The curse of BER

 

So I added calcium to the soil, I used fish emulsion fertilizer and I
sprayed the leaves with calcium water.  And BER set in anyway.  No water
stress such as dry roots.  I water every day as it is quite warm and the
pots dry fast.  This is maddening because I lost so many tomatoes last year
to BER.  Just how much more can one do?

 

Paul M. Cook wrote:

I don't think this is the right fertilizer for tomatoes (although it is
what I in my ignorance used), it has too much nitrogen. It's something
like 511.

   I found this:

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/edible_gardening_plus/73178

   So, the fish fert may not be your cause, but it does not help and may
indeed hurt.

   Jeff

and I

 

Jeff Thies wrote:

http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubs/PDF/C938.pdf


Although some people believe foliar sprays can correct Ca deficiency in
developing fruits, research is very inconclusive on this issue. What is
well known is that Ca only moves in the plant via the xylem and moves
with the transpirational water flow from the roots, up the plant and
into developing leaves. Calcium has no ability to flow from the leaves
via the phloem to the developing fruit. In addition, once fruit has
grown to golf ball size, the waxy outer layer has developed and is
believed to be quite impermeable to water. Therefore, it is recommended
that all Ca supplied to fruiting vegetables be applied via the
irrigation water so as to maximize uptake by roots


   And BER set in anyway.  No

 



Sigh.  I was using the fish emulsion as it was recommended.  I posted
earlier about using the foliar spray as irrigation water and was told it was
less effective that way.  So what the heck, I will add it to the irrigation
water.  I try to keep the soil from drying out.  My pots get a gallon of
water a day and if I do not water in the morning I get a little wilt by
afternoon.  This whole uniform water has me puzzled.  I mean those plants do
grow in the wild and surely a consistently moist soil is not something they
enjoy.  I can see BER is more of a challenge in container gardening.

Paul

 

Paul M. Cook wrote:

Not so sure about that. The wild tomato is a completely different
vegetable than what we grow.

  and surely a consistently moist soil is not something they

   I don't know that much about container gardening. I have noticed that
being in a container loses the moisture tempering of being in ground.
I've seen both standing water in containers and containers that were
completely dry, even though it had been raining for days not long
before. Soil and drainage is much more critical in containers, it is
also much easier to control.

   To make the whole BER thing more complex, it appears that calcium can
be displaced by other ions or cations that may be in your soil. So, you
may not have good tomato soil without ever knowing it.

   Jeff