I'm growing 6 tomatoes in containers of different varieties. Yesterday I
noticed that on one plant, one of the set tomatoes has blossom end rot.
After all the work I put into these tomatoes to get them planted I was
pretty depressed about this. Between this and the severe drought we're
having in Chicago that requires me to water everything every day it
almost makes me want to just give up gardening. Anyway, would it be
prudent if I just pick the fruit that has blossom end rot so the plant
doesn't waste any more energy growing that one?

Sounds like a plan.
Additional calcium will help but BER is really a problem with uneven
water supplies.
Wood ashes supply calcium and potash in a pretty usable form ad a
couple tablespoons per large pot.

Mark Anderson wrote:

I'm growing 6 tomatoes in containers of different varieties. Yesterday I
noticed that on one plant, one of the set tomatoes has blossom end rot.
After all the work I put into these tomatoes to get them planted I was
pretty depressed about this. Between this and the severe drought we're
having in Chicago that requires me to water everything every day it
almost makes me want to just give up gardening. Anyway, would it be
prudent if I just pick the fruit that has blossom end rot so the plant
doesn't waste any more energy growing that one?

Well it wouldn't hurt the plant. Fruits are meant for picking. Even
green ones. If I remember right there is nothing wrong with the
tomato. Problem is the sunken area often develops other disease or
bugs.

BER can be stress related... too much fruit, infrequent watering, too
dry to too wet, plus lack of available calcium. The water stress can
cause existing calcium to not be taken up--hence causing a calcium
deficiency that has nothing to do with lack of calcium in soil.
Supposedly it can happen with first fruits then disappear--which may
be your case.

From my past reading, basically the water is transpiring through the
leaves so fast that water soluble calcium exits/collects in the leaves
and poor concentrations get delivered to the fruit. This can happen
because of excessive heat and excessive moisture. If heat could be a
conditions, you could hang something directly over the plant to avoid
high noon sun. I think someone here recommended in past years laying a
square of trellis on top of the tomato cage to provide some filtering
of the hottest sun. Any shade should help. Another advantage to cage
vs. stake.


Sounds like yours is water stress. Containers are tough, I've never
used less than 12" sq for tomatoes, and my in-ground just explode in
size over container ones. try positioning the container so the
container isn't hit by the sun-even if you just sheild it with wood.
this will keep the root zone cooler. Pots simply shed moisture faster.
Clay is the worst in my mind for hot days. Normally roots 6 inches
deep would be cool, but in a pot they are warm cause the sides of the
container are heating up. use mulch for the top of the dirt. It really
does keep moisture. The mulch absorbs the day's heat and the dirt is
allowed to retain it's moisture at a more normal rate.


A BER foliar spray (or my reommendation would be liquid seaweed) may
help in short term. foliar spray try to introduce nutrients into the
plant through absorbtion in the leaves/fruit. A quicker fix then
getting them into the ground and letting the plant unlock and soak
them up.


I've never bothered to test my soil but as insurance for BER I add
crushed egg shells into dirt around the hole I plant tomatoes. I don't
know if they release their calcium during the growing season , but if
not I figure they will help to replenish what is being taken for
future years. I microwave the shells then toss them in a metal can.
Shake it to break them up. Easy enough to recycle, no smell that way.
I did that with peppers and eggplants too this year. Same family, but
I don't know if they have any greater calcium need. I did not have
luck with eggplant last year--2 of three are doing well this year.


For water stress--since I am forgetful and overwhelmed at times-- I
added peat/sphagnum moss, perlite/vermicullite and TerraSorb/Soil
Moist deep into my vegetable beds. Even to 20 " down. All of these
improve water retention. I think water management is really important
aspect of soil preparation. The only plants that have every shown
water stress is my pots. Smaller the pot, the more often I see them
stressed. I also used hydramats(superabsorbent sheets) at the bottom
of pots. Those worked. POts without them wilted reliably. It soaks up
and retains a lot of moisture that would often drip out of the
container.





Watering is tricky. Hard to know if water is stagnant in the ground or
draining freely. If you've got good drainage in the ground you can
soak the plant and leave be for several days, even in heat. The top
inch will dry up till it is that blow-away gray dust but below that it
will retain moisture. That's why it is important to root plants deep.
Shallow roots dry quicker. I plant tomato transplant into the ground
so there first set of leaves are underground.



DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
3rd year gardener
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/royalf...=/2055&.src=ph

On 2 Jul 2005 12:32:27 -0700, wrote:

Sounds like a plan.
Additional calcium will help but BER is really a problem with uneven
water supplies.
Wood ashes supply calcium and potash in a pretty usable form ad a
couple tablespoons per large pot.

I was advised to apply Epsom salts. Did so. Killed the plants.


--

Aspasia

Aspasia wrote:

On 2 Jul 2005 12:32:27 -0700, wrote:

Sounds like a plan.
Additional calcium will help but BER is really a problem with uneven
water supplies.
Wood ashes supply calcium and potash in a pretty usable form ad a
couple tablespoons per large pot.

I was advised to apply Epsom salts. Did so. Killed the plants.

You may have used too much epsom salt. It should be something like a
teaspoon to a tablespoon per gallon. Also I think that will combat
soil ph problems that can cause BER. But most BER is probably
water/stress related, not because soil acidity is bad or an extremem
lack of calcium.

I made a newbie mistake with baking soda to fight mildew 2 years ago.
I actually shook it out on the plant cause the person didn't say to
use 1 teaspoon per gallon of water. The plant fried within hours.
DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
3rd year gardener
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/royalf...=/2055&.src=ph

I'm growing 6 tomatoes in containers of different varieties. Yesterday I
noticed that on one plant, one of the set tomatoes has blossom end rot.

BER has all sorts of possible triggers, including disturbing the roots,
uneven watering, mineral nutrition problems (esp. excess N), etc. There
also seems to be a genetic component to BER.
The best treatment I've found for container plantings is drip watering
and a good mulch. For plants in-ground, most years a good mulch is all
that seems to be required.

See: (mind the wraps!)
http://www.extension.umn.edu/projects/yardandg
arden/AAMG/vegetables/ber-tomatoes.html

http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/TRA/PL
ANTS/index.html#http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/TRA.../blendrot.html

http://www.entoplp.okstate.edu/ddd/diseases/ber.htm

I suspect it's a factor of the droughty conditions in that BER is a problem
with calcium uptake caused by fluctuations in water available. The maters
are okay to eat, tho, just cut off the yucky part.

As far as watering every day, it's better to drench the soil super deep once
or twice a week, depending on the temps.

Good luck!

Suzy O, Zone 5, Wisconsin, where we finally got some rain this week!!!!!

"Mark Anderson" wrote in message
.net...
I'm growing 6 tomatoes in containers of different varieties. Yesterday I
noticed that on one plant, one of the set tomatoes has blossom end rot.
After all the work I put into these tomatoes to get them planted I was
pretty depressed about this. Between this and the severe drought we're
having in Chicago that requires me to water everything every day it
almost makes me want to just give up gardening. Anyway, would it be
prudent if I just pick the fruit that has blossom end rot so the plant
doesn't waste any more energy growing that one?

Suzy O wrote:
As far as watering every day, it's better to drench the soil super deep
once
or twice a week, depending on the temps.

Maybe. Maybe not.

If they're in containers, the soil should never dry out. A crust on the top
is fine, but if you don't hit some moisture by the time your first knuckle
is below the crust, it hasn't been watered enough. Put a small enough
plastic pot in the sun all day, and you may need to water that tomato plant
twice a day.

If they're in the ground, the surface can dry-out, but you'd better find
something moist by the time your finger is up to the second knuckle.
Planting the start deeper will help. Tomatoes are one of the few things that
you can burry the crown. Take a typical 4" start that's about 9" tall at
planting time, and you trim off the lower leaves, and stick 3 or 4 inches in
the ground. If you don't, the roots will be too close to the surface, and
you'll have to keep moisture available higher than if you plant it deeper.

If the roots are deep enough, and there is some nice mulch, and enough
foliage to shade the ground, one deep watering a week may be enough,
especially in soil that's more clay than sand.

Maybe the plants will wait for that one deep watering a week, but if spacing
the watering that far apart means they do have to wait when they want to
drink, that's a better set-up for BER than never letting the surface crust
at all. The calcium needs to ride in on the water, so no water available is
as bad or worse than washing away the calcium with too much water.

Also, never water tomato plants from above. Splashing is bad. Wet foliage is
bad. Have drip irrigation or soaker hose (the round stuff ones that water
soaks through, not the flat ones that spray) is the way to go. I have a
spiral of soaker hose under the red sheets of tomato mulch. I generally run
the soaker hose for a little while every two days, checking moisture levels
about 3" down to decide how long.

--
Warren H.

==========
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employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
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Have an outdoor project? Get a Black & Decker power tool::
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"Suzy O" wrote:

I suspect it's a factor of the droughty conditions in that BER is a problem
with calcium uptake caused by fluctuations in water available. The maters
are okay to eat, tho, just cut off the yucky part.

As far as watering every day, it's better to drench the soil super deep once
or twice a week, depending on the temps.

On hot days, that would not cut it. Smaller the pot, bigger the plant,
hotter the weather you have to increase watering. 5" pots or less can
need watering twice a day at least on the hot sunny spots.

The good rule of thumb is check to first kncukle. If you don't hit
moisture water, and water deeply(assuming you have good
drainage-otherwise you risk swamping). If you don't water deeply you
may develop a shallow root syttem which gets weak and requires more
frequent watering.

The only problem with that rule is pots ALSO dry out from the sides
in. Especially the side facing sun. Roots tend to collect on the outer
sides of the pot, so the warmth and dryness at the root zone makes
some plants unhappy campers.


Good luck!

Suzy O, Zone 5, Wisconsin, where we finally got some rain this week!!!!!

"Mark Anderson" wrote in message
y.net...
I'm growing 6 tomatoes in containers of different varieties. Yesterday I
noticed that on one plant, one of the set tomatoes has blossom end rot.
After all the work I put into these tomatoes to get them planted I was
pretty depressed about this. Between this and the severe drought we're
having in Chicago that requires me to water everything every day it
almost makes me want to just give up gardening. Anyway, would it be
prudent if I just pick the fruit that has blossom end rot so the plant
doesn't waste any more energy growing that one?





DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
3rd year gardener
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/royalf...=/2055&.src=ph

All things are poison and nothing is without poison. ... It is the dose
that makes a thing a poison," declared the wandering Renaissance
physician-surgeon Paracelsus

wrote in message
oups.com...
All things are poison and nothing is without poison. ... It is the dose
that makes a thing a poison," declared the wandering Renaissance
physician-surgeon Paracelsus


Exactly. And the same is stated on the main page for the Extension
Toxicology Network (ExToxNet) http://extoxnet.orst.edu/ghindex.html , which
I believe to be a reliable source for pesticide info.

Suzy O