it's the only one with BER! My drought-stressed other tomatoes that go limp in the heat and are probably in too small containers don't have BER. My best-treated, biggest, healthiest tomato plant does have BER.

    That doesn't make any sense. I can't figure that out.

    My biggest, healthiest zucchini is losing fruits to BER, too.

    So this would seem to indicate that the best prevention for BER is to have small, unhealthy, drought-stressed plants. Healthy = BER. Unhealthy = no BER.

    ???