Blossom end rot
Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter
...silly question, really. I've got a bit of blossom end rot on one of my tomato varieties (Olivade). I've got some calcium feed from Chempak from a couple of years ago, but the instructions have faded and I don't know what the correct dose is. Cany anyone help?
Hello Ken
I suspect what you have is calcium nitrate. The recommendation for BER is to remove all affected fruits and feed with a solution of 1 oz to 1 gal water every week for four weeks. The problem is worse in hot weather if the plants are allowed to become short of water.
John
I suspect what you have is calcium nitrate. The recommendation for BER is to remove all affected fruits and feed with a solution of 1 oz to 1 gal water every week for four weeks. The problem is worse in hot weather if the plants are allowed to become short of water.
John
My guess would be yes, though it will be interesting to see what others say. Blossom end rot isn't a disease caused by bacteria or fungus, it's a physiological condition resulting from a shortage of calcium. So, presumably, giving the plants a precautionary drink of calcium feed would be a good thing. Stupidly, I always think I'm not going to get b.e.r., and then it crops up. It never seems to happen with Gardeners Delight, but I've had it with two plum tomatoes, Red Dabarao and now Olivade. These are both fast growers - I wonder if that is a factor? The only variety I've grown outdoors that has been hit by blossom end rot is Ferline.
Hi Ken,
This rather points to your growing medium and wonder what you grow your tomatoes in. BER is most annoying but I have only ever had it once and I put that down to irregular watering and that was on the first two toms on the first truss only. I suspect that the two factors are closely related. Just as a train of thought; does this mean that the plants rely on moisture to take up the Calcium and lack of moisture means that although the Calcium may be available but not in the form that the plant can use?
This rather points to your growing medium and wonder what you grow your tomatoes in. BER is most annoying but I have only ever had it once and I put that down to irregular watering and that was on the first two toms on the first truss only. I suspect that the two factors are closely related. Just as a train of thought; does this mean that the plants rely on moisture to take up the Calcium and lack of moisture means that although the Calcium may be available but not in the form that the plant can use?
JB.
Hi Johnboy. It's an interesting point. I know people sometimes say you get blossom end rot through irregular watering. That's not an expression I easily accept because water needs vary from day to day according to temperature, as well as at different points in the season. But yes, I guess if the plants are short of water they can't take up the calcium they need. I grow my greenhouse tomatoes in big pots and I'm happy with the medium. It varies a bit from season to season, but essentially I use a mix of John Innes No. 3 lightened with garden compost, and this year some mushroom compost, plus some blood, fish and bone. The plants essentially are thriving - looking good, and just starting to set their fifth trusses. Interestingly, there's only one plant affected by blossom end rot at the moment. I've got 12 tomato plants in the greenhouse - eight in fairly tall pots, and four in pots which, although nominally the same capacity, are shorter and wider. I've noticed that the latter are prone to dry out quicker, and the affected plant is in one of these.
Hi Ken and Johnboy,
Last year it all went terribly wrong in the ghouse and BER was rife. It could easily have been poor watering as they were in ordinary growbags and were watered when I got the time.
This year I have bought in some of those collapsable plastic crates and lined them with cardboard then filled each with the contents of a growbag then planted two plants per crate. I'm figuring the compost is deeper, the watering easier and they have more room overall.
I have G delight, Legend, Marmande and Sungold. Ive treated the peppers the same way.
Sound ok?
David
Last year it all went terribly wrong in the ghouse and BER was rife. It could easily have been poor watering as they were in ordinary growbags and were watered when I got the time.
This year I have bought in some of those collapsable plastic crates and lined them with cardboard then filled each with the contents of a growbag then planted two plants per crate. I'm figuring the compost is deeper, the watering easier and they have more room overall.
I have G delight, Legend, Marmande and Sungold. Ive treated the peppers the same way.
Sound ok?
David
Hi David,
I am probably going to get hounded for saying what I am about to say.
I have absolutely no faith in Growbags of any quality. I feel that you would be better off growing in large pots and making you own potting medium then you know what you are dealing with in the first place. I reckon that we get more queries from people growing Tomatoes in Growbags than any other. When they first started out they were at least twice the size and now quite frankly I think they are more than bordering on the con-trick.
I know that you have gone to crates this year.
This year mine are in a raised bed in the Green House
all planted two foot apart and they are how I always used to grow them and are fed on Comfrey Concentrate
and they do not seem want anything else. The only time that I got BER was growing in large pots in the polytunnel and it was for sure a watering fault on my behalf and I didn't have any Comfrey that year I ran out of concentrate and didn't have time to make any. I now have four trusses set so far and fingers
crossed nothing untoward so far.
I am probably going to get hounded for saying what I am about to say.
I have absolutely no faith in Growbags of any quality. I feel that you would be better off growing in large pots and making you own potting medium then you know what you are dealing with in the first place. I reckon that we get more queries from people growing Tomatoes in Growbags than any other. When they first started out they were at least twice the size and now quite frankly I think they are more than bordering on the con-trick.
I know that you have gone to crates this year.
This year mine are in a raised bed in the Green House
all planted two foot apart and they are how I always used to grow them and are fed on Comfrey Concentrate
and they do not seem want anything else. The only time that I got BER was growing in large pots in the polytunnel and it was for sure a watering fault on my behalf and I didn't have any Comfrey that year I ran out of concentrate and didn't have time to make any. I now have four trusses set so far and fingers
crossed nothing untoward so far.
JB.
The basic problem is lack of moist root-run for the longer water roots as opposed to the shorter feeding ones. If you go to genuine ring culture method you should solve it. As to calcium, surely it isn't so much the shortage of it as the inability of the plant to absorb it.
I always plant in the soil bed and never have this particular trouble. Watering is by drip on a timer and there is always moisture deep down.
Allan
I always plant in the soil bed and never have this particular trouble. Watering is by drip on a timer and there is always moisture deep down.
Allan
What Allan says about the longer water-absorbing roots may tie in with my observation that it is a plant in a squatter pot that is suffering from b.e.r.
I agree with Johnboy about growbags. The retailers have been so desperate over the years to offer the cheapest growbags that they've lost sight over the years of the quality requirements. Growbags came into gardening after being pioneered by the professionals. I bet the horticultural trade doesn't use the skimpy little growbags on offer to the amateurs. (Well, no, because they're probably all using hydroponics now...)
I agree with Johnboy about growbags. The retailers have been so desperate over the years to offer the cheapest growbags that they've lost sight over the years of the quality requirements. Growbags came into gardening after being pioneered by the professionals. I bet the horticultural trade doesn't use the skimpy little growbags on offer to the amateurs. (Well, no, because they're probably all using hydroponics now...)