This is the time of the gardening season to be looking over your tomatoes for blossom end rot.  It is caused by a lack of calcium.  When your tomatoes are growing rapidly, sufficient amounts of calcium fail to reach the end of the fruit  resulting in a calcium deficiency of calcium in the developing fruit.

 

Blossom end rot begins as a small, water soaked spot.  The spot develops into a dark brown, leathery area on the bottom end of the fruit.  The surface of the spot shrinks and becomes flattened or sunken.  This disorder is most severe following fluctuations in soul moisture(either too wet or dry).  This growing season has sure been one to be wet.  We have had 11 inches of rain this month.  That is a sure way to have blossom end rot.  If there was any kind of nutrition in the soil, it was washed away.

 

The best solution for this problem is to use calcium nitrate.  Use 1 tablespoon per each plant.  Apply to the root growing area of the plant avoiding direct contact with the plant.  Do not apply within 2 inches of the plant stem and water in.  Repeat every 2 to 3 weeks.  Calcium nitrate may burn plants, especially if made in the direct sun during the hotter parts of the day.  Do your application in the coolest part of the day.  Don’t apply to plants under stress condition.

(Mitzi Thomas owns Minden Farm & Garden LLC. Watch for her column on Fridays in Webster Parish Journal.)