enough calcium in the feed water?

10 years ago

the tap water at my house seems to have a lot of calcium. anywhere there's a leak, a rock hard lump of it appears.

I know peppers like calcium. but too much of a good thing is a bad thing.

I've been doing some research online, according to what I've read, the water has between 170-300ppm calcium content. I have no idea if that's a high number. is it high enough of a number that I shouldn't be adding more by way of bone meal?

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Comments (6)

tomt226
10 years ago
Here in Texas, our water supply is heavily calcified too. Water spots on everything and a new WH every six or seven years. I drip irrigate the peps and the calcium builds up on the emitters too.
Last season I got blossom end rot on the Bhuts, Numex habs, and Corno del Toros. I usually bone meal my tomatoes, so I started applying meal once a month to the peps, and using calcium spray, and the problem stopped. As I understand it, Epsom salts does well too.
This year I'm gonna till in a large bag before planting. Probably a pound per 100 sq. ft.
DMForcier
10 years ago
The calcium in the water (in both cases from dissolved limestone) may not be in the form that the plants can readily use.
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Here's an article I wrote a few years ago which I think will help clear up some misconceptions and explain more about BER. I had lost this article, but Bets, who posts here, posted it and I was able to get it back thanks to Betsy, &&&&&&&&&& With BER there is NO problem with absorption of Ca++ though the roots. The problem is maldistribution within the plant that can be induced by a number of stresses which include uneven delivery of water, too much N, growing in too rich soil, too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry you name it. As the plants mature they can better handle the stresses that can induce BER so usually it goes away. The two exceptions are first, if the soil has NO Ca++ as confirmed with a soil test, and that's a rare condition, and second, if the soil is too acidic in which Case Ca++ is bound in the soil. Again, adding lime, egg shells and on and on can not and will not prevent BER b'c absorption of Ca++ thru the roots is OK. Paste tomatoes are especially susceptible to BER and I think someone in a post above mentioned that. If you go to the top of this first page and click on the FAQ link and scroll down you'll also find an article about BER in case some of you have never looked at the FAQ's And there's some darn good articles there as well, but I wouldn't pay any attention to the variety list b'c it's way out of date. The old information about BER being caused solely by lack of soil Ca++ has been shown to be wrong with research that's been done in the last 20 years or so, but it's going to take another generation before the real story gets into books, websites, magazines, etc. Most of the better websites already have the correct information. BER affects not only tomatoes, but peppers, squash, cabbage, cauliflower, etc., and it's a huge multimillion dollar problem for the industry, which is WHY all that reasearch was done. For instance, when tissues were taken from a plant that has BER fruits and was assayed for Ca++, the normal level of Ca++ was found, it just wasn't getting to the blossom end of fruits. And there's also a condition called internal BER where the fruits look fine, no evidence of BER externally, but when you cut open the fruit the inside is black Hope that helps Carolyn
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kclost
10 years ago
I agree on adding calcium (at least an initial dose according to the package). I had a big problem this year with Blossom end rot on Ghost peppers. I had no problem with my Red habaneros in the same soil, light, and watering conditions. So I can attest that calcium needs must vary depending on the pepper.

Better to be safe than sorry. By the time I figured out what was was going on, it was too late to save most of my ghost pods. But my late season peppers did come out ok after the addition of Calcium and Epsom Salt.

The pic shows what I was dealing with, the rot is not on the very end of the pepper but it is still BER. At first I thought it might be caused by insects, but I was wrong.
tomt226
10 years ago
That's exactly what I had. I put Epsom salts and bone meal around the bushes every month, and watered it in well. A drip irrigation system doesn't deliver enough water to carry nutrients to the root zone, so you have to soak the soil every week of you don't get rain. BTW, you can cut the black ends off, split the remainder, and dry'em. Sometimes the black extends into the whole pod but usually, just on the ends. Good pics, thanks...
pepperdave
10 years ago
Just a suggestion to fellow pepper growers. This applies to anyone planting anything in soil. If you go to your local farm extension they will give you a bag to collect a soil sample that you can send in to get sampled. Upon sampling your soil you get a report back telling you exactly what amendments are needed to make your soil prime for growing your selected crop. Soils can vary alot and problems can show the same symptoms for any number of reasons. Where I live it cost $15 well worth the cost it saves all the guess work out and is well worth the cost. Your farm extension is there to help not just farmers but anyone who needs advice. If you grow in the soil get it tested the learning experience is well worth $15 and the time and guess work is minimized.Unnecessary additives to soil can also cause setbacks and in most cases very difficult to undo . If I limed a flower bed of lime intolerant plants it would be years before they would grow there again. PS Peppers love Lime and it would be hard to overdo it.
tomt226
10 years ago
A cheap PH meter and some distilled water will tell you a lot too...

enough calcium in the feed water?

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tomt226

DMForcier

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