"Pat Kiewicz" wrote in message
...
Paul M. Cook said:


So I added calcium to the soil, I used fish emulsion fertilizer and I
sprayed the leaves with calcium water. And BER set in anyway. No water
stress such as dry roots. I water every day as it is quite warm and the
pots dry fast. This is maddening because I lost so many tomatoes last
year
to BER. Just how much more can one do?


Use *much* larger pots.

These are 18 gallon pots, they hold 2 cubic feet of soil each.

If you have a layer of gravel at the bottom of the pots "for drainage"
stop
doing that.

I just drilled 1/2 inch holes in the bottom for drainage. Works pretty
good.

Shade the pots by setting them in a wooden box (no bottom needed)
or, use large foam or double-walled pots.

Set up a drip irrigation system so the pots stay evenly moist.

At the rate I am going my tomatoes will cost me about 20 bucks a pound.
Just cut 2 more with BER.

Some varieties are more prone to BER than others. Sadly, this is not
something that is discussed in catalog descriptions and it's rarely
brought
up anywhere else. That's too bad, really. It would be useful
information.

I have Celebrity and yellow pear going at the moment. I am thinking the
Celebrity is one I will not try again. The yellow pear did well last year
and so far this year no BER.

'Green Zebra' is a variety that has proven to be consistantly prone to
BER in my garden. Liked the tomato, but stopped growing it because
of this fault. It would suffer BER when no other variety did.

Long, pointed varieties (plum tomatoes, for example) are prone to BER.

'Early Girl' may be very popular but (in my experience) it is slightly
more
prone to BER than other small, round, quick maturing varieties.

I'll probably stick to patio from now on.

Paul