07/19/2022
Blossom end rot (BER) is a 'bruised' or 'rotten' mark at the bottom of your tomatoes. Rest assured that your tomato plant doesn't have a disease or defect.
I've learned the hard way that I have certain garden beds that I cannot plant tomatoes in because the beds get too much sun and heat. Every plant I put in these beds have fruit with BER.
When your plant doesn't have enough water, it is stressed, or the soil Ph is out of balance (either too acidic or two alkaline) the plant cannot take up the nutrients that it needs. When the plant cannot take up calcium, then the result is BER. Even if your soil has calcium available, a lack of water, stress, or out of balance Ph means that the plant can't take up the nutrient. This is especially true for plants that are grown in containers. Their access to water is limited and they rely on you to fertilize them for nutrients.
Most garden bed soils have enough calcium for tomatoes to grow just fine. So what can you do?
For plants in pots, stick your finger in to see if your soil is dry and consider watering multiple times per day when the temperatures are high. Also, fertilize them with a reliable fertilizer weekly and (like in my situation) consider another location where they will get 6-8 hours of sunlight. For pots and garden beds, add a layer of mulch to retain moisture and to help against soil-born fungal diseases. If you want, you can add some calcium to your soil for good measure (grind egg shells up into a powder or buy shell meal). If this doesn't help, then get a soil test to ensure your Ph is between 6.2 to 6.8 and remediate if needed. Also, don't remove suckers so you increase your tomato yield with a plan to produce healthy tomatoes.
When in doubt, check out Craig LeHoullier's book, "Epic Tomatoes" or his blog. For more information: https://linktr.ee/ediblespaces
