Its all most always the watering. The variations in wetness. Very hard to maintain at an even condition in containers. I have the same problem.

I'm aware that it's the watering a lot of the time, which I'm worried about because I was quite regular! But is there some little extra precaution I could do to do to prevent BER?

It's different than just watering. You must maintain a sufficient moisture content for the roots. Whenever there's a temporary slow down of water distribution in the plant, the calcium, even if absorbed, doesn't get to the end of the line -- the bottom of the tomato.

But is there some little extra precaution I could do to do to prevent BER?

Yes. Don't grow in containers. ;)

Seriously, if you MUST use containers then use much larger ones - 10 gallons and up. You don't mention the size you used. That info would be helpful as it may well be the primary cause of your problem. Also very important info is the type/brand of soil-less mix used to fill your containers.

Beyond that, as jean said, it isn't watering "regularly" that is the issue. Very "irregular" watering is often needed with containers to maintain consistent soil moisture levels.

Dave

OK

I grow toms in 18 gal Self Watering Containers. The Celebrity tomatoes do great until about 1/2 ripe, then the ends start shriveling. The ends are not brown like the BER I am familiar with.

Dolomite lime was put in the mix at the start of the season. Watering is by automatic irrigation and the reservoir is never empty. The only variation is the temperature difference between night and day.

Any other theories?

Thanks, Rick

Hey Rick,

I could very easily be the temperatures. Or any number of factors....

Carolyn137 wrote an excellent response to a question about Blossom End Rot (BER) and I am quoting it here:

With BER there is NO problem with absorption of Ca++ though the roots. The problem is maldistribution within the plant that can be induced by a number of stresses which include uneven delivery of water, too much N, growing in too rich soil, too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry you name it.

As the plants mature they can better handle the streses that can induce BER so usually it goes away.

The two exceptions are first, if the soil has NO Ca++ as confirmed with a soil test, and that's a rare condition, and second, if the soil is too acidic in which Case Ca++ is bound in the soil.

Again, adding lime, egg shells and on and on can not and will not prevent BER b'c absorption of Ca++ thru the roots is OK.

Paste tomatoes are especially susceptible to BER and I think someone in a post above mentioned that.

If you go to the top of this first page and click on the FAQ link and scroll down you'll also find an article about BER in case some of you have never looked at the FAQ's And there's some darn good articles there as well, but I wouldn't pay any attention to the variety list b'c it's way out of date.

The old information about BER being caused solely by lack of soil Ca++ has been shown to be wrong with research that's been done in the last 20 years or so, but it's going to take another generation before the real story gets into books, websites, magazines, etc. Most of the better websites already have the correct information.

BER affects not only tomatoes, but peppers, squash, cabbage, cauliflower, etc., and it's a huge multimillion dollar problem for the industry, which is WHY all that reasearch was done. For instance, when tissues were taken from a plant that has BER fruits and was assayed for Ca++, the normal level of Ca++ was found, it just wasn't getting to the blossom end of fruits. And there's also a condition called internal BER where the fruits look fine, no evidence of BER externally, but when you cut open the fruit the inside is black

Hope that helps

Betsy