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Grittyville, WA

Should be a lot of calcium on my biggest set and no BER on that plant yet but saw my first couple of BERs on another otherwise healthy plant so I was worried I used water too cold or something. Thinking like a wannabe pumpkin grower and thinking the guys who get good results with their pumpkins frequently use fans... Long story short there is a fan on my tomato.
Its soon going to look like its on vacation in the Carribbean...

7/23/2019 11:54:21 PM

Grittyville, WA

Let me know what you think. Should we be using fans?
Or... just nonsense?

7/23/2019 11:56:47 PM

Lebanon, Oregon

I’m starting to think sudden deluges of water are more of a factor in BER than anything. I did overhead watering the last two years I think I was 50% BER. Using drip lines with consistent watering on a timer seems to have helped . No signs of BER this year. Hey, if you can pull a 5 pounder plus healthy tomato from this then we’ll know the fan worked!

7/24/2019 1:40:02 AM

Grittyville, WA

Yeah I think cold water especially shuts the roots down. Dang I am flirting with disaster. Glad drip is helping you... I think tomatoes is one of the best crops for drip.

7/24/2019 2:33:26 AM

Grittyville, WA

I hope the transpiration aided by the fan (and not getting the foliage wet) will move calcium. Another trick would be to use blue light to get the stomata to open. The stomata close at night. Blue light triggers them to open. So maybe running the fan at night is pointless if the stomata are closed. The dull green of the early sets may indicate there is more air permeability. I wont go further into it-- late night rambling-- but food for thought. They seem to get BER at the transition to the more glossy look. Maybe the gloss is air-impermeable and messes up transpiration, and hence calcium levels. And so yeah-- if a fan could help is anyone's guess.

7/24/2019 3:01:56 AM

Grittyville, WA

Note: I wouldnt advise tricking the plants with blue light other than some days in Western Washington are so cloudy the plants may not fully realize its daytime. So the trick is just to keep them on a normal cycle. The cloudy days here are like a fall/winter gloom in July--unfortunately this may set them off a bit off track.

7/24/2019 3:20:50 AM

Savage, MN

Yes if you don't have consistent watering BER can be a major problem. Calcium, so ive heard, is not the main cause to BER.

7/24/2019 9:32:31 AM

Grittyville, WA

Well... it's fluctuations in calcium i think. This can be caused by excess ammonium and maybe potassium, lack of transpiration, and root/ calcium/ water uptake & expense issues. That's my understanding. Open to learning more...

7/24/2019 11:16:00 AM

Eastern Shore of VA

I generally see BER within the first 10 days of fruit set.
After that I’ve never had a problem.

7/24/2019 9:11:35 PM