Blossom End Rot

Do you guys recommend picking off any tomatoes with blossom end rot or should I just leave them alone? It seems to me that I should pick them off so the plant can focus energy on new tomatoes.

BER is non-recoverable, but I have seen some peeps cut around it and use the good parts for salsa/paste, when the BER is late onset & not very severe.

Personally, I just cut them off as soon as I'm sure it's BER

Pick 'em green. Add to the compost pile. No use letting the plant waste nutrients, energy, and water growing a tomato that will be compost anyway.

I have never been able to eat a ripened BER tomato by cutting off the rotted part. Every one I have tasted had a bad taste throughout.

Liquid calcium will stop it on further ones.. but the ones now are gone...

where do i get liquid calcium and what is it?

My simple remedy for BER is to dissolve a few Nutrilite Cal-Mag D tablets in water (they disintegrate very quickly) and water my tomato plants with the liquid. As a matter of fact, my first tiny tomato of the season looks as if it may be afflicted, so I'll administer this treatment in a couple of days.

FWIW, if you haven't had your soil tested you may want to contact your local co-op or get one of the inexpensive soil test kits.

Your perceived calcium deficiency may be due to availability of calcium and not content.

All the calcium in the world, regardless of what form it's in, won't do you any good, if your chemistry (pH) is off & the plant can't use it.

Acara,

Good point! I envy your extensive knowledge.

Someone on the forum recommended adding a bit of epsom salts and powdered milk when planting tomatos. Calcium and something to make it available to the plant. Another used Tums.

Acara, isn't uneven watering a factor in BER as well?

Kay

donnainzone10 wrote:Acara,

Good point! I envy your extensive knowledge.

Yeah ... and it didn't take me more than a dozen times doing it wrong to learn that little tidbit

Nothing to envy here ..... I'm just a newbie with a LOT of experience in doing it the hard way.

..but thank you

walshevak wrote:Someone on the forum recommended adding a bit of epsom salts and powdered milk when planting tomatos. Calcium and something to make it available to the plant. Another used Tums.

Acara, isn't uneven watering a factor in BER as well?

Kay

Yes Kay; as I understand it, they are all interconnected .... The calcium allows the fruit to regulate the water content (consistent watering reduces the need for the plant to regulate this) the Magnesium/Suphur (from the Epsom) help the roots take in available calcium in the substrate and the pH affects the availability (useful form) of the calcium as it passes through the plant.



So in the example above, The powdered milk would be the calcium supplement and the Epsom would be the catalyst/facilitator for the aborption of the calcium by the plant. However, if your pH were something like 4.0 (high acid), you could float your plants in a milk bath all season & not do anything to increase the amount of calcium available to the plant.



Here is a picture that may explain this better than my babble ....

steelrfan57 wrote:where do i get liquid calcium and what is it?

Stores will have a bottle of treatment for end rot.. it worked for me..

Acara,

WOW! What a bonanza of information! My pH is typically between 6.8 and 7.0, if my pH monitor can be trusted, about where MM should be. This is extremely valuable information!

Great chart Acara, Thanks for posting. Where did that come from? Was there an article that went with it?

From one of my agg/botany courses ... think the textbook is still used at University of Arizona or University of Miami (can''t remember where I took the course).

Very old chart though ...pretty sure there is better on the internet

Altho I have the MMix, some of my tomatoes are getting blossom end rot. Any solutions?

Bone meal, green sand, calcium
supplements all will prevent blossom end rot. It's caused by a
calcium deficiency in the mix

My local Dollar Tree has a pretty big bottle of antacid tablets for the tummy (like tums). I am going to try dissolving a few in water and using it once in a while to see if I can prevent this.

Bud,

BER, blossom end rot is a calcium defiency, but, it is usually caused by watering habits. Too much rain, not enough rain, or just not watering and keeping the mm at a certain level of wet. Most gardeners have had it. Sprinkling some powdered milk around plants seems to work. At some point in the growth it seems that the plants sort of grow out of it, if they are treated 1 time?

Jo

Are those ideas to prevent or will it cure already occuring?

Nothing will help the tomatoes that are already affected, but other tomatoes that don't have it should be ok, (we hope) No promises made in gardening!!

Jo

Just returned after being away for a few days and found that the bottoms of several of my San Marzano tomatoes are black (in varying degrees). This is at the end that is not attached to the stem. I did some research (ok, quite a bit) and I believe this is called blossom end rot. (Have never seen it before this)

I was not able to discern from my reading whether I should clip off the affected fruit (or the stem, or ???) in an effort to halt this or if that helps or not. Also, it seems that this can be caused by a calcium deficiency so I purchased some calcium stuff that you mix with water and then water the plant with it. What I am not certain about is whether I should now start watering with this mix all the time, once per day (they are in pots so I often must water them twice per day in this high heat), once per week or exactly how often.
I also am not sure if this means that all the fruit will be affected and therefore I should just discard the plant. I did read that it is not transmitted plant to plant so I have hopes for the other tomato plant (only planted two!) beside it.

I know someone here must have experience with this issue so please advise me what has worked or not worked for you.

Or is this plant doomed?

The plant is not doomed, just the affected fruit. A sprinkle of epsom salts may help the tomato take up the calcium. In reading various postings on the forum, one treatment seems to be all you will need. As an ounce of prevention, on member puts some powdered milk and some epsom salts in the planting hole when she puts her tomatos out. I took her advice to heart and do so also.

Kay

cpl100 wrote:Just returned after being away for a few days and found that the bottoms of several of my San Marzano tomatoes are black (in varying degrees). This is at the end that is not attached to the stem. I did some research (ok, quite a bit) and I believe this is called blossom end rot. (Have never seen it before this)

I was not able to discern from my reading whether I should clip off the affected fruit (or the stem, or ???) in an effort to halt this or if that helps or not. Also, it seems that this can be caused by a calcium deficiency so I purchased some calcium stuff that you mix with water and then water the plant with it. What I am not certain about is whether I should now start watering with this mix all the time, once per day (they are in pots so I often must water them twice per day in this high heat), once per week or exactly how often.
I also am not sure if this means that all the fruit will be affected and therefore I should just discard the plant. I did read that it is not transmitted plant to plant so I have hopes for the other tomato plant (only planted two!) beside it.

I know someone here must have experience with this issue so please advise me what has worked or not worked for you.

Or is this plant doomed?

Your topic/question has been combined with another thread of the same nature. Review this thread for more information.

I also just today found that my first San Marzano toms to start turning red have BER. The other toms right next to it are all fine - they are all cherry and smaller and I have been picking them for about a month now. This is the first time I have tried San Marzano toms.

I pulled all the affected ones (all the nearly ripe ones) and will be sprinkling a little epson salts and milk aroujnd it. It has lots more green toms on it that for now look ok.