Hi Tom - Good question! I do lakeside gardening here on Bull Shoals Lake in AR. I have never found that lakeside gardening specifically contributes to BER. But I have only minimal, early spring, limited variety problems with it and it always goes away once the weather stabilizes. But as you say, it is a possible contributing factor because of the micro-climates it can create.

I'm on the south shore of the lake and am surrounded by the hills. It creates a micro-pocket of zone 7 equivalent for me due to the funneling of the SW wind direction and the warmer water temps. I do get the early morning fogs but also have lots of sun exposure in the garden so it dries out quickly.

What is the layout of your garden with respect to the dominant breeze, sun exposure, and lake temps?

Dave

All those are good questions. First and foremost I should tell you I am in the shade of about 12 huge oaks... great for my shade loving flowers, but horrendous for growing my beloved tomatoes. So, the ONLY sunny spot was next to the front door - I ripped out all the bushes and shrubs and created a raised bed there. Curb appeal means nothing. Although, I think a garden looks beautiful, so... I've created a nice spot for tomato growing. Sunniest and driest spot in the yard. And I can't complain too much (for my first year) I have tons of beauties, 7' plants, but the BER has been an issue and shock to me... On tomatoes I've never had an issue with before.

I am on the South side of the lake. Dominant breeze would be SE, but IS somewhat protected by the house. I too get a ton of fog. I did recently have a sprinkler system put in, but forwent the garden (I've found tomatoes thrive on, well, neglect) so there's no watering there. Sun exposure is well, the best I could do - I get probably at least 6-7 hours of direct sun.

I am in zone 5, but wonder if I'm actually closer to a 6 due to my micro-climate.

I should also tell you I live on an 'environmentally friendly' lake - I don't do any fertilizing, no clearing (I'd love to cut a few of those oaks!), and we are careful due to the fact that we are lakefront in the watershed.

I used to live just a few miles from here with early BER problems that quickly went away - so this for me was a shock and I wonder if it's the lake.

May be this was just a bad year. This IS my first year here, but I fear I'm going to have problems... and wondered...

Here is a link that might be useful: http://lakeboon.com/

I'm not sure if you were referring to a post I wrote but I have never had to much trouble with BER. My problems are mostly bug related. The worst being those D@#* thrips and getting wilt.It's a really sad thing, my plants get 6/7 feet high, loaded with tomatoes and then in 2-4 days total wilt. Since you are in zone5/6 I don't think you and I would have the same issues. It's not just the lake that creates a bug problem for me but I have swamps all around me. BER is soil related, so if there has been some erosion that could be a problem. I would suggest a soil test. In the past couple of years I have been adding a lot of peat moss or compost to my garden in the spring, I think that helps with the BER. I admit to being no expert (not even close). Theresa

I live on a lake in the woods in northern Wisconsin. My property is about 20 acres of mostly natural bog with woodson either side of the bog. The bog surrounds the back of the a house about 150 away. that's where my container garden is. The lake is out front, about 300 ft from the house. Between the lake and the bog, I am surrounded by water. Can be somewhat of a bug problem at times. : )

I planted about 30+ tomato plants in 7 gallon containers using a mixture of lake muck, garden soil, and peat moss this year. This is my first gardening experience at this home, since I just moved in two years ago. I planted Early Girls, Early Goliath, Big Beef, Rutgers, and some Super Marzano's. I had a about 5-10 BER problems show up on the 16 Early Girls plants, something I've never seen before. But EVERY tomato on all my of 4 Super Marzano plants got BER. I kept pulling them off and it would grow more tomatoes full of BER and I'd pull those off and it would grow more. I added lime. I added more peat. They produced lots of green BER ridden tomatoes, but not a single good one.

Near the end of July I got so desperate to see them produce a single good fruit that I tore (very carefully) two of them out of their pots and re-potted them in Tapla's soiless mix. Two of them were left in there original containers as a control group, but all their tomatoes were also pulled at that time. These plants were 4-5 feet high during this bare root re-potting operation. Yes, they did survive, and eventually started to fruit again. There was no more BER, but I did this so late that none of them (about 15+ tomatoes on each plant) have had time to ripen yet. I pulled them into a shed when the frost hit and hope still to get some ripe fruit.

Meanwhile the control group pair continued to show heavy BER, though not as heavily as before, probably due to a shift in weather toward cooler fall days. None of them are ripe either.

The conclusion I reached is that the fast draining soiless mix eliminated the problem. It was probably a combination of high humidity, cool damp lake nights, my mucky soil, and improper watering for those conditions that made my BER problems run rampant on my Super Marzano's.

Next year I will use Tapla's mix on all my container plants. I am also thinking of using it for a raised bed or two. I have used it to plant tulip bulbs this fall and I would recommend it for your tomato garden.

If your not familiar with Al Tapla's mix do a search for it on the Container Gardening Forum. It is quite popular there.

wi-northernlight
Bob

I would try some form of it in your

Theresa - No, I don't have bug issues - YET... cross my fingers... I may just break down and do a soil test. Thanks for the suggestion.

Bob, I came from a similar situation - our old property had a natural spring - surrounded on all sides by swamp. And the BUGS!? Holey-Moley! I felt like I should own stock in OFF! Our property had WONDERFUL soil though - (the builder actually got fill from a pig farmer - not sure that's legal now!) but I grew huge healthy plants with very little BER (early spring but never more than that) and gorgeous tomatoes. I am now growing in a raised bed supplimented with natural composted materials and I've snuck in a treatment or two with a fertilizer (shhhhh!). I did the raised bed also b/c the soil there is AWFUL. I am not familiar with Taplas - I will look it up.

Tulips? You don't have trouble with Deer? The deer would sniff out a tulip bulb a mile away... Now Daffodills... I had much better luck.

Thanks to all,

Tom-

I've lived at our current location lakeside for about 30 years, and BER is rarely a problem. The few cases I've had were with paste types, and not every year (none this year) and only a couple of fruits per plant.

I think there is too much variability in soil types to generalize about lakeshore. I have one garden with a hard clay base, which has been improved over the years into raised beds, and another one further from the lake that is very sandy. BER is not more likely in either garden, in my experience. As far as air quality, though it's possible we have more humid air generated by the lake in the summer, this is offset by better ventilation and airflow because of the open expanse water really allows the wind to blast through. I grow mostly in the ground, with maybe 4-6 plants in large pots. Again, it seems the the likelihood of BER is linked more to one random plant in any season which may have a problem with a few fruits.

Tom,

The deer have to eat, too. : )

They really love the Hosta. They come right up along side the house to get it.

But as maddening as it is, we love the deer more than the Hosta or Tulips. But, yes, we also put in some Daffodils this year, so we can keep some of the flowers all summer.

Bob

Tom,

We bought a lakeside house 4 years ago in east central Ohio. I put the vegetable garden down by the lake, perhaps 10 ft. inshore and maybe 5 to 6 feet above water line. Fair to good soil, been improving with organic material and well rotted manure as I can afford or get it year to year. Have an old
sump pump sunk into the lake and can pump water up to the top of the garden whenever necessary, where it drains down to the bottom, under black plastic, to water whatever it has to whenever it refuses to rain for a while.

Best garden I ever had and I'm into this for 50 years plus!
The soil certainly can be improved with time and care, and I plan to do that, but I dreamed for years about having a drought free garden, with decent soil, that will just dependably raise good veggies. It does!!

My lake runs northwest to southeast, has all kinds of wind
blowing through it through the various seasons, but none of the obvious differences in location and microclimate seem to make much difference in terms of negatives. Best place I ever gardened, and if the lord will just be kind for a few years I will make some soil that will truly make those veggies hop!

Larry

WI Northern Light, That's right, I do recall the deer liking hosta - right when it popped up they'd munch it - thankfully I had a lot of it and it never seemed to effect the plants that much. Now I have squirrel issues - with all those oaks... I DID plant a few tulips (don't tell the squirrels) and I'm hoping they make it. the rest were all daffs.

Larry - this gives me hope... So i'll continue to amend the soil and hope for the best.

Thanks all!

Tom-