In article ,
Jeff Thies wrote:
Pat Kiewicz wrote:
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.
I have a friend growing tomatoes in 10" to 12" pots. I know the tomato
has a huge root system and I usually see them in 5 gallon paint buckets.
Is she on a fools errand?
A balance is struck between the size of the root structure and the size
of the vegetative structure. They will be about equal. Larger the roots,
the larger the vegetative plant.
If you have a layer of gravel at the bottom of the pots "for drainage" stop
doing that.
Why is that?
Ca uptake is hindered by dry soil, or very wet soil that causes the
roots to rot and become dysfunctional. Ideally, the soil should make a
ball, if you squeeze it in your hand, but also break apart easily
between thumb and forefinger, i.e. not too dry or too wet.
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.
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've hear that some packages have BER on them to signify resistance.
I've never seen it. It seems that some F1s are marked with resistance
traits.
'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.
Found this uber technical bit on BER:
http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/95/4/571
A good article, and I thank you for it.
Among other things, it says that no one is sure if calcium has a role to
play in BER ;O) LOL
Any comments on eggshells? I've got a lot ground up in my soil. It
would seem the calcium release would be slow, probably too slow.
Jeff
Slow, that's the word.
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
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