Tomatos with rotted bottoms?

[Gark]

Many years, some vegetable garden tomatoes here get BER (blossom end rot?) I've read various gardening info/forums and the cause seems to be attributed to all kinds of things like too wet, calcium shortage, fungus, cold then hot nights, etc. This year, we crumbled alka-selzers into half the holes and put 1/4 cup of wood ash in the other half. Has anyone solved this tomato bottom-rot issue (and what was the solution). Thank you.

 

[ScotO]

I have that problem (and blight) almost every year anymore. If you find a solution, I'LL PAY YOU TO SHARE IT WITH ME!......

 

[TMonter]

Crushed eggshells under the root ball when you plant the tomatos works great. We haven't had blossem end rot since we started doing that every year.

 

[Retired Guy]

Happens to us when it a wet season.

 

[Corey]

I think the kicker is going to be, BER has several causes - you have to determine which issue is causing yours and solve it. If it is calcium, then a bit of wood ash might help - assuming you don't already have alkaline pH. Too wet - mixing some sand or organic matter into the soil might help drainage. Nip of frost? Maybe covering the plants and water thoroughly just before to help the ground stay warm and retain heat...etc.

 

[laynes69]

We use dolomitic lime and never had a problem. Sometimes like above if there's a rainy season BER will occur, or periods of rain followed by drought. Dad had a bad problem one year, once he added dolomitic lime the problem went away. If using the lime be careful not to add too much. We test PH every year, if it's off too much the plants may not absorb the nutrients needed.

 

[Gark]

Thanks- good ideas and it appears that the causes of BER are varied. I will get a ph soil test kit and keep trying to add calcium. Every year more sand is tilled into our clay soil with composted leaves & grass clippings. The dolomite treatment probably adds calcium and I am trying to find an article we saw somewhere that tells of a weak tea made with powdered milk and poured on the roots.

 

[save$]

Never had BER, but have had lots of late blight that kill the whole plant and spoils all the fruit within a with in a couple days from onset. Late blight is airborne so nearly impossible to avoid once it moves in. Use a lot of humus in you soil, don't crowd the plants, and keep some mulch on top of the soil to prevent the ground from splashing onto the plants. Side dress you plants with something like 5 10 5 or use some time release fertilizer. Not too much nitrogen or your plants will be all huge green and wild. Late blight almost always comes in on plants from the box stores. It even lives in petunias. It can't over winter in the soil or on dead plants, but can carry over on something like potato tubers. I had tomatoes in several areas. Even in hanging containers. The only plants that did'nt get it were those in the solar space where there are no breezes. Last year, I gre "defiant" tomatoes. Blight tolerant, but low on taste.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Here it is. It's not *usually* pH, low calcium in the soil, or bacteria/fungus- it's almost always water.

BER is caused by a calcium transport issue. Because of this- people think that adding calcium will help, but it rarely does. The calcium transport problem occurs when there's uneven watering- usually after some serious rain or too much watering.In addition- you can see it more commonly on the first fruits when the ground is cooler- I never got it early like that, but I plant out late.

The best preventions are to limit watering, and to mulch the hell out of the garden. Mulching not only reduces the amount of water that is needed, but it slows soil absorption after a hard rain- so it buffers the wild swing in soil moisture that leads to the issue.

Good drainage also prevents the problem. Heaping amounts of compost at planting- or even around planted tomatoes/peppers can help reduce or eliminate other potential less common causes- and compost aids drainage. Few things compost doesn't cure in the garden.

http://organicgardening.about.com/od/diseases/p/blossomendrot.htm

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I'll add- slightly under- watered tomatoes produce good, and tastier fruit (in my limited experience) than overwatered ones.

Thing I hate worse than BER is when you have allllmost ripe fruit, go to work, it rains hard, and you come home to find them split open from water pressure. Rackin frackin- ARRR!