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Blossom end rot - tomatoes?
Has anyone dealt with this before?
If you have experienced this, any tips to help it not spread to other plants?
We live in southwest Ohio. In my parents garden, they recognized that one of their roma tomato plants had this blossom end rot on the fruits, so they pulled up the plant. Now, another tomato plant (brandywine) in their garden is showing signs of the blossom end rot. We havent pulled up the plant, but just picking off the bad fruit.
All of the tomato plants they have look vibrant, healthy and green. We made sure to add organic mushroom compost to the garden this year to have rich healthy soil. We did have a VERY wet spring (March, April, May).
I have read you can sprinkle dry powdered milk at the base, or crushed egg shells. WIll this help?
Re: Blossom end rot - tomatoes?
Blossom end rot is not caused by any virus, bacterium, or pest. It can't spread to other plants, and there is no need to pull up any plants that have tomatoes with end rot.
It's caused by a calcium deficiency coupled with uneven moisture. Over fertilization can contribute to end rot because it impedes calcium uptake.
Make sure the soil moisture is even (mulch will help greatly with this) and use fertilizers high in phosphorous and low in nitrogen. There are specific tomato fertilizers (like Miracle Gro for tomatoes) to address this problem.
So yes, finely ground egg shells and powdered milk are high in calcium and can help prevent this, as long as you get the watering under control.
Sorry, I should have mentioned I already researched this. Just wondering if anyone else has dealt with this and treated the problem successfully and how.
We placed tomato fertilizer spikes with every plant long before any blossom end rot showed up. I think our problem was all the rain we had, and now watering it every 2-3 days or so (depending on if we get rain or not).
So the milk powder and eggshells will only prevent it? It wont help a plant that already shows signs?
Thanks for your help!
The individual fruits get it- not the plant. That's why the pp said not to pull up the plant. If you have it under control, none of the other tomatoes will get it. It's not a disease of the plant, it's like a deformed/messed up tomato grows on the plant because of the nutrients and water that the plant is getting at the time. Once those things are what they should be, the new tomatoes that grow will be fine.
I didnt know this. Thanks for explaining that to me, very helpful!
Hopefully we can get it under control.