Re: [CH] Roma tomato rot question
T. Matthew Evans (tmattevans@yahoo.com)
Wed, 16 Jul 2003 08:10:41 -0700 (PDT)
Ahhhhh, the dreaded blossom end rot....
This problem is often diagnosed as being caused by a lack of clacium in your
soil. Often times this is not the case. In fact, most soil (that has not been
over-farmed and is not completely sandy) has plenty of calcium. It might just
not be available calcium, which is the key. Calcium will dissolve in water (at
a concentration that is amenable to growing tomatoes and chiles) only in a
narrow pH band -- it is more likely that you are outside of this band.
Many "old-timers" in the South tend to use lime to correct the problem, simply
by sprinkling it indiscriminately around the plants. It must work, because
everyone does it. My feling though is that it works by altering the pH of the
pore water, not because you are adding additional calcium (note that adding
lime -- CaCO3 -- increases the amount of dissolved salts in your pore water,
which can actually tend to cause blossom end rot).
The short answer, then, is that you should test your soil. However, if you'd
like to live dangerously, try to maintain a constant soil moisture, don't
over-fertilize, and add a little lime to your soil. You could also try to
Google "blossom end rot" to see what the experts have to say....
Matt
--- "George A. Starkey" <gas@kdlegal.com> wrote:
> Adjacent to my jalapenos, I have a problem!
>
> I've got a few roma tomato plants that look happy enough, and have
> prodigious amounts of 'maters on them... the problem is that the bottom
> fifths of some of the tomatoes have shriveled so that they are brown,
> some are moldy on the brown parts, and flat. It looks like they've been
> stored on a shelf too long. They are for the most part still green.
>
> Help me Obi-wan Chipotle, you're my only hope!
>
> -George in Indiana
>
>
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