If you could get a postcard from your tomatoes, this is what it might say…

Many people still believe that blossom end rot on tomatoes is caused by a lack of calcium. It’s actually caused by stress to young tomato plants, and that is usually from uneven or inadequate watering. Many people hand-water their tomatoes and this is usually not adequate – when you hand water, you’re only getting a small area around the stem wet instead of watering the entire bed as a rainfall would do. If some of the roots are wet and others remain dry, or if the plant isn’t able to grow into surrounding soil because it’s not damp, that tomato plant will be stressed. Wind and fluctuating temperatures (hot for a couple of days, cool for the next few) can also lead to the stress that causes blossom end rot.

The good news is that usually blossom end rot only appears on the first few fruits. Once the plants are larger, better established and have good root systems, the fruit is less likely to develop BER.  

Take it from your favorite home crop…put the eggshells in your compost and save the Epsom salt for soaking your feet at the end of a gardening day.

The goal is many tomatoes, of all sizes and colors. To get there, water the entire bed deeply less often and spray every 10 days to 2 weeks with an organic fungicide to discourage early blight.