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Re: Blossom end rot

bone meal, oyster or clam shells, crushed. Egg shells, crushed. Calcium
supplements.

----------
> From: Richard Grazzini <rickg@centrelab.com>
> To: veggie-list@eskimo.com
> Subject: RE: Blossom end rot
> Date: Monday, July 21, 1997 1:39 PM
> 
> It's blossom end rot (BER) time, again.  You know, when the end of the
> tomato (and pepper) turns black and sinks in?  
> 
> I thought that this year that I would prevent BER it by incorporating
epsom
> salts (magnesium sulfate) into the soil at planting, and by making sure
> that the soil in the tomato and pepper bed had a good amount of calcium
in
> the form of dolomitic lime.  I tend to think of BER as (largely) a
divalent
> cation deficiency, and something that expresses itself mostly under
drought
> stress.  
> 
> And drought stress is what we are currently going through in sunny
central
> PA, at least until TS Danny comes up the coast and dumps on us.  My lawn
> crunches when I walk across it to water the garden.  (And yes, I will
> finally put in a drip irrigation system in the garden for next season).  
> 
> My first question to the group is: what varieties do you know to be
> BER-tolerant? I am growing Celebrity, Burpee's Supersteak, Sweet Chelsea,
> First Lady, and the BER responses by variety from my garden will be
posted
> later this week.  Celebrity shows the worst BER response so far.  
> 
> The second question is: does anyone have experience in preventing BER?  I
> now always amend my tomato bed with epsom salts and dolomite.  I started
> this when I began to have BER problems in the first year in a new garden
> spot or bed, and it seemed to help in subsequent years.  In 1997,
however,
> I had to try new tomato varieties (I am ashamed to admit that I had to
buy
> tomato seedlings from a local greenhouse rather than growing my own), and
> put them (again) in a new bed.  
> 
> And then it quit raining.  
> I do water nightly (and deeply) when I am not traveling.  But when I go
out
> of town for a week at a time ...
> 
> Any advice?
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