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Growing Tomatoes

I forgot about BER wichh my first two tomatoes have :(

8 years ago

So my first two tomatoes were happily growing and then I was trying to take a picture from the bottom of them and noticed the tell-tale signs of BER :(

We it hurt the plant to go ahead and add antacid tablets to the water if it isn't a calcium issue? I am asking because it just might be a watering issue... The potting soil is brand new so I would think there shouldn't be a lack of calcium... It's just that there are two new tomatoes now and want to try to prevent BER from happening again.

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Comments (7)

Jean
8 years ago
antacid tabs won't help. Regular watering habits will. Evenly moist soil (soil mix) is the goal. Pots dry out rapidly.
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Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
8 years ago
I would use a tomato fertilizer with Calcium.

As jean said pots get dry out rapidly and that is why we hear more BER problems in pots than in the ground. So try to keep moisture level steady.

Some varieties are prone to BER more than other. Are you growing more than one variety ? Do all of them show BER or just one ?

Another possibility is that it might be physical bruise by high winds or other causes., or some other infection like Gray Wall .

Were the fruits touching the soil ? I would trim the lower leave to get a better air movement.

Sey
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I would tend to keep off any form of lime if I were you-especially when dealing with tomatoes, as Lime tends to alter the PH of the compost too much and upsets the natural balance-especially in any form of containers.and should only be used if the compost is very acid like pure peat or ground up bracken ferns-but then most people would not use this on tomatoes anyway, especially in containers. On the other hand at the fear of sounding contradictory -if you are using a balanced container mix straight out of the bag of compost, I don't suppose that adding a little amount of pure Dolomite lime to the mix at the time it is used to fill the containers , would hurt- and perhaps benefit the tomatoes as they grow with no BER manifesting itself later-but on elongated tomato varieties -you will always be taking a chance, in trying to grow them in containers. The only and best form of lime to use -if you can get it -is Dolomite lime but not all garden centers and supplies keep it, they usually only stock the more common form of lime in bags,Dolomite lime contains just the right amounts of Magnesium and other elements to make the conditions in your soil just right, in clay type soil another important element to add is Gypsum which makes a whole lot of difference to clay soils and makes it more friable and manageable. With container mixes if you add a small quantity of Calcium Nitrate to the container mix before using it in the containers it will mostly eliminate the problem from starting in the first place, but if you forgot until BER showed on the first truss-you can add it by watering it in from then on in weekly doses and it will stop it in it's tracks by the time the second and third truss has formed, despite what some sceptics are saying. It is always much harder to stop BER in any type of elongated tomato as they seem to be a BER magnet for the complaint, so this type of tomato must be treated early in order to deal with it. Round tomatoes and Beefsteak tomatoes will also get it too, but are much more easily treated and stopped than the elongated type, cherry tomatoes on the other hand never seem to get it at all- I have yet to see any cherry toms with any form of BER whatsoever.
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LOL, don't hold your breath about Lowes having the same product now if it has been long enough, unless you are sure you can find the pile you pulled it off. I just looked at my bag and it has the same label and color scheme on the bag (though it was identical at first glance) except it is not labeled "dolomitic lime', but rather "Gardenlime" and under that in big bold letters "great calcium and magnesium source" of something to that effect. So Lowes clearly has at least two versions of 40 pound bags. Either way, it is plenty enough so this is not something to worry about for yours at this point and may never be. You had just asked about details and I pulled it out of thin air as an example of the sorts of details that we can get bogged down in. The lime is not your problem now, that's for sure. The filling with water is iffy if you really are under such water usage for that plant, especially with a cover to discourage evaporation that it has, but maybe you are in AZ or something. To be honest I'm skeptical it is using all that water and would measure a better baseline for another couple of days and keep track of it, since I don't want to give you bad advice and I really am not there to be talking. If you find it is using 1.5 gallons per day, then every two days is fine and what I'm shooting for in my head at this point. The plants could easily require more as they get bigger but we're talking now... Don't forget the soil is saturated and has a lot of water capacity too before the wicking action will be lost. It could add another gallon or two, so there is a little safety built in as long as the plants don't cake-dry the setup. Those are just mullings since you may have a better hands on feel than I do, but it's what I'm thinking. In Florida a tomato plant your size would still drink less than 2 liters in the heat, but we have a higher humidity to deal with so that's what I'm concerned I might err on. Hope those thoughts help, as you experiment. around. PC
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Jean
8 years ago
Part of the distortion you see is catfacing -- the fruits set in lower than optimum temps.
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Vince (8) Kemper
8 years ago
I always pull the first few flowers off. Don't like to do what happened to you, waste time on a BER tomato. It doesn't always happen but when it does it's the first ones
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Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
8 years ago
Agree w/ Vince. BER is often happens early in the season and cool temperatures. Some how the plant's system cannot deliver Calcium to the fruit. The studies show that often the soil has enough calcium even there is calcium in the plants tissue .

The only time that I have had serious BER issue was with Roma, early on and then it went away. But it was annoying to pitch the fruits. hehe
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ticodxb
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
So sorry for the late reply to everyone...

thank you Jean for letting me know that antacid tablets won't work... however, as for the catfacing issue.... it is only on a few tomatoes and the temps were in the upper 80s when I put this one seedling in the final pot.

Seysonn, no fruits were touching the soil. I just made sure to start to water the pots everyday to keep the soil moist as you both advised. Interesting that BER is associated with cooler temperatures as here in Dubai I planted while it was in the low 90s/high 80s.

Vince, it was indeed the early ones. The first 7 tomatoes all ended up with BER but all the others that came after that look fine so far, though a few have a bit of zippering.

Interestingly, BER was only an issue with the first plant that I was able to plant the earliest (November 14th I think) as I only had one 20 gallon fabric pot. The other 4 plants were planted a month later in lower 80s temperatures and none of the tomatoes on those plants are showing signs of BER.
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centexan254 zone 8 Temple, Tx
8 years ago
If you want to add fertilizer. I would just work on keeping consistent soil moisture. Stress from over dry to over wet will cause BER where there is plenty of calcium in the soil. The stressed plant can not take it in.
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