Blossom end rot in Earthboxes

I've been experiencing some blossom end rot on my Earth Box tomatoes. Anybody know a fix for this?

Let me google that for you... "blossom end rot"

It's really common (and hard to avoid) in containers.

Last year's blog post http://hortoinurbs.blogspot.com/2010/08 ... d-rot.html. It ain't container specific. It's very common with fruiting vegetables.

Did you use lime when planting them? http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/toma ... 23571.html



It makes a difference.

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Hey Leek, no need to be snarky. I thought that a fellow LTH gardener might have a fix that worked for them.

I don't think Leek was being snarky--just saying there is a ton of info out there on this, most of which concludes with "and there is no sure fire way to solve the problem."

I would tend to respectfully disagree with Pairs4Life--I think it is moisture related, tends to be worse in containers because moisture issues are more pronounced (although I would've thought that the systems associated with earthboxes would minimize this), isn't necessarily cured by lime (from my experience) and seems to affect some varieties (plums, like San Marzanos) significantly more than others (never have problems with cherries/grapes for example).

I've read a ton about this, both on here and out "there" and I can only conclude that this will be the LAST year I plant San Marzanos in Chicago. If others have a "surefire" method for avoiding BER, more power to 'em but I think it's climate related and, therefore, not something you can easily control. What I can tell you is that if you remove the damaged fruit, chances are you'll get better stuff as it cools off later in the summer--I typically get tomatoes well into September and even early October if it stays reasonably warm. Good luck!!

The earthbox forums seem to like a weekly treatment of calcium nitrate - NOT hydrated lime or garden lime, those are a one time, emergency treatment. look for posts by gardendoc.

I've got 4 boxes of tomatoes and no BER....yet.

RallyMike wrote:The earthbox forums seem to like a weekly treatment of calcium nitrate - NOT hydrated lime or garden lime, those are a one time, emergency treatment. look for posts by gardendoc.

I've got 4 boxes of tomatoes and no BER....yet.

Last year, I did that emergency treatment, and culled beautiful BER fruit. It was all good after that.

This year looks like I'm losing a box of tomatoes to wilt. grrrr! RIP Oxheart and Marmande.

I had some blossom end rot in my non-container garden. I think all the rain washed away the calcium.

I applied Miracle Grow and no more problem.

Now, couldn't we just have a simple answer like this?

Nancy

pairs4life wrote:This year looks like I'm losing a box of tomatoes to wilt. grrrr! RIP Oxheart and Marmande.

It seems like the same thing happened in two pots I had going. what causes 'wilt'?

Nancy S wrote:I had some blossom end rot in my non-container garden. I think all the rain washed away the calcium.

I applied Miracle Grow and no more problem.

Now, couldn't we just have a simple answer like this?

Nancy

We could have but instead, we had a simple misunderstanding (which was followed by a number of helpful replies). It happens.

Not sure the self-righteousness adds much to the discussion, either.

=R=
for the moderators

bean wrote:

pairs4life wrote:This year looks like I'm losing a box of tomatoes to wilt. grrrr! RIP Oxheart and Marmande.

It seems like the same thing happened in two pots I had going. what causes 'wilt'?

They totally rebounded and I should be picking ripe fruit from both of them next week.

So weird, just when I was about to cull the boxes and re-plant bolt resistant salad greens I saw fruit that looked perfectly fine. I just kept watering it and fruit kept appearing.

Wilt can be caused by a fungus. Read here. Not much you can do about it but look for wilt-resistant strains of tomatoes. http://hyg.ipm.illinois.edu/pastpest/199817c.html

There's a huge amount of wilt or some other blight going on at Peterson Community Garden. Last week multiple lots had practically dead limbs with crunchy dried leaves on the tomato plant along with lovely fruit. The week before the tomato plants didn't look like that at all.

I won't get there this week to see if there's any recovery but I will be back there next week.

pairs4life wrote: There's a huge amount of wilt or some other blight going on at Peterson Community Garden. Last week multiple lots had practically dead limbs with crunchy dried leaves on the tomato plant along with lovely fruit. The week before the tomato plants didn't look like that at all.

I won't get there this week to see if there's any recovery but I will be back there next week.

glad your home stuff rebounded! No such luck at the PCG--existing fruit is fine--plants are otherwise toast. Too bad too because we should have gotten a lot more fruit with decent weather in September. It's not wilt though-the plants look like they burnt up except that it wasn't that hot and they were watered regularly. It's some kind of blight.

And, true to form, as it has cooled off, I have new, perfect, BER-free fruit on my San Marzano plant. This summer was a bit strange--much less BER but very low production. Oh well. I still have plenty!

I also had this issue with several of my 1st tomatoes in my container garden. Seemed though if I continued just to pick off the bad ones eventually the good ones began to produce and now they are all gone! Not sure if it's just a fluke or not but I won't give up my container gardens! They are so easy to plant and move around!
Jessica
http://www.agardenpatch.com

Blossom end rot often clears up by itself as plants mature. This is a big factor in why there are so many dubious treatments around.

U of I Extension ( Yes, I'm a Master Gardener Intern) on BER and other tomato woes this summer https://webs.extension.uiuc.edu/state/n ... wsID=25954

Hi,

While lime may be a solid suggestion in an area where there is acidic soil to raise the pH. It is not an issue in Illinois where our soil is sweet/alkaline. If anything, we tend to add acid to our soil here to lower pH.

When I followed Leek's link, one of the responses was from the University of Ohio. They were recommending lime to bring the soil to a pH of 6.5. What is solid advice for Ohio, may not apply here. It is always good to follow Extension recommendations from land grant universities from whatever state you live in. Their information is geared to your state's conditions.

In the northeast, the soil is acidic. It is why the Yankee gardener program was constantly hauling out lime.

This is a good time of year to send in soil samples to evaluate your yard's soil. You can then add supplements to condition the soil over winter.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

While lime may be a solid suggestion in an area where there is acidic soil to raise the pH. It is not an issue in Illinois where our soil is sweet/alkaline. If anything, we tend to add acid to our soil here to lower pH.

When I followed Leek's link, one of the responses was from the University of Ohio. They were recommending lime to bring the soil to a pH of 6.5. What is solid advice for Ohio, may not apply here. It is always good to follow Extension recommendations from land grant universities from whatever state you live in. Their information is geared to your state's conditions.

In the northeast, the soil is acidic. It is why the Yankee gardener program was constantly hauling out lime.

This is a good time of year to send in soil samples to evaluate your yard's soil. You can then add supplements to condition the soil over winter.

Regards,

Additionally, the OP's post was about fruit grown in earthboxes which I assume means bagged soil of some kind as opposed to yard soil. Wouldn't that negate most soil "balance" issues? All of my plants are grown in containers or raised beds--I've used different soil products over the years--this year, all organic stuff which produced bountiful results for everything from beans to peppers to eggplant to potatoes to onions, and on and on. And I still had BER at the very height of the summer heat, when things get dry and burnt no matter how much you water. And once the weather moderated, I've had lovely, BER-free fruit at both locations. Hard to believe it's a coincidence.

boudreaulicious wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

While lime may be a solid suggestion in an area where there is acidic soil to raise the pH. It is not an issue in Illinois where our soil is sweet/alkaline. If anything, we tend to add acid to our soil here to lower pH.

When I followed Leek's link, one of the responses was from the University of Ohio. They were recommending lime to bring the soil to a pH of 6.5. What is solid advice for Ohio, may not apply here. It is always good to follow Extension recommendations from land grant universities from whatever state you live in. Their information is geared to your state's conditions.

In the northeast, the soil is acidic. It is why the Yankee gardener program was constantly hauling out lime.

This is a good time of year to send in soil samples to evaluate your yard's soil. You can then add supplements to condition the soil over winter.

Regards,

Additionally, the OP's post was about fruit grown in earthboxes which I assume means bagged soil of some kind as opposed to yard soil. Wouldn't that negate most soil "balance" issues? All of my plants are grown in containers or raised beds--I've used different soil products over the years--this year, all organic stuff which produced bountiful results for everything from beans to peppers to eggplant to potatoes to onions, and on and on. And I still had BER at the very height of the summer heat, when things get dry and burnt no matter how much you water. And once the weather moderated, I've had lovely, BER-free fruit at both locations. Hard to believe it's a coincidence.

boudreaulicious, you are right. It is both a calcium issue, and a weather issue. This is from the University of Illinois Extension link that I posted earlier in this thread:

Later in the season, blossom-end rot may become a problem for some growers.

"Blossom-end rot appears as brown or black areas at the blossom-end of the maturing fruit," Ferree said. "Tomato, pepper, summer squash and other cucurbit crops may show this problem. This is not a disease, but rather results from low calcium levels in the plant. This usually occurs during dry periods when the plant grows slower and takes up fewer nutrients from the soil. The best way to manage this is to maintain even and adequate soil moisture."

Folks, you need to understand that Earthboxes were created to use in drought-ridden countries experiencing severe issues with agricultural production. They are not designed to use in Chicago - which has more frequent and heavier rain. A lot of the problems (bacterial and fungal wilts, root rot, and blossom end rot) are from soil that is initially too wet/has too little oxygen. When severe drought/evaporation is not an issue, you should not keep the top plastic cover on your Earthbox. It is just keeping everything wet and allowing too little oxygen exchange -which contributes to the growth of things that will kill or hamper the health of your plants.

What to do:
Keep the plastic cover off the Earthbox OR keep water from going inside the pipe during a rainstorm. Good drainage and steady watering is KEY.
Change soil every season or sterilize old soil at home on the grill or in an oven.
Keep bad bacterial/fungal levels in check by incorporating good bacteria and fungi by adding neutral-pH (ie finished) compost.
Do not alter the pH of your soil by adding salt-heavy fertilizers such as Miracle-Gro or excessive amounts of peat-heavy potting soil.

Finally, to prevent blossom-end rot: incorporate eggshells or bone meal at transplanting time.
To fix blossom end rot - dissolve a plain TUMS in tap water and water. Fertilize with compost tea or an organic liquid fertilizer. Keep water damp but not wet.

It's not a good agricultural practice to keep planting the same crop in the same place year after year. I rotate tomatoes, another crop, and then tomatoes again before I replace the soil in my containers. I've never had an issue with anything other than BEM rot on full size tomatoes, which I believe is a function of a large tomato plant in a smaller than ideal container and hot weather. Interestingly enough, I have never had a problem with any cherry tomato even though the plants are as large and the fruit my volume is as great as a full size tomato plant.

I noticed some dark, flat spots on the three biggest, nicest-looking tomatoes in a container today.
Looks like a case of the blossom end rots.
I haven't noticed this in the rest of my tomatoes but they are all in the ground.
I hear that this is pretty common and may simply go away on its own but should I remove those fruits already afflicted?

pedalpowered wrote:
Finally, to prevent blossom-end rot: incorporate eggshells or bone meal at transplanting time.
To fix blossom end rot - dissolve a plain TUMS in tap water and water. Fertilize with compost tea or an organic liquid fertilizer. Keep water damp but not wet.

I grow my tomatoes in pots. I've been shoving eggshells into the soil, usually at planting, and every time I have some for a month later. I haven't had any blossom end rot since. Blossom end rot was a huge problem for us.

I don't know any more about it than anyone else BUT I didn't do anything special with my soil this year and barely amended it before planting in the same containers that I grow tomatoes in every year (a pretty big no no) and, while it wasn't a stellar year, I had no BER. I am a firm believer that it is primarily weather related and this year's cooler, wetter climate with fewer consecutive days of sustained high heat are the reason. Mind you, I don't think the tomatoes are all that great this year (kinda watery tasting, like a lot of other fruit) but the ugly black spots aren't in evidence. For what it's worth.

From what I understand, blossom-end rot could be caused by a calcium deficiency, but I do have one plant this year, an heirloom, that is showing some BER, and that's one of my two plants grown in containers. I also have 8 plants in the ground--no problem there.