Tomato problem. Rotting?

[oneeye]

It's not a calcium lock out, its caused from letting the soil get too dry between waterings. You have plenty of calcium in the new soil and in the Hydro nutrients. Most people think "Blossom End Rot" is from lack of Calcium but its not, its caused from letting the soil dry out between waterings.

 

[oneeye]

Check out Neil Sperry's, e-gardens Newsletter for 6/18/20 and hes says the same thing "blossom end rot" is not due to lack of calcium, its caused from letting the soil dry out too much between waterings.
Neil Sperry
VOLUME 16, ISSUE 25 • June 18, 2020
Blossom-end rot happens at the far end of the fruit when plants are allowed to get too dry between waterings.
• If you see sunken, brown areas on the ends of the fruit farthest from their stems, that’s called “blossom-end rot” and it’s usually caused by letting the plants get too dry between waterings. You will read that it can also be due to a calcium deficiency, so if you’re in an acidic, sandy soil, you may want to add calcium if you’re seeing this issue. But in my experiences, it very rarely is due to a lack of calcium. In fact, I most commonly see it with tomato plants that are being grown in containers rather than in the ground. They are being allowed to get too dry between waterings. The blossom end is the point that dries out first and that gets water last, so that’s where the tissue damage is done. More uniform watering usually solves it all.

Posted by Neil Sperry
from last week
You can sign up for his free weekly newsletter and get a ton of information @ https://neilsperry.com/e-gardens/

 

[Chuck]

I don't believe that for a minute. I know that watering incorrectly can cause problems and can be a factor in BER but it is not the cause. If incorrect watering were the cause then why does Epsom Salts completely cure the problem of BER when the watering technique stays exactly the same? Perhaps incorrect watering can cause BER in certain soils but not in highly calcified alkaline soils. This year, for the first time in many years I was forced to grow tomatoes in containers. My soil was 50/50 leaf mold and soil from my big garden. I added ES at time of planting. I put two handfuls around the base of each plant except for the last two plants at which time I ran out of ES. And guess what? Out of 21 tomato plants 2 had BER showing when the fruit was a tad bigger than a golf ball and they were the ones without ES. Both plants were Super Sioux. When I saw this I went to town and got some more ES and put it around those two plants. And guess what happened. Most of the fruit already set came down with BER. Not a sign of it on the new fruit. I only water in the AM hours when the plant is wilted. It has been very hot here and the soil in the containers has drawn away from the sides of the containers, so when watering the water goes to the sides, down and out of the drainage holes, bypassing the root ball almost altogether. So to remedy this I just water longer, but there is no way to tell how much water actually went to the roots. Mr Sperrys theory of improper watering may partially be the cause of BER but not the definitive cause. The definitive cause is the plants inability to uptake calcium and ES somehow changes this.

 

[DirtMechanic]

We have a subsoil of Ultisol clay that that is highly leached due to the incessant moisture here in Alabama. The base pH is 5 specifically because liming agents are washed away. The trick here is to not add too little lime initially, due to the dense mass of the clay. Once its balanced, adding a little once a year keeps it going. I find it suprising actually, the quantity of amendments this soil can eat I mean.

 

[thomas.r.silverman]

I don't believe that for a minute. I know that watering incorrectly can cause problems and can be a factor in BER but it is not the cause. If incorrect watering were the cause then why does Epsom Salts completely cure the problem of BER when the watering technique stays exactly the same? Perhaps incorrect watering can cause BER in certain soils but not in highly calcified alkaline soils. This year, for the first time in many years I was forced to grow tomatoes in containers. My soil was 50/50 leaf mold and soil from my big garden. I added ES at time of planting. I put two handfuls around the base of each plant except for the last two plants at which time I ran out of ES. And guess what? Out of 21 tomato plants 2 had BER showing when the fruit was a tad bigger than a golf ball and they were the ones without ES. Both plants were Super Sioux. When I saw this I went to town and got some more ES and put it around those two plants. And guess what happened. Most of the fruit already set came down with BER. Not a sign of it on the new fruit. I only water in the AM hours when the plant is wilted. It has been very hot here and the soil in the containers has drawn away from the sides of the containers, so when watering the water goes to the sides, down and out of the drainage holes, bypassing the root ball almost altogether. So to remedy this I just water longer, but there is no way to tell how much water actually went to the roots. Mr Sperrys theory of improper watering may partially be the cause of BER but not the definitive cause. The definitive cause is the plants inability to uptake calcium and ES somehow changes this.

Well here's an update. I continued with an antacid foliar spray every day for 5 days and BER persisted. So I added one cup of Epsom salts to each 5 gallon container and it slowed somewhat but continued to form more BER after a week. Epsom salts I saw were Magnesium and knowing BER seemed to be a lack of calcium I then added gypsum to each container. A further 4 days in and it seems to have disappeared completely.

So whether one of these steps would have been successful alone or not. This 3 pronged approached worked for what seemed to be a stubborn case of BER. I think i'll continue this multifaceted method in the future. Using gypsum when initially potting up, and adding epsom salts and giving the antacid foliar spray when the plant is mature as a preventative measure.

There seems to always be so many (and often conflicting) methods of growing tomatoes! I suppose each person eventually works out their own, and as long as we get them on our plates and tasting great is the main thing!

Thanks for all your advice on here. Was beyond helpful!

 

[DirtMechanic]

Its good to hear that it is solved. One feedback is that calcium issues get solved on new growth because its immobile in a plant so fixing it asap is all you can do. Immobile nutrients include calcium (Ca), boron (B), chlorine (Cl), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), silicon (Si), sulfur (S) and zinc (Zn). Its best to not get behind the curve on these.