Fix Blossom End Rot Easily!

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

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[@sandyhayden-bristow1382]

I knew nothing about BER, so thank you for this video. I've had issues in previous years and now suspect it might well have been BER. Forewarned is fore-armed.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

No messin' with BER for you now sandy! 🙂

[@c2max99]

I struggled with that this year on all my tomato plants. Maybe I also planted too many in one raised bed. Thank you for this timely video!

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Great point...too many can compete for limited calcium...or more importantly, limited water to TRANSPORT the calcium. You got this though...you know the fix! 🙂

[@ilricettario]

Excellent video, really helpful. Thanks.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Hey thanks, happy to help! 🙂

[@patriciatinkey2677]

Thanks again, Jeff! For the 1st time, I had blossom end rot on my bell peppers this July! I had seen it on other folks tomatoes, but hadn't had any problems with it before now. Your information should help avoid it on the next set. We had WAY too much water for a week, & the normal drainage couldn't keep up. Some plants died!

[@belindadunne4312]

Wow, this is incredibly educational, useful, and enlightening information about BER. Thank you very much. 👍🏻

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Thanks belinda, appreciate it! 🙂

[@HealyMeans]

hi 🤗 i definitely appreciate your videos and often re-watch specific one based on what im doing in my garden at the time. tfs

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Thanks! Appreciate the support! 🙂

[@jackielambert7980]

Yup! Have me a folder in video library with lots of your vids. Thanx for the good info!

[@cut--]

Thanks Jeff. I want to get ahead of this, this year. I'm Maine zone 5a and my toms don't ripen until late summer, and fall and I struggle with this. Our rain and foggy mornings produce so much moisture. I'm going to add some calcium and not overthink it! 😉

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

I think you'll be good. Just watch the early fruit, they tell you everything.

[@marcob1729]

Unless you're using native soil, it really still could be moisture. Have you checked 4+ inches down into the soil? Granted it's southern Maine, but every time I've grown something in the state, it's still needed regular watering

[@cut--]

@@marcob1729 I live in midcoast Maine. I live on the side of a hill with a the St. George river in the valley. Every morning the moisture comes and soaks everything. I Have 1 foot raised beds over a super weed barrier which holds a lot of moisture. I asked about "tacky straw" which might even out the moisture but I didn't hear back from anyone about what it is. The weather in Maine varies so much. Union is different from Rockland is different from Augusta and so on.

[@OneShot-kh2ft]

Love you please keep making vids I’m a BAS ASS gardener because of you

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

100% will do!! 🙂

[@threewaysdivided7143]

Super helpful to know! I had an issue with zucchinis last year that I misdiagnosed as possible BER (having watched your videos on them I now realize it was likely that the plants were suffering from lack of airflow and mildew due to the container I was using) but it's reassuring to know that a lot of my standard garden practices (composting egg-shells to add to soil calcium, mulching, deep biweekly waterings) probably cover the preventative steps. We're in for a rough summer in my climate zone so let's see how the container tomato trellis does this year.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Thanks! Zukes can get even trickier than that because their pollination problems manifest EXACTLY like blossom end rot! Ughhh

[@threewaysdivided7143]

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms Oh Absolutely. My experimental containter zukes were a temperamental bunch - my climate band (subtropics) is probably a bit outside their ideal climate zone so they were not very forgiving of other mistakes with the timing and bed setup. Got a lot of pollen flowers but they refused to hold any fruiting flowers - pretty clear dummy-spit from them over the conditions.

[@TheeRustyCage]

BER has taken every single one of my yellow squash this year. Thanks for the tips!

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Ugghh...sorry to hear that!

[@johnharrison9954]

Good video. Just wanted to add that this BER occurs most often in container grown tomatoes...especially Roma tomatoes. If you have a swimming pool, then you've won the lottery! Just add a tbsp of granular calcium to a 2 litre water container and feed each plant once every 2 weeks. If your leaves start turning 'yellowish' cut back on the calcium.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Great points john! 🙂

[@chrisbelvedere6653]

Thanks for that I'm definitely gonna give that a try.

[@lookanabeauti9386]

Great job explaining, thank you!

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Cheers, thanks so much for watching!

[@marcob1729]

We tackled BER in a two step program: 1. Water every other day, and be consistent about it 2. Stop growing heirloom Romas

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

LOL...the dang Romas....! :-)

[@MyFavoriteColorIsBLUE]

So, can you just trim off the bad spot without any flavor loss? Thanks Jeff

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Oh yeah, perfectly edible...just cut off the bad parts!

[@jackielambert7980]

Been wondering the same thing for a while. Good to know, thanx!

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

@@jackielambert7980 Yup, good for those BIG ones with just a tiny bad spot!

[@lovegoesforth3183]

Ok so after watching this video, I realize my mistake growing tomatoes last year was two fold: I under watered, I did inconsistent watering and I over fertilized. I tried to fix it with lime and calcium and it didn’t help one bit. This year I used a product called Bonide and haven’t seen any problems. Having said that, I also added soaking hoses for my watering, and I was very consistent as well. So Bonide or proper watering? Next year, I’ll experiment with both ways and see what happens. 😅

[@MB-co6qj]

Watering almost 100% sure

[@keitho3133]

Sounds like you figured it out, but for anyone else: It takes lime a long time to break down meaningfully. If you discover a calcium deficiency with plants that are already fruiting you should add a product that acts faster. If you are going to use lime put it down when you sow the seeds or transplant your starts.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Most likely proper watering. If you can do an A/B test next year, you'll know for sure. Best of luck! 🙂

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

@@MB-co6qj Yup.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

@@keitho3133 Very true keith!

[@Minionz]

How do you determine how often to water plants/Tomatoes? In southern Texas its often 90-104*F, even in June. Some places say to water twice a day due to these conditions. Seems hard to gauge watering due to the immense heat conditions.

[@MB-co6qj]

If you water deeply in the evening/ morning, you can check when the plants start to droop and go off of that. Use mulch to prevent evaporation.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Deep deep watering in the morning should allow you to water far less. Mulch and shade cloth will help as well.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

@@MB-co6qj Exactly.

[@tammyohlsson7966]

I’m in SE TX, I pulled all my tomatoes in early July. It’s too hot and way to dry. No rain in over 2 months, temps over 100 for days. Started new ones that just sprouted. Replant in a few weeks. Growing tomatoes in this brutal heat is almost impossible. Blessings!

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

@@tammyohlsson7966 sometimes mother nature just makes it too hard to fight against....I hear you tammy.

[@jeanninemcwhorter919]

So what did you treat it with? Fish emulsion?

[@Leon-en9il]

Are you Canadian sir?- love what you do . If you are Canadian I was wondering how long I have to get these tomatoes to turn reddish .

[@MrSBGames]

Are there certain varieties that get it more than others? My San Marzano seems to always get it, no matter what I do to try and prevent it. Other varieties nearby seem to escape it

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Yup, 100%. Roma types are HIGHLY susceptible to it.

[@itsjustjoe3790]

Can you use unopened peritoneal dialysis fluid in a garden? I hear you can but not sure

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

As long as there's no regulations where you live you can use it...it won't harm your plants.

[@mdo609]

Your tomato plant that has BER looks like a San Marzano. Perhaps they're more susceptible to BER? The only tomato plant among the 6 that I'm planting this year that has BER is also a San Marzano.

[@lisagorska7389]

We planted some this year and got BER, but we ended up not doing anything about it and after the first couple of batches the tomatoes turned perfect 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@heliocunha1147]

I heard that you should remove the first flowers to allow plant to focus on growing. Do you agree?

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Depends on the variety of tomato, the length of your growing season, how much of a head start you have, etc etc.....I generally don't bother though.

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

So drought will cause BER, by way of lacking calcium, but supplementing calcium usually won't help because the issue is the water.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Correct. You can have a soil SATURATED with calcium.....but without the water at key times to get it to the right cells, you can STILL get Blossom End Rot.

[@rulerofthelight]

Low Ph is a hugh culprit for BER.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

So true. Any extreme pH actually.

[@rulerofthelight]

@TheRipeTomatoFarms no, not really... Calcium starts being bound up at about ph6.0> , where the opposite calcium doesn't get bound up until about ph 9.0

[@TheRexona1986]

What about overwattering ?

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Yup, that can waterlog roots, make the soil anaerobic, and even flush the soil of nutrients!

[@AmberExista]

My brain: Did he do all the wrong things to certain plants just to produce the blossom end rot for this video? :D

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

He did Amber....he did. LOL...all in the name of YouT......er...science!

[@lakerdigital]

Subbed.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Thanks for the support!

[@summerw.1425]

Unfortunately there's nothing that can be done about the BER I'm getting. It's only good sunny weather maybe 2 days a week if I'm lucky. If it's not raining like crazy, it's super cloudy. I'm 100% sure that I'll get less than half of the tomatoes I planted and that number is declining every day. Looking out the window right now and just watching my tomatoes drowning and rotting away is a real bummer.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Ugghhhh.... So sorry to hear that. Can you up the drainage maybe?

[@summerw.1425]

​@@TheRipeTomatoFarms they're in grow bags on my balcony and are just too large to bring into my apt. I have already had a full grown zuccini and squash plant go through an entire life cycle and everything rotted except for a single zuccini. I've come to the conclusion that I don't think gardening is possible where I live. It just rains too much to grow anything edible 🥺

[@rafia.k]

Great 👍

[@Jane_1776]

Can i still use the tomato with BER?

[@roottrackerzbyyaira]

Yes

[@EvelynBlandino]

I think you can just cut off the bag part.

[@roottrackerzbyyaira]

@@EvelynBlandino exactly

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Definitely Jane....that's the beauty, its just physical damage. Cut the bad parts off, the rest is good to eat!

[@Jane_1776]

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms thanks 👍

[@thehazelnutspread]

Do you know of DIY tests that we can use. There is no way that I'm going to send soil samples to some lab every year.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

For Calcium? Its highly unlikely your soil is missing any. I would just dose with egg shells every couple of years and concentrate more on the watering.

[@brendaglenn4671]

So I’ve now found two tomatoes with BER. Now what? No answer to what to do if the problem has already started

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Because the answer is exactly the same. BER is NOT contagious. So once some fruit get it, your next course of action is to correct the NEXT fruit....which is what the entire video was about. There is NO treatment for Blossom End Rot. It can't be reversed, only prevented. So if you have a couple with it, pull them and then concentrate on the subsequent fruit.

[@wesleybullock814]

Crushed egg shells around the stem... Tomatoes love it

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Yup, always good for the soil!

[@TK-xy3fm]

I just pick all the bad ones off powdered milk then I mix up powdered milk port at the base of the plant problem solved

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Awesome, keep doing what's working for you

[@757.FlyGuyUK]

I've had BER on ALL of my 25 tomato plants, planted in 2 different locations, all planted in the ground. This is in the UK which has drowned in rain during July and very little consistent sun. I've also fitted irrigation pipes, so it wasn't a lack of water. This year, I've planted all the plants much deeper than last year. So only conclusion I can come up with is a lack of sun, if that is such a thing with BER? I'm gutted after all that work growing 25 plants and 8 different types.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Lack of any growing parameter could likely cause deficiencies and lead to BER. Some are WAY more common than others.

[@MrSBGames]

Too much rain can also cause BER as the plants are literally drowning 👍

[@Basementbuds420]

Or freaking add dolomite lime

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Except that it's rarely a soil calcium deficiency AND dolomite changes your pH like crazy

[@Basementbuds420]

All I can say is I got 50 tomatoes plants all bigger than 6 feet no blossom end rot all organic

[@Basementbuds420]

And 6 varieties

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

@@Basementbuds420 Awesome, keep doing what works. Why fix what isn't broken? Little story though...I had a line of 15 determinate bush-types all supplied with dolomite and fortified with calcium. Across the path, literally 30 inches, an identical row without any extra calcium, but same base soil. The dolomite ones were all perfect, huge, zero issues. Guess what....so were the other ones. If I only did one row, one would ASSUME that the dolomite grew superior plants and it was the CAUSE.....when in reality, it can often have zero effect and you would have simply grown epic tomatoes anyways because your watering was on point.

[@Basementbuds420]

Dude easy fix buy nectar from gods liquid calcium 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅never again

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

It's not a lack of calcium... It's Intermittent drought on purpose.... As per tomorrow's video

[@Basementbuds420]

OK than just water more its been a dry summer here but I watered everything everyday gallons

[@kaylakitty3814]

@@Basementbuds420 It’s wonderful that you do not have problems with Blossom End Rot. Unfortunately, not everyone is that lucky. Suggestions like just add more calcium or water more often are not applicable to all situations, environments and climates. Changes in weather over time also plays a huge role, too.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

@@kaylakitty3814 oh wait, you mean not everyone's variables and growing conditions are the EXACT same and it makes sense to understand the cause and effect of certain conditions so you can prevent it in the future? Well waddya know.... ha ha!🙂 Thanks for being the voice of reason kayla, hope you're year is going great!

[@Basementbuds420]

Period never seen blossoms end rot ever

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

Cool, congrats.

[@eyeYQ2]

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms LOL ; )

[@misstlc7136]

Wow. That's amazing

[@vetgirl71]

Good for you, then why are u watching this video since it irrelevant regarding your perfect tomato?!! 🙄