Calcium Nitrate to Fight BER??

[rnewste]

Dewayne,

Sorry to hear about the BER, but I hope the vigorous plant production outweighs it. How about posting a few photos of your 'Tainer patch?

I am going to start my Calcium Nitrate treatment on a pair of Goose Creek plants next week. Seems they were the most affected last Season. I will not treat another pair, as a comparison to monitor relative BER development.

Raybo

[Dewayne mater]

Ray:
I've been meaning to do that...will do, but it will this weekend before I get the chance unfortunately. My "patch" consists only of 3 earthtainers and 1 earth box (with one black cherry plant in it.) So, small time indeed, but that is why I'm pretty obsessive about it!

[amideutch]

Dewayne, last thing you want to do is let your reservoir dry up and stress the plant from lack of water. Stress is a major contributor in the development of BER. If they are getting major sun all day maybe you could fabricate a canopy made of Greenhouse shade cloth to put over them. Ami

[Dewayne mater]

Thanks Ami...I know I'm not supposed to run them out of water...I just got surprised as I had been watering about 2 times a week and on the 3rd day, one of the tainers went dry. Now I'm watering every other day to make sure that doesn't happen. Though it is probably unrelated, that tainer that went dry is the one tainer that hasn't experienced much BER. I suspect that is variety related as it has a black cherry and an Indian Stripe in it. I have some shade cloth, I just need to figure out how to install it in this new location. Weather guesser man is calling for 98 on Monday, so I need to shaded before that!

[amideutch]

If you can get your tainers in a line you could drive a pole into the ground at each end and run a rope/cable from the top of one pole to the top of the other and drape the shade cloth over it and secure it to the ground kind of like an 'A' frame. Like making a tent with a blanket by draping it over a clothes line. Ami

[Dewayne mater]

I think the issue may have been a lot of heat in a short amount of time, combined with very rapid growth and heavy fruit set. Our temps went from 70s and 80s to to 95 plus overnight. That plus very high humdity with night time "cooling" down to upper 70s and we now have 100 plus forecast for several days is not good for man, beast or tomatoes!

I have taken a few steps, mostly those suggested by Ami and Ray which appear to have greatly slowed the problem, which had been getting worse by the day. One, I suspended shade cloth 50% block over them. (Pictures to come, taken, but not uploaded yet...but think urban garden) Two, I put the containers on top of 2x4s to get them up off the hot driveway and allow the air to circulate under them. Three, on every water refill, I have included either calcium/magnesium liquid fertilizer (posted above, used at a 19% rate of calcium) or the calcium plus another product that is a liquid tomato fertilizer with Ca, N, P and K. Four, I moved the tainers to an area that gets full shade from the roof by 5 (hottest part of our day is 5-6) and I think gets better air circulation.

I don't know that the problem is licked as I've still plucked some BER fruit, but, there is improvement with these efforts. The canary in the coalmine test for me is the Stupice plant. I picked at least 2 dozen BER fruit from it, but over the last few days, when I have checked it, I've found only one more BER affected fruit. Moreover, it continues to produce at an astounding rate and has dozens of new fruit on the way. I only wish I like the taste better! (Maybe bloody butcher or Kimberly next year for my early).

More good news is that Goose Creek has set a few new fruit and so far so good. I'm hopeful some or all of those will make it to harvest, because prior to doing this, all fruit on GC ended up with BER. I did ultimately lose a few black and brown boar and Indian Stripe to BER, but the problem was very minor with those, so I think some varities must be more susceptible to this problem than others.

I'm extremely greatful for all of the advice, and I know that had I not taken this advice, I had a great chance of losing everything. Thank you.

[rnewste]

I have started my Calcium Nitrate treatment on one EarthTainer containing a pair of Goose Creek plants, plus a Brandywine plant. As the Goose Creek were the most affected by BER last Season, I thought this 'Tainer would be a good test bed:



I am taking one Tablespoon of the concentrated Calcium Nitrate granules and placing in a quart watering can, dissolving them for about 30 minutes:



I am then pouring about 20% of the solution as a soil drench, with the remaining 80% being poured down the filler tube. As there are about 5 gallons of water in the reservoir at any one time, this should dilute the solution accordingly. I am not sure that I should be doing the soil drench portion, as I have a concern that this high of a concentration might negatively impact the roots. Any advice on this operation is appreciated.

I plan to repeat this process every 15 days, and monitor BER development vs the 3 "control" EarthTainers which are not receiving the Calcium Nitrate "snack". Stay tuned.......

Raybo

[amideutch]

Ray, the soil drench will make the calcium and nitrogen almost immediately available to the roots and the the reservoir addition will become available later on. I would dilute the solution given as a soil drench. Only one drench should be needed initially and after that add to the reservoir periodically as you are planning. As you said the 5 gal reservoir will dilute the solution added to it. Ami

[rnewste]

Thanks Ami, I will cease the soil drench portion from here on out, and put 100% of it in the filler tube to the water reservoir commencing June 15. 24 hours later after the initial soil drench and reservoir treatment, the plants continue to look healthy.

Raybo

[Dewayne mater]

Ok, at long last I have uploaded pictures taken last weekend. As i said, think "urban" as I used a basketball goal to support one end of the shade cloth. As you can see, I space challenged and having to grow on concrete, since my house is currently being dug up all around the perimeter to fix the foundation. (Piles of dirt are in some pics).

I've tried to compensate for the extreme heat we've had, and which is multiplied by the concrete, by raising the tainers up onto two by fours and supplying shade cloth. Today I bought some cheap bamboo shades that I will wrap around the tainer bases to keep the sun from hitting them directly as they have been heating up a lot. Right now I'm going through water at quite a clip (basically full refill every other day).

The good news is I've pulled serveral ripe, big Indian Stripes and have a few more coming, and Stupice is ridiculously prolific, and only ok tasting. Black and brown boar has set well and tastes great, with only a little BER. Poor Goose Creek seems intent on getting BER no matter what my efforts. I've been doing every refill with a calcium supplement (liquid) and a general tomato liquid fertilizer too. So, I'm hoping shading the base of the tainers will help by not causing the roots to get hot, but who knows? Maybe it isn't a good tainer tomato when its 99 and 40% humidity.

[amideutch]

Looking good Dewayne. Glad to hear your production has increased and BER has decreased. You can always get a soil thermometer and insert it in one of your Tainers to see what the temperature of the aggregate is. This is also a good example of what people can do also in wet climates to help keep their plants dry thus keeping disease at bay. Ami

[rnewste]

Dewayne,

Good to see your plants are green from bottom to top!!

After my initial Calcium Nitrate "snack" given to the Goose Creek in EarthTainer "D" and observing the growth of them over the past few days, today I went around and gave most of my other 'Tainers that are not in the A, B, C Fertilizer trials the "snack" also.

I do not want to get out in front of my headlights here, but very early growth results in EarthTainer "D" look really encouraging. BER assessment will have to wait a few weeks as the GC are only about golf-ball size at the moment.

Raybo

[rnewste]

For some reason, my posts on this Thread keep messing up.

When I have some updated photos of my Calcium Nitrate "snack" treatment in a few days, I will start a new Thread. Preliminary results look promising re: increased growth.

Sorry.

Raybo

[Timmah!]

For the sake of accuracy of conclusions, has anyone determined the calcium levels in their growing media as compared to optimal concentration to see if there is a lack of calcium.

What I'm wondering is if one has adequate calcium levels in the media, the variable that might be improving the situation and ameliorating the BER may be time. As the plant grows it is better able to handle stresses causing the BER and one would be misled to think that it is the addition of Calcium that is cause. This is assuming that calcium levels are at optimal concentrations to begin with. Would be interesting for control plants and media to test the situation.

[rnewste]

Timmah,

Do you have any control test in mind? You seem pretty knowledgeable in this area.

Today, after observing 12 inches of growth on the plants in the one EarthTainer I gave the "snack" to just one week ago, I did the same treatment to all of my other 'Tainers. I have never had plants so green and vigorous.

I am sure the 15-0-0 (plus 19% Ca.) is a significant factor here, but frankly, I saw no downside to giving all of them the "snack" now. I do have some green NARX developing with BER so I felt it was worth the effort to see what will happen.

Raybo