Blossom end rot

It looks like I'm getting blossom end rot on my tomatoes. From my research it can be caused by a calcium deficiency. Is to late to amend the soil of a mature tomato plant? If not what are some recommendations? Right now it seems to be only affecting the roma tomato plants. However I don't want my better boys to get affected as well. Thank you so much for your help, this has been an awesome sight for a novice gardener!

Laura

I think blossom end rot can also be caused by inconsistent watering, too dry, then too wet, back and forth to extremes.

Well, I've read that too. It's been real hot here, hovering near 100 degrees so I've been watering in the morning every day with a soaker hose. Since I've discovered the end rot, I've switched to every other day to see if that helps. I think I may over fertilizing as well. I've been using regular tomato food and apply half strength once a week. Thanks for any advice.

I've read that lack of potassium can also cause the rot so i put a 1/2 tsp of borac acid granules around them. A little powdered milk is also helpful.

It may also be something that you just need to wait out. Earlier tomatoes typically have more of a problem with BER than later ones; the problem frequently corrects itself without you needing to do much of anything.

Not sure why you would need to water every day in a raised bed garden. I would dig down with a finger a few inches and see if it's moist. If so, I would not water. I water every 3-4 days for 10-15 minutes. I also have a thick layer of pine straw mulch, although you can use shredded pine bark or coastal hay as well. Mulch will help retain moisture and also prevent soil splashback onto the leaves when it rains.

Roma tomatoes are affected by BER more often than other varieties, so if you are not getting the problem on your other tomatoes, then I'd just wait it out. As the plant gets more mature, it will get better at distributing nutrients to the fruits.

Also, it seems to me that you planted somewhat late if you have not harvested most of your tomatoes already. Just thinking out loud here... Is the Shreveport climate significantly different from, say, Dallas?

Thanks for the info. You are right, Shreveport is very similar to Dallas I think. At least it's as hot as all get out and no rain for days. I did get a late start to planting, this is my second year of gardening and I'm still a little behind the eight ball. Next year I will plant earlier so my poor tomatoes aren't subjected to this weather. When do you plant?

I also need to get more mulch. I'll write all of these great suggestions down in my gardening journal for next year.

I'm crazy enough to go out there and wrap my plants with row cover and blankets, so I plant in Houston on March 8th or thereabouts. In your case, I might look at that 3rd week of March, but again you would need to be able to protect the plants from frost with row cover. If you get light enough row cover (it's sold in 6 foot wide by 50 foot long rolls), you could even just leave it on the entire month of April and just vent or open the top when it gets hot.

I actually planted a couple of plants on February 21st for the first time because I was so tempted by the heat wave. I did have to protect those seedlings a couple of nights with upside down plastic pots with a brick on top to secure them, and I did get good tomatoes off those plants. :)

The reason planting so early works for us in the South is that the soil temp doesn't drop as much as it does up North. So as long as you can keep the plant itself warm, the soil will support growth. You can check the soil temp with a thermometer.

feldon30 - I wish I knew that Roma's are more susceptible to BER than other types before I planted them! Despite having given them plenty of calcium, the first tomatoes have BER! (grrrr!) Hopefully, future ones will be okay. Very few of my "regular" toms are showing BER so far. I should have stuck with the plum-type that I grew last year "Viva Italia" (or some similar name) 'cause very few of them had BER, and only those that set early - all the later ones were fine.

This fall I'm investing in a drip irrigation system - all this hand watering gets old in a hurry!

I plant in raised beds as well. Water mine every other day. I have four plantings of six each. Started in March. Just started to have BER on the last six I planted. I will spray with Blossom End Rot Spray. Usually have to do it three times. I've heard that spraying with milk will stop it but have no personal experience. BER is just something a tomato grower has to live with. Worth all the agravation when you bite in to that first home grown tomato.

The first year, I did what everyone does. I ran out to Home Depot and bought a 6 pack of Celebrity, and 6 pack of Roma, and a couple of others and planted them.

I think the rest of my life I will probably never grow Celebrity and Roma again. Why? Because there are over 6,000 tomato varieties out there. And almost all of them taste better than Celebrity and Roma. ;) Once I started tasting these tomatoes, I gave them all to friends and was so disappointed.

My current favorite roma-type tomato is Tony's Italian. I know seeds are hard to get. Similar varieties that I like are Sarnowski Polish Plum, Kalman's Hungarian Pink, Wes, Linnie's Oxheart, and Prue.

feldon30 - I usually start tomatoes from seed - which I did this year - but the darn slugs killed most of them - so I purchased some starts - Roma and Celebrity. After reading your post I'm not looking forward to my first tomatoes :(

I also started some "Money Maker" tomato seeds in pots - the slugs didn't get them :) I transferred the plants to the garden when they were about six inches high. So far the plants are looking good, except the leaves are curling. I think the curling must be an inborne trait for these tomatoes because there are no dead/dying leaves.

At least I'll have tomatoes, even if they don't taste as good as they could.

HoneybeeNC, keep in mind that the taste also varies considerably with location and conditions. Many folks consider Early Girl to be "bottom of the barrel" taste-wise, but it's always been pretty good for me here--I suspect it's the drier conditions we have that concentrates the flavor. And the same tomato can of course have a completely different taste in your own garden in two different years.

Here's hoping your Romas and Celebrities exceed your expectations! :)

I guess everyones taste buds are different. I always liked celebrity and roma are my personal favorite. My wife won't eat roma at all. Never plant either any more because the blight kills them all. Plant nothing but blight resistent. 444, 589, 640 and Amelia.

Jim, Does that "Stop Rot" spray work pretty well? I'm guessing so if you use it on a regular basis... I know a lot of folks here would say just wait it out and the plant will eventually straighten itself out, but it would make me feel better to do SOMETHING rather than just watch all of my beautiful little tomatoes develop rotten brown spots and hope that it stops soon.

Honeybee, the types you picked may not be as flavorful as some other varieties would be, but remember that they will definitely be better than a grocery store tomato!! Besides, I'm pretty sure my parents grew Celebrity, Early Girl, Better Boy, etc... the ones that a lot of folks seem to think aren't very flavorful. Maybe so, but I ate an awful lot of those growing up (my mom canned them, too) and I remember them being very, very good. I don't think my mom EVER bought tomatoes at the grocery store-- if she did, I don't remember it. The fact that you're growing them yourself makes a world of difference, so don't worry about what you chose because I'm sure when you taste them you'll be pretty happy! :o)

HoneybeeNC,

The Farmer's Market near the airport in Charlotte had some fantastic tomato transplants this year. I heard of folks picking up Black Cherry, Sungold, Brandywine, and many many other varieties.

I'm going to guess that you don't have the fussy taste buds I do and that you will find many uses for the tomato varieties you grew. Especially if you like roasted tomato sauce, in salads, etc. I like to eat tomatoes just sliced on a plate, with maybe a little salt and pepper, or in tomato sandwiches.


By the way, have you set your calendar for Tomatopalooza on Saturday July 25th in Raleigh, NC? If it's like past years, I'd expect there to be over 100 tomato varieties available for tasting.
http://www.tomatopalooza.org/

Photos from 2007:
http://www.feldoncentral.com/garden/photos/v/memberphotos/suze/Tomatopalooza+2007/

And another constructive comment, if you are picking tomato varieties available at the big box stores, if you see Jet Star or Arkansas Traveler (sometimes just called Traveler), grab em! I love both of these. I grow Jet Star in particular every year.

Thanks to all for your kind encouragment. With all the good organic fertilizers my tomatoes receive they should taste FANTASTIC! I believe chemical fertilizers lower the flavor. Talking to them nicely works, too :)

My hubby absolutely loves my homemade chili, which is why I grow so many Roma type tomatoes.

feldon30 - July 25th will be my 65th birthday! I don't expect to be in Raleigh that day, but you never know :) Will keep an eye out for the varieties you mentiond, either plants or seeds - for next year (there's always a next year :))

Liannence, I've had good results with Blossom End Rot Spray. I've used it several times over the years. Usually takes two or three applications to get the job done. If the BER is on the bottom crop it might return when the top crop starts putting on.

Jim41 - what are the ingredients in the BER spray? If it's an all natural product, I'll give it a try.

HoneybeeNC, Blossom End Rot Spray by Green Light
Calcium (Ca) 8.6%
Cloride (Cl) 16.23%
From Calcium Cloride
In water base.

I went to the local nursery today and bought "Yield Booster" by Ferti-lome. It's calcium chloride in concentrate, so you can mix it (2 T to a gallon of water for BER) yourself and spray. The 8 ounce bottle I got was about $5.00 so, I thought, reasonably priced. It recommends spraying at weekly intervals for at least 3 sprayings. I did the first one tonight and am hoping that this helps.

Does anyone know if I can mix anything else (such as liquid seaweed) in with the calcium spray, or would that possibly reduce the effectiveness of the calcium?

Never tried the seaweed spread but don't see what it would hurt. I put a teaspoon of miracle grow to the gal. any time I spray something.

After tasting tomatoes grown in almost pure compost, I have to agree that soil conditions absolutely affects flavor. They were some of the sweetest tomatoes I've had.

If you add some pelletized dolomitic lime to you beds, BER becomes much less of a problem. Just don't overdo it, since it does tend to raise (make alkaline) the PH.

Ed

I use the Blossom End Rot Spray as Jim41 does.
No problems with end rot anymore.

Thanks Jim41 and liannec for the BER info.

I talked to my hubby (he's in charge of watering the veggies while I'm at work) and discovered he hasn't been giving the tomatoes as much water as I think they should have. I've now given him new instructions, and hopefully the BER will resolve itself. So I'm wondering if my BER problem is due to inconsistant watering. I put bone meal, crab meal and dolomite lime into my mix.

Only those tomatoes - plum type - in pots are being affected. The tomatoes in the ground are looking spectacular! Next year, I'll either have to find some plum-type resistant to BER, or skip that type altogether. It's soooo disappointing to go home every day and take off all the tomatoes with BER :(

Don't think any tomatoes are resistent to BER. Don't know for sure. I applied the second application of BER Spray today. First application nearly stopped it and think this one will polish it off.

I'm pretty sure some tomatoes have fewer problems with BER, but I think you can get it on anything.

I Googled Blossom End Rot for Tomatoes in North Carolina and came up with this link:

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/pp/notes/oldnotes/vg19.htm

Other links said calcium chloride is the same stuff scattered on roads to deice them in winter!

That's what I like, versatility in a product.