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Grrr... BER .... Now what???

W

wordwiz

Yes, it's normally a lack of calcium or the ability to use calcium due to lack of moisture (AFAIK). It apparently can also be caused by prolonged Pacific Northwest type weather - cool temps, lots of rain, not as much sun as normal.

Every person I've talked with is having this problem, so I cannot help but presume it is not the lack of calcium in the soil.

One web site suggested spraying with Calcium Chloride - anyone tried this? Or am I as well off to just toss the toms that develop it and hope the weather dries and warms up?

Mike
 
It's all over the city - no one has ripe toms or if they are ripe, they are rotten on the end and it's the end of July. As crappy as last year was, I at least had four quarts of tomato juice and dozens of whole maters to snack on by this time. Worse, one day of average temps (others are 3-10 degrees below the norm) and rain predicted for 4 of the next 7 days.

But wow - are the peppers looking good. I've picked about a 1/2 bushel of bananas so far, plus several Bells. The hots are huge, but not close to ripe.

Mike
 
I've gotten a bit of that too. I am blaming it on the huge amount of rain we got earlier in the season. Mike, is there anything I can do to increase the size of the fruits? They are all on the smaller side so far.
 
you know, this past weekend when I picked peppers, I noticed the pods on my cayennes, jalapenos, anaheims, and bhuts/bihs/nagas were on the small size but the 7 pots and scorpions were typical largish size...I have attributed this to the heat and lack of calcium...plus a lot of the plants have the leaves curled upward...and I have noticed a few of the pods have the soft "tan" places on them too...which I thought was sunscald...but...I read that calcium deficiency during pod set/production would cause the same look to the pods too....so I am confused...

right, wrong, or indifferent, I have given the plants a good dose of tomato/pepper food (4-3-2) with 7% calcium and a dose of epsom salts (for the magnesium)...it has only been a few days but I think I can see improvement...some of the plants top leaves were "yellowing"...I talked to my nurseryman and he said it could be overwatering...that is possible, but not probable...I learned my lesson last year about overwatering when I lost a lot to root rot...
 
JayT said:
I've gotten a bit of that too. I am blaming it on the huge amount of rain we got earlier in the season. Mike, is there anything I can do to increase the size of the fruits? They are all on the smaller side so far.
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Jay,

Not that I am aware of, at least not the size of those that have getting ripe. You might try some of the "Bloom & Fruit" nuits on the market for the next round of fruiting.

AlabamaJack said:
you know, this past weekend when I picked peppers, I noticed the pods on my cayennes, jalapenos, anaheims, and bhuts/bihs/nagas were on the small size but the 7 pots and scorpions were typical largish size...I have attributed this to the heat and lack of calcium...plus a lot of the plants have the leaves curled upward...and I have noticed a few of the pods have the soft "tan" places on them too...which I thought was sunscald...but...I read that calcium deficiency during pod set/production would cause the same look to the pods too....so I am confused...

right, wrong, or indifferent, I have given the plants a good dose of tomato/pepper food (4-3-2) with 7% calcium and a dose of epsom salts (for the magnesium)...it has only been a few days but I think I can see improvement...some of the plants top leaves were "yellowing"...I talked to my nurseryman and he said it could be overwatering...that is possible, but not probable...I learned my lesson last year about overwatering when I lost a lot to root rot...
Click to expand...

AJ,

From what I read yesterday, you could have enough calcium in the media but the plants are not intaking it. The article said the result can be BER as well as leaf curl. The recommendation was a foliar spray of calcium chloride, perhaps multiple sprays. But we just had another downpour this morning, and it is suppose to do this all day.

The top of the soil dries extremely fast but I suspect the roots are wondering when I switched to hydro growing!

Mike
 
Ciao all-

I get more questions regarding Blossom End Rot and what to do about it than any other tomato-related growing problem. It happens every single year, wet year or not. Some varieties are more prone to it than others, especially pastes, a type I grow a lot of because I do a lot of canning. It has more to do with inconsistent watering than a lack of calcium and the plants will grow out of it once their roots get well-established. Usually, I find it most on the very first fruits of the season and then it goes away as the plants themselves are better able to regulate their water uptake. Putting crushed eggshells in the soil does not help, although there are tons of testimonials out there that it does. The plants cannot uptake calcium in that form and it takes a very long time for eggshells to break down into the ions needed for the plants.

My advice: if you can cut the blackened part off and use the rest of the tomato, do that. Then try to pretend it doesn't exist and pretty soon you'll forget you ever had it. Seriously, this problem is right up there with phosphorus deficiency in seedlings..you know, when you look under the leaves of your seedlings and you see a purple colour and you freak out? That went away about a week after you transplanted and you forgot you saw that, too.
 
Sorellina,

The problem is a lot worse this year, and far more widespread. I didn't have any problems last year and no one else reported any. But people are not getting any toms so far, and usually a few people start harvesting them just after the 4th of July in Cincinnati.

If, and at this time, it looks like that is a HUGE if, it ever quits raining and the we get an extremely hot August - making up for the record-cold July, I can see the plants going into shock because they are not prepared for it.

Mike
 
Ciao Michael-

I truly do not think you need to worry about a hot, dry August. In fact, I think that's what the meteorologists are predicting, at least for our area and I think it's exactly what the plants need for some excellent ripe fruit. You don't want this rain when the fruits are big and starting to blush. It's ok right now because they're still green and growing, but once they blush, they start to soften up, and that's when you get split skins and other problems. How tall are your plants right now? Mine are a bit all over the place, depending on variety, between 4 ft for a few of them to 8 ft for some others. They've at least got that much root beneath the surface and they've been outside since May, so they're ok, they'll adjust. If your plants are anything like mine, there's lots of fruit set going on, plenty of flowers still, lots of bees. I think if we get a hot, dry August, we'll all be in good shape come September.
 
I too experience some BER every year but only on a couple of varieties. This year it is on my Opalka's and I just pulled off the affected fruit but as of late I have not seen any with it. I am having a great year so far and have had ripe fruit from about 10 different varieties. Mike, hope this clears up for you and you get a good harvest.
 
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