BER
 

Looks to be making a bad appearance in my garden for the first time in over 40 yrs. I don't know if I just need to lime or what...but it makes me wonder if the unusually cool May when fruit was setting was the culprit? Big disappointment though.

I got some BER on the bottom cluster on a few. Too much rain in my case, as the next cluster up has none. I think I have only "spot" watered the in ground garden 2x this year.

Maybe too early to jump to conclusions? Or do you have BER on the majority of maters?

I'm in the same boat with BER in most of my maters, even the top ones. I have probably tossed about 50% of my Roma's over the season.

Same here, BER terrible on Red Rose (indeterminate), not as bad on Bella Rosa (determinate). I have 3 of each plant on a Rain Gutter Grow System (RGGS).

More details:
[LIST][*]A float keeps the gutter level full, i.e. the moisture level has been 100% consistent[*]The RGGS is in inside my climate controlled greenhouse[*]The plants are inside 4 gal. fabric shopping bags atop the RGGS[*]All plants are fed weekly with Texas Tomato Food; approx. 1/2 gal. per plant[/LIST]

My RGGS is either flawed or something else?

I'm a bit puzzled and shocked that so many fruits are affected. I know what it looks like
and have a few every year. It was and has been a bit of a puzzle figuring out why...

I seem to get one or two of everything, BER, sun scald, etc, but not half my total
harvest.

I do have years of no fruit on my trees but that is common with late frost and has a
clear explanation.

Can anyone pin-point a difference this year?. Some crops lost is fine, happens every
year, but tomatoes would crush me.

Are you getting any blush on fruit before this sets in? If so i would pull any fruit and let
them ripen on the counter inside...

Sad to hear this.

BER starts pretty much right away. I have pulled babies off with BER without any blushing. I've had BER in the top growth and the bottom growth of the plants. All Roma plants. I do pull at blushing too.

Editing to state that all tomatoes are planted in the same mix, same size pots for five of the Roma's and the two cherries I have. I have no BER in the cherry tomatoes. I have two Roma's in my big bed with my Homestead Heritage with the same mix as the containers. The Roma's have BER, not the Homestead Heritage. Makes no sense to me to have so much BER in the Roma's.

So, I am sorry to hear OP's BER problems, because mine are really bad too.

Last year I had one plant that would get BER on and off. It just didn't like too much water. It just about didn't like water at all.

I forget where the link is here now and my puter to much of a turtle to search for Carolyn's big discussion on BER. After reading here thread post, I learned that it comes from uneven watering and too much water.

This year, so far I have been pitching green tomatoes that have BER. I know it is from the weather. We have had just way to much rain. I grow in containers, they well ventilated and farther spaced out and up off the ground and I still have it going on. I can't think the last time I had to pull out the water hose. Been awhile and our temps were in high 90's then and blossoms started dropping off from heat and humidity.

There only two ways I could stop it here.

1. Top all my plants and put plastic over top of greenhouse area ( it open now since plants too tall) and hand water everyday or

2. Do what I had to do last year with some plants when hurricane season was on, which it is now. I took cheap black plastic bags and wrapped it loosely around top of pot, down the sides and away from the stems. Then when I watered, I just help hose in open area by stem. Now when it rained it was sort of a pain, as I would have to go out and tip the pots all a little bit to remove built up water from rains, but it worked. It saved my plants and they out grew the BER.

I'm scouting twice a day and pulling any tomatoes I see even starting with BER. I do know if this keeps up, it gonna be a lean year for fruits.

I've even thought about taking my hair dryer out and using it on the pots to try and dry the containers out. Especially these heirlooms, they don't seem to like being always with soggy roots.

[QUOTE=Starlight;648227]I forget where the link is here now and my puter to much of a turtle to search for Carolyn's big discussion on BER. After reading here thread post, I learned that it comes from uneven watering and too much water.[/QUOTE]

This link is for Carolyn Male about BER, it's not from here on TV, although I know it exists somewhere because I also read that. It is a physiological problem that is supposed to go away. It can also be caused by uneven water delivery. I water when needed, sometimes daily with this heat we are having here. Mine hasn't seemed to slow down at all and I have tested my mix, it seems to be right where it should be.

Carolyn on BER

[URL]http://www.webgrower.com/information/carolyn_ber.html[/URL]

I don't grow any Roma or any paste type tomatoes anymore. They always get BER and it's too much trouble for me. Other tomatoes work just fine for sauce, especially Big Beef and it almost never gets BER.

[QUOTE=Rockporter;648214]I'm in the same boat with BER in most of my maters, even the top ones. I have probably tossed about 50% of my Roma's over the season.[/QUOTE]

You can blame it on rain, but Roma is prone to BER.
Roma and San Marzano have been the only ones that I have experienced BER with. That was almost a decade ago and have not grown the again : NO BER in my garden.

Most BER cases happen in container growing, where/when there is wide moisture fluctuation. It is not due to the lack of Ca. Carolyn has discussed it in detail many times.

[QUOTE=Gardeneer;648304]You can blame it on rain, but Roma is prone to BER.
Roma and San Marzano have been the only ones that I have experienced BER with. That was almost a decade ago and have not grown the again : NO BER in my garden.

Most BER cases happen in container growing, where/when there is wide moisture fluctuation. It is not due to the lack of Ca. Carolyn has discussed it in detail many times.[/QUOTE]

Ok, I never said it had anything to do with Ca.

And I just came in from picking, I have 39 tossed with BER and I get to keep 21 tomatoes. :x

BER happens here when we have too much rain. The larger tomatoes get it, but even cherry tomatoes can have BER and concentric ring. I haven't seen catfacing on cherry tomatoes.

Yeah, elongated tomatoes are notorious for getting BER. I think there are a few types that aren't as susceptible. [URL="http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Heidi"]Heidi[/URL] is supposed to be one of them.

Most of my BER has shown up when I would go on vacation for two weeks and we would have a rainy spell--too much rain and all my nutrients washed out of my containers.

The past few years right before we left I gave all my plants a heavy top dressing of Tomato Tone and I would come home to healthier plants and a lot less BER. When we're home I can stay on top of things with regular feedings of Texas Tomato Food, and our new Wifi irrigation controller skips watering if we have rain.

[QUOTE=Father'sDaughter;648344]Most of my BER has shown up when I would go on vacation for two weeks and we would have a rainy spell--too much rain and all my nutrients washed out of my containers.

The past few years right before we left I gave all my plants a heavy top dressing of Tomato Tone and I would come home to healthier plants and a lot less BER. When we're home I can stay on top of things with regular feedings of Texas Tomato Food, and our new Wifi irrigation controller skips watering if we have rain.[/QUOTE]

Now I see. You grow in containers. You are Italian American and perhaps grow Roma and San Marzano ??
Double jeopardy :))

[QUOTE=Gardeneer;648355]Now I see. You grow in containers. You are Italian American and perhaps grow Roma and San Marzano ??
Double jeopardy :))[/QUOTE]



It was mostly my dwarf project varieties growing in containers that were the hardest hit. The in-ground plants--pastes, beefsteaks, and hearts faired much better.

We are seeing it this year in varieties that I've never seen it in.

Jaune Flamme and a few of our round salad sized have been victims this year, in addition to the usual suspects. Luckily, it didn't affect all of the fruit in any cluster.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[QUOTE=Father'sDaughter;648344]Most of my BER has shown up when I would go on vacation for two weeks and we would have a rainy spell--too much rain and all my nutrients washed out of my containers.

The past few years right before we left I gave all my plants a heavy top dressing of Tomato Tone and I would come home to healthier plants and a lot less BER. When we're home I can stay on top of things with regular feedings of Texas Tomato Food, and our new Wifi irrigation controller skips watering if we have rain.[/QUOTE]

I was wondering about giving mine an extra dose of TT. They are due for their normal two week feeding on Sunday, but with the tropical storm rains the past two days and two or three more days of non stop rain, I was wondering if feeding them would help at all with BER.

It depends a lot on how the plant makes the transition from vegetative to production.
If the plant grows too much mass before making fruit the chances of BER are highly increased. Besides feeding, this overgrowth can be caused by weather early on, too cloudy, no hot days, etc.

[QUOTE=zipcode;648630]It depends a lot on how the plant makes the transition from vegetative to production.
If the plant grows too much mass before making fruit the chances of BER are highly increased. Besides feeding, this overgrowth can be caused by weather early on, too cloudy, no hot days, etc.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for that bit of information. Learned something new about BER. :D

I haven't had BER in my raised bed, but loose a few every year in container plants. I blame it on inconsistent watering. I have been very consistent so far this year and have pulled 12 with BER that were half dollar sized from 4 plants. I wish I didn't lose any, but I don't consider that excessive.

[QUOTE=SteveP;649351]I haven't had BER in my raised bed, but loose a few every year in container plants. I blame it on inconsistent watering. I have been very consistent so far this year and have pulled 12 with BER that were half dollar sized from 4 plants. I wish I didn't lose any, but I don't consider that excessive.[/QUOTE]

Steve, that is more often is the case with BER.
One solution is to use a much bigger pot so it won't dry out as fast. Other solution is to have some kind of drip system. Heavily mulching the top of soil can also help reduce moisture loss. But it has to be real thick, 2 to 3" of bark, pine straw, ..

[QUOTE=Gardeneer;649356]Steve, that is more often is the case with BER.
One solution is to use a much bigger pot so it won't dry out as fast. Other solution is to have some kind of drip system. Heavily mulching the top of soil can also help reduce moisture loss. But it has to be real thick, 2 to 3" of bark, pine straw, ..[/QUOTE]

They are in 30 gallon containers (2 plants per container). A drip system is definately needed as well as the mulch. I thought about moving them where they would go into shade around 3pm instead of 6pm. They would begin getting sun about 7am.

I had 3 San Marzano in containers last summer. 2 had BER early but lined out and made nice toms later. But 1 was constant BER all season. I just left it produce, sprayed with neem, and wound up with toms that had the BER lesion but small and could be cut off. Generally it didn't open, didn't extend very high, and I could cut the bad end off and use the rest of the tom for sauce. Just saying. ymmv

I've posted this link many times, but BER has always been asked about in the disease Forum,not in General Discussion,and no,it's not a disease.

Perhaps this migh thelp,from Victory Seeds when Mike Dunton asked me to write it.

[url]http://www.webgrower.com/information/carolyn_ber.html[/url]

Not much has changed since I wrote that article and it's still a multi-million dollar problem for commercial growers since BER also can affect squash and peppers and so much more.

Carolyn, edited to add I can't remember if I also discussed internal BER where there are no external symptoms,but cut open the fruits and the interior is black.

In smaller containers or any container for that matter I sink the drain holes up in the soil.
By doing this I can come home from work in extreme heat and my plants are still as happy as a clam but I water them anyway.
My biggest fear was BER and I dont have one sign of it at all.
Right now I am the only person on the street that doesn't have dried up tomato plants in containers.
If you live in an area that permits this like no nematodes or soil problems I highly suggest it.

The 5-1-1 dude says its all but imp-ossible to avoid BER in containers but that it will usually straighten out by itself

[QUOTE=bigpinks;649584]The 5-1-1 dude says its all but imp-ossible to avoid BER in containers but that it will usually straighten out by itself[/QUOTE]
Who is the 5-1-1 dude?:lol:
Worth

Try adding calcium by spraying on a sheet with some calcium-based product. With us for this purpose sells Wuxal. I regularly spray spice tomatoes with this product every two weeks. Spraying with 0.5% calcium lactate solution can also be used.
Vladimír

If you think it is RALLY the calcium deficiency, there is a simple home made solution. It is not the Old Wives story, it is scientific. It is possible to have Calcium in the soil but not in a form that is readily available for the plant's uptake:
Here is the home brew :

-- Save your eggshells.
-- Wash and let them dry up real good.
-- Hand crush and put it in your coffee mill, grind it to fine powder. This can speed up the chemical process in the next step.
--- Put the powder in a container, like a tall gall, or bigger one of you are processing large quantity.
--- Add good old household vinegar to it. Distilled vinegar is just fine.( about One TBS per 2 eggshells).
You will immediately see the action with your eyes. Heavy bubbling and release of CO2.
-- Stir now and then and let it continue. As the amount of Calcium Carbonate ( in eggshells) diminishes, the chemical action will slow down , even if there is still some vinegar left intact.
FINAL PRODUCT: will be still almost 95% H2O and about 5% CALCIUM ACETATE. Give or take a percent or too. This is not a chemistry science lab to be exact.
In the Calcium Acetate , Calcium is in Ca++ form and it is ready for the plants.

How much to apply ? Not too much. Calcium is just a trace element..Add 2 to 3 TBS per gallon of water.

Q: WHAT IF I ADDED TOO MUCH OR TOO LITTLE VINEGAR TO THE EGGSHELLS?
A: Relx ! If you added some extra amount of vinegar, the final product will contain some vinegar ( that is acetic acid, to be exact ). When you dilute the solution and use it, that amount will be negligible to lower the soil pH.
If you added too little vinegar, still some of the Calcium Carbonate (eggshell) will be intact . No worries it will precipitate anyway, with other impurities. After all people mix lots eggshells into soil AND NOTHING HAPPENS.
BTW: I am now brewing some myself. I had about 8 eggshells at hand. And I added about 6 oz of distilled vinegar to it.
Let me check how it is doing!
Going great . And lots of CO2 bubbles formed on top.
Here is a picture for your viewing pleasure.