General discussion regarding the techniques and methods used to successfully grow tomato plants in containers.
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April 3, 2013 | #16 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Cypress, TX
Posts: 963
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I grow most of my 50 to 60 plants in 5 gal and under pots, self watering containers, and home made earthtainers. In my experience, the prime cause of BER is irregular watering and drought stress. Paste tomatoes always have some BER for me. Salad and large varieties may have BER early in the season but then it goes away. I've added Dolomitic Limestone this year to my new potting mix for the new containers and the supplement for the existing containers. We will see if this helps.
MikeInCypress
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April 21, 2013 | #17 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Hicksville, New York
Posts: 503
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Quote:
Add the calcium supplement early. Once the tomato forms and you see a discoloration on the green tomato, you lost the battle for that one tomato |
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April 24, 2013 | #18 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 252
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Self watering containers are new to me. Do they keep the soil moist/wet at all times or does it ever get a chance to partially dry out?
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April 28, 2013 | #19 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: SW PA
Posts: 160
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Use dolomite lime to get your trace elements as well. This will prevent BER.
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May 2, 2013 | #20 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Freeport, Texas
Posts: 134
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Quote:
Tomato plants are voracious feeders. They will strip a 5gal bucket in no time. You have to keep the food coming and don't stop. In fact, a 5gal bucket is short-changing a tomato plant. That size pot just can't keep up with a 7' tall plant loaded with fruit. Give that rootzone 15-20 gallons, proper nutrition and consistent water, and watch what happens. Your BER is more than likely caused by a lack of immediately available calcium. Lime doesn't release Ca quickly enough, especially once BER has set in. I'm not here to simply hawk our fertilizers, but if you just used a properly formulated fertilizer with calcium, you would stand a good chance of never seeing BER again, or very rarely. This assumes consistent watering. Best regards,
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May 2, 2013 | #21 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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I was going to quote everything that was said above.
But it would be a waste of space. I simply couldn't agree more with what was said. In containers tomatoes or any other high energy plant will suck them dry of nutrition in no time. Where I can get away with one or two applications in a year you will have to do many in a growing season. You also have to be careful watering and not wash out fertilizer. This is done by not allowing the soil to totally dry out and water just enogh to keep it moist. Worth |
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