Trials and tribulations of growing tomatoes!

So, after spending all kinds of time and effort starting from seed, watching those seeds germinate and grow, and moving them from one location to another, getting grow lights, trying to harden off only to have to bring them back in due to lousy weather, to finally getting them planted.... It's like having kids! But seriously, there you are beaming at the fruits of your labor and then bam! You find BER! Really really disappointing!
So everyone, share your stories and experiences and recommendations. I have been really vigilant about spraying for disease and insects, watering, fertilizing, but boy gardening teaches you some lessons. Anyways, I have removed the toms that have it and have added some gypsum, so it's wait and see.
Sharon

I haven't had BER forever.
Secret is water. We have T-Tape along each row & keep them watered. Every two days for sure.

What is T-tape CG? Sounds interesting. I can't give you any advice this year Sharon. I don't have a tomato on any of my plants. I have blossoms, but we have had thunder storms and rain so hard and then hail. So, I am sure the pollen got either washed or knocked off the flowers. Oh well, guess we are suppose to have another TS tonight.

Glad to see you and hope you have a productive year.

‘bee,
BER is one of those things that if you read far enough and long enough about it you can read nearly anything except that it tickles a gardener pinker than a juicy tomato.

I’ll tell you what has worked for me. Note my zone. I tend tomatoes in sandy loam with a clay base. I usually purchase my sets and am in no hurry getting them into the garden. I like dealing with the problems of frosty weather while trying to start a summer garden less than a tender tomato plant does. I want them to have to deal with no hardships until they face the knife. I don’t enter first-tomato races. As with foot races, I can’t win.

The preceding year I picture my next year’s garden. Before November rains make the soil too wet to work, I broadcast agricultural lime (Calcium carbonate) along my future tomato row and disk it in. How much? I probably cast about 10-15 pounds per strip four or five feet wide and fifty feet long. Amount doesn’t need to be down to the cupful, I believe. We get about fifty inches of rain per year, so there is some leaching.

This year I used–mostly out of curiosity and for variety’s sake, it is the spice of life–gypsum (Calcium sulfate) for the first time and had no BER. I’m no chemist but lime has a higher PH than gyp, I’ve read. They both add calcium to the soil, I’ve read.

I move my tomato crop around from year to year. I don’t know if cultivar (I have tried many.) is a difference maker or not concerning BER. For slicing tomatoes I favor Arkansas Traveler, Homestead, and Brandywine because over the years the first two have been good to me and I really like the taste of the last one.

My main recommendation: Work with it.

Usually I don't get BER but am having it this year. I am sure it is due to all the odd weather.

Thanks for all the input. Adam, you are right. Many theories about BER, causes, cures, remedies. As far as not letting the maters face too many hardships, that can be difficult in a zone5b where can go from freezing to 95 degrees in 24 hours and back. I forgot to mention most of my gardening is in containers, like Hydrofarm grow bags, so watering consistently and fertilizing is always a question of balance.
Rita, this has been a hard year. Jen, I have a couple of plants that I'm seriously considering giving the heave ho because they haven't produced a flower or just the beginnings of flowers and time is of the essence in my zone.
In general, a frustrating year. I have seen bees, but we've had lots of humidity. Even the impatiens are dying and they generally do well with wet conditions.

It is the black thing you see in the picture. It has an outlet every 8" & runs on very low pressure. Water soaks straight down, so it doesn't use much water. We run it only a couple hours each time. There are 200 plants in that group & they all get watered at once.
Google T-Tape & get lots of info.

That looks like something my son could use in his garden patch. I had to shut off my sprinkler system but my tomatoes are only watered by hand. I'm going to look into that. Actually we are supposed to be getting some extremely hot weather so I'm about to go out and water early. CG, how's gardening in your area?

i have been getting some BER also, but only because of this rain, rain, rain, and oh yeah more rain, lol. Someone must have broken the spigot off at the handle when they turned on these clouds!

Started out with a wet cold spring, now things are catching up fast.

A little blight on the leaves is showing from plant stress here .. snip clip and into the grill they go ... (blah)

That gets rid of them alright JU. Makes them look better doesn't it? Well, I have been trying to do some of the things to get some on my plants, but nothing seems to work. Today I put some bloom on them, 7-52-7 think it was. Next I will get very stern with them. I do really do, think that the thunder storms we have been having washed the pollen off of them. Can't do anything without pollen. The flowers that were on there and didn't make tomatoes, just dried up and are hanging there. Soooooo? Guess I will go back to the other thread. From 2011 and 12.

Well the great white in all the rain , dropped blossoms , never set one , not one tomato ,, After the wind storm it has a little green tomato and all the other blooms dropped ,,, go figure , that for "shake pollinating f1" .. how extreme is that .?!!!.

Well JU, there is a difference. Last year I had blossoms but they weren't setting fruit. Now, I just don't have many blossoms. And the ones that I do have are just drying up without setting fruit. I think the rain is washing the pollen off.

I don't think I will bump my last years thread up, but might start a new thread. It is really getting late in the year for this. Jen

Have you seen any bees? I finally started to see bees. But it is very late. I also have very few blossoms on most of my plants and I can't imagine how I m going to get one tomato before winter hits. Are you foliar applying the bloom? Some of my leaves are showing some weird discolouration so I'm getting worried about that. I can't keep up with one possible deficiency from another.
Jnette are you able to use a q-tip to help with pollination. I think we are going to be a couple of weeks late this season and I have a couple plants still showing BER. Removed more toms. I need help. So many theorizes about how to help with calcium intake. Any suggestions?

How about water soluble calcium vitamins like os-cal (my favorite ) or school chalk white child safe , chemical free , I use either .. it worked last year ,, four previous years every large red tomato had BER ,, Last year not a one ,
Two plants did get wilt and died in the drought though ..

Or I have heard dry wall powder. If you know of anyone building a house nearby, a piece of dry wall, think it is gypsum isn't it JU? No, don't think a q tip would work if the pollen has been washed off. Bees don't pollinate them. You don't need to take the pollen from one flower to another. Male and female sex organs in every flower. I used to stick my finger in each one and turn it. Think I did just as good as anything. But, they say just to shake the plants. I have done that too. Couple days ago. Still nothing.

Maybe if I get new flowers and no more thunder storms.

For my concerns and preferences construction materials contain to many unknowns ,, not me .. and yes it is gypsum ...Besides a school box of white chalk might cost a dollar , and some, not all of it is water soluble and does not do much if any damage to my sprayers ..

hugobee;; seeing 50 or 60 bees at a time now everyday on the herb blooms.


This message was edited Jul 14, 2013 11:10 PM

It's your fruit trees JU. Those suck the bees in like honey. Jen

I watched my bees. The light on a leaf and shake the plant. You can do it, too.
Marcia

At first we had so much rain I figured the bees were gone. I'm growing bee balm coincidentally so I guess that's helped.
I'm also worried about magnesium deficit which can affect the calcium intake. Trying to find my box of Epsom salts. JU, what s your ratio of chalk to water. Can I do it in a one and a half litre pump sprayer, not attached to the hose?

Weather and everything effects that , I start out by discoloring the water until it looks like thin milk .
From there I add until i have the amount that works , if I spray a few times a season , I don't get BER
I started out with a soft brush dipped in the chalk mixed in water , brushed it on the little green tomatoes until it stained them ,only thing is that gets time consuming if your growing many .. lol
Just make sure you rinse your sprayer , you know what chalk does .You can add a spoonful of Milk of Mangnesia(magnesium) and magnesium transfers directly into nitrogen when absorbed by a plants root.
Not real scientific with my answer only these will and do work for me

I forgot to say I used a 1/3 of a stick of chalk under the plants this year when I planted them (tomatoes -melons ) Tried that last year under one plant , it worked , So far this year no BER .
So adding it is there (calcium) and available to the plant when needed seems to be (The Is)
I keep looking for the easiest ,

You crush the chalk to put in the holes right JU?

When you plant ,, sure that is how.... The chalk that doesn't break down can last a long while .. I am only getting around to breaking a 1/3 of one into a cup with water when I plant the plant I am putting it on ..
That might be easier still ...maybe ..
Rarely I have seen the chalk , clump back together .. not sure of the cause of that .. as of now ..

I did a ph test on my container soil and from what I see, I'm in the 6.6-7 range. I crushed some antacid pills today, 1000 MG calcium and fed it to my plants. Still finding BER on the Cuor Di Bue plants. I just hope I don't end up killing all my plants between watering, fertilizing and whatever else I'm doing!

I don't know anything about all the things you people are talking about.
I just buy seed, plant it, transplant into the ground & enjoy my tomatoes.
Pictures are my tomatoes ready for market tomorrow, our cherry tomato patch, & tomatoes in the hoop houses.

CG, your garden is amazing. I wish that's all I had to do. Maybe that's all I should do, but I haven't been that lucky! So you don't take extraordinary measures to keep your tomatoes alive and well? LOL! How's the weather been?

I must be over-thinking it. I believe I'll have a beer.

LOL, I'm ahead of you Adam.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1323168/

Daily weather.

Well I found two more plants with BER , I'm starting to get worried. And frustrated. Still unbelievably hot and humid. Hopefully temps are going to get more reasonable. All this watering, and regulating how often to fertilize is driving me crazy.
CG thanks for the link. I am away for 24 hours. Kind of liberating not being able to check on my plants every hour!

Don't know if it will make a difference for this particular issue, but do you give your plants Epsom Salts?

Sharon, at least you are getting tomatoes. I don't even get flowers. Don't know what my problem is, but just counted this year as a total loss. Hate that.

Jen have you grown "homestead ".. It can take humidity and less light or blazing heat ,, What you describe , if no disease is present is too much humidity and not enough light . The combination I have seen before ..

I have an mammoth wonder that is growing okay in the shade for most of the day and the humidity here is awful .. I keep finding out different things about different plants ..

JU, our humidity is almost nil. None, Nada. Very dry. Sorry if I gave you the impression otherwise. Now, you, like most folks, think of Washington as being Coastal, Seattle. Nope, we have a big mountain range between us. Right down the middle of the state. So, at the foot of this range is desert country. And then we are almost to Idaho and a real green belt. But still dry.

As i said before, 'nite. Jen

Jen, I just gave them Epsom salts whatever the case, they've had everything thrown at them. No matter what, Jen, I can only imagine how frustrated you must be,

Jen ' my first red tomato fell with BER ..
None others have it apparently ,, but here we go again ..GRRRR!!!

Still finding BER!!! AT this point, I'm doing nothing but watering, the heat is unbearable here. Crazy. It`s too hot to stand outside to water for more than 5 minutes. Anyways this is going to be a wait and see season. JU, just keep your fingers crossed!

I had just sprayed the others with calcium day before yesterday . one had the BER and it fell this morning from a background plant where I had not seen it ..
Light and moisture likely the cause , I need to get caught up .. only that gets difficult in 100 degree sunshine ,,
hugobee; last sentence as you said both posts . yours and this one

I sprayed with calcium also, but used crushed calcium antiacid pills. hopefully that was okay. Came home today after being away 24 hours, to find my plants drooping from the heat. DH didn`t water! so i did in spite of the crushing heat. they are looking better but it looks like we are going to have one h*** of a thunderstorm..... Which can only be a good thing if it doesn`t knock my toms off and if the temps drop a bit. I had to run out and make sure everything is tied up. I am not doing that much pruning this year. Still trying to figure out if letting them just grow will contribute to the BER issue or not. At the rate at which I am removing some of my tomatoes, I need all the extra stems.