Cheflara, I've gardened for 34 years and have probably done more reading on this "hobby" than anything else in my life. Among the contributing factors to BER are uneven watering, fluctuations in temperature, and lack of calcium in the tomatoes themselves. (Adding some to soil rarely helps, cause it's very plentiful in most soils.) There is are some simple things you can do to help reduce the chances of BER, though as some have mentioned, it usually goes away by itself as the season progresses. One thing is to put a good 3 or 4 inches of grass clippings on top of the containers. Having been to New York City many times, I know there are areas where grass clipings aren't easy to come by. But using them has so many benefits, it would be worth a little trouble to get some, like taking some boxes along the next time you visit the burbs? The clippings will: 1. Keep the soil moister, reducing "uneven" water conditions. 2, Keep the soil cooler, up to 50 degreees on the surface on hot days. 3. Provide all the nutrients your tomatoes need. Chemical fertilzers simply are not as good, plus they cost money. The grass clippings provide "a balanced meal," not too much of one nutrient and not enough of another. The chances your tomatoes will get the calcium they need will be better. If your plants are getting all-day sun, you might also think of leaning something against the pots to shade them from the hot afternoon sun. Remember, only the plants need sun, not the pots. Some kinds of materials can get hot enough to cook roots touching the inside of the pots. This also helps reduce fluctuations in temperature. And finally, if you don't have saucers or something under the pots to catch water, it would be very beneficial to get some. What happens with potted plants is that the soil dries out and shrinks. That creates a space between the soil and the sides of the pot. You water, see water running out the bottom, and think the soil has been wet. But the majority of the root ball is still bone dry. If you have a saucer under the pots, water collects there and then is slowly drawn up into the rootball by capillary action. I've been suggesting for years that drainage holes NOT be put on the bottom of containers. They should be about 2 to 4 inches up the sides, depending on the size pot. And lo and behold, a friend of mine who lives in another city recently bought a potted dwarf lemon tree. She e-mailed me and asked why the drainage holes Were Up the Sides? It's possible someone came up with this independently, but I think I have "dibs" on it? All of the above will just make General Conditions for your maters better. A healhtier plant is less likely to have problems of any kind.

Some kinds are more likely to get BER than others. Reasons for things to go wrong with your system: - The system may not be running long enough and/or often enough. - Even if the system is fine as to amount & frequency, a hot and/or windy and/or very low humidity can use up all the available moisture Temporary shade may be needed at that time or perhaps run a 2nd cycle the same day.

But one of my Sausage tomatoes, which was fine last week, had some holes on the stem end. I thought bugs or worms at first, but when I cut that part off, what I saw was kind of a black rot. No bugs that I could see. I plopped the tomato into a plastic bag and then into the freezer, but can I use that tomato? Or should I just compost it? I also noticed a spot of BER on another ripe Sausage, not very big, about the size of a pencil eraser. Same question, can I use it or should I toss it? ***** Some clarification please? You say there was rot at the stem end of your fruits. Was there concentric splitting or radial splitting that preceded that? I ask b'c whenever there is such splitting it usually scars over nicely but too wet conditions can cause the spliuts to reopen and then the normal bacteris and fungi in the area can invade and cause rot. Or did you cut off the stem end and then find that the interior had black areas? If so that's internal BER and can happen even if there's no sign of BER at the normal blossom end. Whatever, there's nothing wrong with your plant and I don't see any reason to compost it b'c BER is a problem for many varieties and so are splits at the stem end. Or..... was the rot at the stem end solid black with no splits? If so, did the plant have any sign of spots on the leaves and if so please describe. I ask b'c Early Blight ( A. solani) can sometimes result in a black sold area at the stem end. I don't eat fruits that have BER but many people do. So try them and see if the taste is OK for you as Jean suggested above. Carolyn

No idea. I tend not to trust cheap meters that you can buy. I find that the human finger works well for me, since I check my plants daily and at least twice a day in extreme weather anyway. Some people use a wooden dowel inserted into the soil that they pull up and down, like an oil-checking stick. I would think there would be issues with wicking, but they seem to make it work for them. A gallon of water every day without checking previous moisture levels in a very moisture-retaining mix and in a cooler zone, even in fabric pots, would really be the first red flag for BER. It might be different if you were in sunny, dry, hot climes, although even then, using a mix that is all compost and peat is problematic. Sometimes, plants get better at managing calcium when they get more mature, so your plants may grow out of it.