Blossom end rot?

[willow]

Hey All
 
Can anyone confirm my suspicions that this is blossom end rot. Most peppers are fine, just the odd one like this at the moment, but its the start of the wet season. Last years fatalii plant, that has been in a raised bed for over a year and this bed has had some serious water during the tropical rain months, which is also when the problem arose on a lot of the peppers last year, still harvested 100's of good pods, but the wetter it got the more pods I lost to this and falling of the plant when green and small.
 
I was thinking it may be because of too much water or that the soil its getting leeched of calcium and other nutrients. During the sunshine months all the peppers are generally fine but they dont produce as much, so maybe more calcium to go around compared to the wet months when there are pods all over the place. Would too much water hinder calcium uptake, would it also cause pods to drop very early? Thanks for any hints.
 

 
 

 

[geeme]

Yes, BER. Excessive nitrogen can hinder calcium uptake, and rain usually contains a good deal of that. I grow in pots for several reasons, one of them being that I can move them to shelter when it's too rainy outside. If you don't grow in pots, though, you can rig some kind of canopy over them to reduce the amount of rain they receive. Definitely up the calcium and magnesium as best you can.

 

[juanitos]

Yup

 

[willow]

Only thing I can find in Panama is quicklime, they just call it Cal, nothing else on the market that I can see like Calmag. Canopy is the way this year, working on some ideas now, going to have a few hundred plants about the place so some work involved...Also looking at having the plants raised in the center of the pot and having a plastic sheet that goes around the base of the plant. Good too know about the nitrogen and calcium connection. Thanks Fellas.

 

[willard3]

Sí, BER

 

[kentishman]

Willow, can you get Dolomitic Lime? It's commonly used here in the US on vegetable gardens, or lawns, etc., if you have an acidic soil and need to raise the pH. If that's available, you can easily make Witches Brew to supply Ca and Mg. You can google Witches Brew or search this site. Or, I'll explain how to make and use it. Works very well for me.