Riddle me this

[brownfingers]

Almost the entire crop of my Ferline F1's have been badly affected by BER. However, on a few plants, it hasn't affected the uppermost trusses. These trusses have also produced very large toms on very thick stems; almost as thick as the main stems! I've managed to get something off the ones affected by BER simply by cutting it off and using the remainder of the tomato, which taste excellent BTW. My alicante, gardeners delight and Roma have been virtually affected. All in same greenhouse, all in same compost, all given same watering regime.

My outdoor toms, in pots, of all varieties have had no BER at all.

I've never had such weird results.

[Martin H]

My greenhouse toms have been parallel to yours, bf. Lots of blossom end rot on "Gigante Liscio", especially the lower trusses, but virtually none on "Chadwick Cherry" or "Alicante".

I'm only guessing but maybe it's the cold nights for the first half of the growing season upsets the large-fruited varieties more than the others?

[lottie dolly]

it's gotta be the weather/atmosphere,the only ones i got BER on are 1 plant in the poly,roma vf,the ones at the lottie outside are fine,as are all other varieties,having said all that,the 1 plant affected now seems to be redeeming it'self,

[Alison]

I thought BER was down to inadequate watering (although I know some varieties are more prone than others) so with all the rain we've had this year I'd be surprised if the outdoor ones were effected. Suspect that the ones not showing the effects were just at a different stage when watering was short, can be a nightmare getting it right.

[brownfingers]

I'm quite meticulous with the watering. One thing I do which others may not, is dilute the feed pro rata and give each tom a third of a litre of feed in the morning, then water again later with plain water. I sit open bottom pots into a growbag, and the growbag gets watered separately every day as a reservoir for the tap roots.

[Jungle Jane]

Sometimes it's no fault of your own. Some tomato plants,in the early stages,grow too quickly to take up nutrients (calcium) adequately.
"Blossom-end rot usually appears initially on the first fruit cluster of the plant due to the combination of rapid plant growth with a large leaf area for water transpiration,water stress,and fruit enlargement."
http://www.caes.uga.edu/extension/th...t_H-98-036.pdf

[solanaceae]

Lots of folks seem to be having problems with bem this year, more than usual. My guess is the low nighttime temps we've been having has made a big contribution. With lower temps the plants find it harder to absorb certain nutrients from the soil, calcium being one of them?

It does appear ferline is prone to bem anyway, the bad weather has just exacerbated it perhaps.

[maverick451]

I used Quadgrows (wicking water system) this year for most my toms but still had some BER, specially on floridity and black krim.

Im surprised to hear about ferline though, mine were totally unnaffected by BER.

The allotment diary chap recommended making up a calcium solution using dolomite lime and adding a few drops of that solution to your watering can.

[brownfingers]

At least I've had no blight! Unusually though, I haven't had a single splitter.

[KirstieSparkle]

well i have had none of the blossom end rot this year, but thanks to this thread and googling i now know what it is and i had it last year, was very confused by it.
All ive had this year is slow ripening and pretty thick skins. i like a thin tomato skin so its kinda ruined mine.

interesting reading about BER, thanks!

[Penellype]

All ive had this year is slow ripening and pretty thick skins. i like a thin tomato skin so its kinda ruined mine.

I also don't like thick skins. They are easy to remove though if you pour boiling water over the tomatoes and leave them for a minute or so.

[Alison]

You tend to get thicker skins on outdoor toms or when they've been traumatised by changes in conditions, been a lot of that this year!