I totally agree. It's not the lack of calcium in the soil that causes BER. It's the ability of the plant's roots to absorb calcium. And there are several factors that reduce or even stop this. I don't know the right order, but they are: high temperature of the soil, excess of nitrogen, excess of potassium and perhaps also sodium. There may be some more that I am not aware of.
What makes me say so? I used to add finely ground dolomite in my pot mixture and it didn't help when the weather was really hot. Then a colder year came and lo and behold, no BER in my plants (tomatoes and peppers). And that year I stopped adding any calcium in the soil. Now I know I have to shade my containers so that they don't get overheated. I'll see what happens. And I also noticed that cherry tomatoes never suffered from BER. Only the bigger ones, most notably beefsteaks.
Milan HP
|