If you use lime or a fertilizer with Ca in it you don't need to worry about BER. If it occurs, it's a cultural problem or a genetic problem, not a lack of Ca. Some tomato varieties are more prone to BER due to genetic weaknesses. Paste type tomatos are among the worst for this, but all are susceptible to an extent. Uneven water, too hot, too cold, too humid too dry etc. all can cause it. On balance, just use a commercial mix that will have lime already added or make your own and add some lime and it's a non issue. Any BER isn't due to lack of Ca around the roots.

I expect, however, that this will be a little too traumatic for the plants and am wondering if I have any other options. I agree with all that Terry said above so a couple of alternatives for consideration: 1. add additional 6 or 8" boards to the beds and fill with additional quality soil/compost mix burying the plants that much deeper in the process (you mention they are tall enough to accommodate this). New roots will form all along the buried stems of the plants. Cut back on watering. 2. assuming the current plants are indeterminate varieties, take cuttings off them to root for replacements BEFORE carefully digging them up to making the bed deeper. After digging deeper in the bed to improve drainage, remove the existing green fruit and replant the current plants as deeply as possible. If they make it - great. If not you have the rooted cuttings to replace them with. 3. accept that first year gardens are always plagued with problems and little success and that this set-up was very flawed from the beginning. But in the hopes of getting some crop, leave the bed as it is and cut WAY back on your watering regimen since you now understand the drainage problems. And at the same time use a piece of rerod or something else long and sharp to stab additional deep drainage holes down through the soil and the plastic. Then plan to do a major over-haul on the beds this fall (strip out the plastic and make them at least 2x as deep). Just some ideas to consider. Dave

Growing Tomatoes FAQ: What is blossom-end rot? How can I prevent it? Blossom-end rot is a disorder of tomato, squash, pepper, and all other fruiting vegetables. You notice that a dry sunken decay has developed on the blossom end (opposite the stem) of many fruit, especially the first fruit of the season. This is not a pest, parasite or disease process but is a physiological problem caused by a low level of calcium in the fruit itself. Symptoms BER, or blossom-end rot usually begins as a small "water-soaked looking" area at the blossom end of the fruit while still green. As the lesion develops, it enlarges, becomes sunken and turns tan to dark brown to black and leathery. In severe cases, it may completely cover the lower half of the fruit, becoming flat or concave, often resulting in complete destruction of the infected fruit. Cause Calcium is required in relatively large concentrations for normal cell growth. When a rapidly growing fruit is deprived of calcium, the tissues break down, leaving the characteristic lesion at the blossom end. Blossom-end rot develops when the fruit's demand for calcium exceeds the supply in the soil. This may result from low calcium levels in the soil, drought stress, excessive soil moisture, and/or fluctuations due to rain or overwatering . These conditions reduce the uptake and movement of calcium into the plant, or rapid, vegetative growth due to excessive nitrogen fertilization. Management Adequate preparation of the garden bed prior to planting is the key to preventing BER. Insure adequately draining soil in the bed by adding needed ammendments, maintain the soil pH around 6.5 - a pH out of this range limits the uptake of calcium. Lime (unless the soil is already alkaline), composted manures or bone meal will supply calcium but take time to work so must be applied prior to planting. Excess ammonial types of nitrogen in the soil can reduce calcium uptake as can a depleted level of phosphorus. After planting, avoid deep cultivation that can damage the plant roots, use mulch to help stabilize soil moisture levels and help avoid drought stress, avoid overwatering as plants generally need about one inch of moisture per week from rain or irrigation for proper growth and development. Once the problem develops, quick fixes are difficult. Stabilize the moisture level as much as possible, feeding with manure or compost tea is recommended by many, foliar applications of calcium are of questionable value according to research because of poor absorption and movement to fruit where it is needed but many have reported that foliar application of magnesium (epsom salts) can effect added calcium uptake. Other various suggestions consist of powdered milk, crushed egg shells tea, bone meal tea, Tums tablets, etc. but prevention is the key. Some recommend removing affected fruit from to reduce stress in the plant. BER should not be confused with fruit abortion or inadequate pollination although the symptoms may appear similar. The onset of BER occurs only after the fruit is well on it's way to development while insufficient pollination problems terminate the fruit while still quite small. Here is a link that might be useful: BER FAQ

Angie, probably some references in my faves, which is 2500, and so every time I have to add a new one, I go back and delete maybe 10 more. And I don't want to go back and skim through the list either since I'm just starting writing a FAQ for another message site on how to save seeds, The first article I wrote about BER was back in the mid-90s, and I've had to update several times. And over time one can click on a link and it has gone. The one I miss the most is the one where they found that plants that had BER fruits had normal levels of Ca++ in the vasculature of the plant. Another place to look to confirm what I wrote above are the several good state disease sites, such as TAMU and Cornell, and NC and FL and several more. The better places incorporate new info on a regular basis, based on info that their disease specialists find, by reading scientific papers ahem, And please don't refer to yourself as a geek, b'c that makes me a geek, if you look at my bio here since my whole professional life I had to read tons of scientific papers. LOL I know my answer is not as specific as you would like, but if you also Google BER ( spell it out and add tomatoes to your entry) at the top of the first Google page you will usually see scentific articles listed seperately. I'll let you do that if you want to and get back here and report back. LOL Carolyn