Give it time. As long as there is some source of calcium in the mix, the BER is due to genetic/environmental factors you are not likely able to control.

Most of the time it passes on it's own.

Thank God really hot, hot sauce does, too.

Al

Yes, that is true Al. However when really hot hot sauce passes it tends to be just as hot exiting as it was entering.

I really enjoy what almost everyone would consider insanely hot sauces and dishes, and I have an honest-to-God remedy for 'afterburn' that allows you to indulge in the hottest of the hot, and you'll wonder (well, maybe not) why you never thought of it, but I'll only share via email.

Sorry for getting off track, Anna. I hope you'll forgive. ;o)

Al

aaaaaaaa, I get the impression that the problem is with tomatoes only, in earthboxes only. Therefore a condition with the earthbox is inferred. Unless a different variety of tomatoes is in the earthbox; this adds another variable. Here is what I found
"Studies of Ca uptake and distribution in relation to environmental variables were used to relate Ca status of tomato fruit to blossom-end rot (BER) incidence. Ca uptake was highly correlated with solar radiation and root temperature. The rate of Ca uptake decreased linearly with increasing salinity. High humidity reduced Ca import by the leaves but increased that by the fruit. While total plant dry weight was reduced more than fruit dry weight by salinity, total Ca uptake and the Ca content of the fruit were decreased similarly. Thus, the concentration of calcium in the fruit was substantially reduced by salinity. The distal half of the fruit contained less Ca than the proximal half. The lowest %Ca was found in the distal placenta and locular tissues, where BER first develops". At the site
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=3755641
It will not hurt to look at the fertilizer analysis with specific reference to Ca & Mg and to the medium itself for salinity level (and temperature!).
You will have concluded by now that I am an advocate of 'Murphy's Laws', especially these two.
"If left to themselves, things always go from bad to worse."
"Mother Nature always sides with the hidden flaw."

The technical info is covered many times over on the forum, but of course not on this thread, so it's good info. Normally, I wouldn't even offer a comment, but I liked the "Mother Nature always sides with the hidden flaw." very much, which is true of course, and plays right into the application of Leibig's Law of the Minimum. I'll probably use that one from time to time. ;o)

Basically, two things can cause BER. One is an actual shortage of Ca in the soil or irrigation water. The other, more a group than anything singular, is anything that disrupts the flow of the nutrient stream (high humidity [low transpiration rates], dull weather, wet/anaerobic soil conditions, high/low soil temperatures, ...) or makes it chemically difficult/impossible for the plant to assimilate Ca (too much Mg in the soil, low pH, fertilizers with high concentrations of ammonia [blood meal, ammonium nitrate], and fertilizers with a high K concentration [coir has extremely high K levels]) covers most possibilities.

Al

On the Earthbox forum they recommend 2 solutions to this- a one time treatment with hydrated lime or a teaspoon of calcium nitrate in a gallon of water per week. I'm trying the 2nd one. SO far I have BER on a few Enchantments (plums) which are highly susceptible to BER. I ordered some Calcium nitrate to use

It's not likely to work. You can find hundreds of BER "cures". What they all have in common is that BER tends to cure itself. So folks get BER, try a cure, and a week or two later their plants are loaded with non rotting fruits.

Guess what the person thereafter swears by for life ;)

It's like standing on a busy street corner and waiting for the crossing light. Often there is a button on a street sign that one can push to 'make' the light allow crossing. Imagine that button isn't wired to anything (it's my understanding that often they aren't), it's just there to make impatient people feel like they are doing something. Sooner or later the light switches anyway.

Since it's not going to hurt anything and the gardener that recommended it has been using EBs for years, I'll give it a try -do you use an EB juta guy?

Yes. Have been using them for years. I am well aware of what the EB folks commonly advise people to do and I have had a couple 'behind the scenes' as well as public (in their forums) discussions with them on their advise, particularly as it pertains to lime.

These days I just leave them alone as I recognize that EBs are primarily marketed toward a demographic that wants things simple, clear and easy to understand. Not the 'tinkering, gotta know every last detail about how, when, why' group.

You are correct that if you follow their instructions you won't harm anything.

What I am trying to point out is that there are many, many 'tricks' to cure BER out there and none of them work. There are many fans of each 'trick' and it's because they have fallen into a hard to escape trap.

They do something, BER goes away and they conclude the something they did is the reason.

Had those folks simply waited a bit they likely would have found it go away on it's own.

Sometimes the hardest thing for folks to do is to do nothing.

.... and when you start adding singular elements, or compounds aimed specifically at supplying a singular element (CaNO3 or CaCO3 for the Ca content) w/o consideration for it's effect on the availability of other elements, it's very easy to get into more trouble than you had to start with. E.g., adding Ca w/o adding Mg can upset the balance between Ca and Mg (and in some cases, K), making Mg (and even K) unavailable. They prolly don't tell you that on the Earthbox label cuz it's too scary and confusing. ;o)

Al

I just removed the BER fruits. Will wait and watch before adding any chemical. It is sad to see defected fruits though.

Did you mix your own soil?

Al

No. When I bought the EB--I got potting mix, fertz and other accessories as a package.

Al said: ".... and when you start adding singular elements, or compounds aimed specifically at supplying a singular element (CaNO3 or CaCO3 for the Ca content) w/o consideration for it's effect on the availability of other elements, it's very easy to get into more trouble than you had to start with. E.g., adding Ca w/o adding Mg can upset the balance between Ca and Mg (and in some cases, K), making Mg (and even K) unavailable. They prolly don't tell you that on the Earthbox label cuz it's too scary and confusing. ;o)"

It's not the EB folks telling the people to put in the lime. It's just members of the forum, like you and me. One of the people is adamant that this works. So, everyone does it.

To echo what's been said, in years past, I've had BER in my first few tomatoes now and then. It's always passed on its own. Most times I don't have it, other times I do. Some varieties seem hit harder. I do feel I have it more frequently now that I use the EBs. Not sure why, but it seems to be so. (And that's not a scientific measure, so it means little. I just don't remember getting it very often at all when I gardened in ground, using lovely organic soil.)

Do you know if there was already lime in the soil, or if there was lime in the fertilizer, and what kind of lime it was?

BTW - I can't ever remember recommending the addition of either CaCO3 OR CaNO3 as a source of Ca, though I do remember describing how to use a supernatant of Ca(OH)2 to supply it safely, but that was when I was talking to a member from a country where dolomitic lime was unavailable.

BTW - one reason you often get BER in early crops is because your bagged/baled soil might have been dry when you got it, or because you mixed your own. Under these conditions, the lime would not have completed its reactive phase and would not have been available because there was no residual fraction.

Al

EB suggests adding dolomite (and I think ships it with some kits) to every box. My guess is that if fert was included, aaaaaaaa had the dolomite lime and used it.

I was actually asking aaaaaaaa, so we could eliminate some of the guesswork.

Al

lathyrus_odoratus is right--I added dolomite lime--this came as a package (kit) along with the EB.

Also followed EB's instruction step by step to plant my Tom's seedlings. As this is my first EB.

So the dolomitic lime was part of the package and you added it when you planted, or immediately before - right? Did you incorporate the lime or use it in a strip on top of the soil?

Al

I follwed the instruction manual from the EB. I incorporated the lime. I made strip out of fertilizer.

From the time you incorporate dolomitic lime into a moist soil, it takes about 2 weeks for the lime to bring the pH high enough so there is a residual fraction of the Ca component AVAILABLE to plants. It's like Alka Seltzer - you can gulp down the water as soon as the tablet starts fizzing, but you don't get much of the good stuff. You need to wait until the reaction is completed before you can realize a benefit. That's why I often mention it's better if you make your soils, moisten them, and allow them to rest for 2 weeks before you plant in them.

Al

Yes, Al, I realized you were asked aaaaaa. I could pretty well read between the lines because I've done exactly what s/he has.

I was very disappointed in my Earthbox tomatoes this year (2 plants/1 box).

It was a new box. I followed all the recommended prep (garden lime and fertilizer strip). But I had both BER and blight. I threw away many early tomatoes that had BER (and have kept some that seemed to develop it later - I am perfectly willing to salvage half a tomato, when appropriate), but even when BER largely went away, the plants developed blight (early or late? I have no idea).

I'm pretty close to pulling the plants and planting a fall crop of some sort (spinach most likely). This is in contrast to my raised bed tomato crop which is generally spectacular, with no BER and hints of blight, but completely manageable.

I don't want to leave the impression that I am any way anti-containers - the okra and peppers in the Earthboxes are doing spectacularly well. It is just the tomatoes that are a (partial) dud this year.

walkerjks, it's miserable to lose plants, isn't it?

I have grown in Earthboxes for about 8 years, I guess, and this year I appear to have lost a tomato either to blight or wilt. I haven't gotten it to an extension agent yet to find out. But, it's gone. It's odd because this is entirely new potting mix and I grew the plants myself. But, obviously things can get around anyway.

I haven't a clue as to why your plants got hit or my 1 plant did (the plant next to it is huge and productive). I can't imagine it's related to the EBs, though. While your tomatoes on the raised beds are fine, so are my tomatoes in the next EB over and even one in the same EB. Guess it's just related to what wind or insects deposit what stuff on which plants.