The curse of BER

[Billy]

And to add to the confusion;O) a foliar spray of epsom salts may increase calcium absorption, if the plant has a Mg++ deficiency.

[Billy]

Was this dirt, shoveled into pots, or did you use potting soil? If it was potting soil, that won't be the problem. If it was dirt, then call the local Master Gardener, or the UC Ag Extension near you, and ask about local soil.

[Paul M. Cook]

It is Sta-Green vegetable and flower planting mix. It has chunks of white calcium bits still in it so I am surprised. I was told this mix was a long lasting blend.

Paul

[David Hare-Scott]

You can overdose because dolomite will raise the pH, so it would be good to know the pH before you start. For tomatoes you are looking for pH about 6 to 6.5 IIRC. I would try about half a cup. It isn't very soluble so it will take a while to work.

David

[Billy]

Then I would say it was over watered, and the calcium was leached out. Water when the soil is dry to the top inch.

[Pat Kiewicz]

Gypsum will add calcium without shifting the pH.

[Pat Kiewicz]

Yes, varieties that were developed for growing in pots would be your best bet.

[Nelly Wensdow]

"Bill who putters" wrote

Nah, go for the brown ones. Some common brown wood-rotting mushrooms are deadly poisonous, but I can't think of a single red one. But are you saying a fungus that's growing on wood is also growing in the soil of your garden bed? Are there wood chips there or is there a lot of wood content in the soil? Wood-rotting fungi never grow on anything but wood. Either way, what you may actually have is a slime mold. Some of them will climb over just about anything in the yard.

[Pat Kiewicz]

Using gravel wastes space that could be filled with soil and roots, and it doesn't improve the drainage at all. The potting soil just above the gravel will be the most saturated part of the pot. It's all down to surface tension. The water doesn't drain out of the soil into the gravel until the entire bulk of the soil is over-saturated.

The pot should have a drainage hole to allow excess water to drain and that will be sufficient.

[Bill who putters]

In article , "Nelly Wensdow" wrote:

Small area about 1 foot square.

Are there wood chips there or is there a lot of wood content in the

No chips but rotten wood chips turned into soil about 5 years old.

Wood-rotting fungi never grow on anything but wood.

Good news!

Don't know but found this URL below .

PS

I live in a place that has a high water table currenty 13 feet below the surface and we have a dew point of 70 F. today.

"DISTRIBUTION OF FUNGI PARASITIC ON CROP PLANTS     It is scarcely necessary to discuss in detail the distribution of crop diseases. Maps are now being published (24) showing the range of many. Man has been very active in assisting nature; for example, asparagus rust was enabled to establish itself from New Jersey to California in five years.     A few pathogens are worthy of mention because they seem to illustrate principles. Puccinia Antirrhini, the rust of snapdragons, is native to a few wild Scrophulariaceae in the mountains of California. Soon after Antirrhinum majus was introduced there it was attacked and proved to be a very congenial host; the rust spread on snapdragons throughout the United States and Canada, and now occurs over much of Europe and in Egypt, Palestine and South Africa.     The original host of Synchytrium endobioticum, the cause of wart disease of potatoes, is not known. Potatoes were in general culture in Europe for about 150 years (35) before the fungus was described on them in 1896. It then spread over northern Europe and reached Newfoundland and South Africa, but its late start permitted prevention of its spread over North America.     Spongospora subterranea, another parasite of the potato, has been known for a century. It has spread far. Considerable alarm was felt in North America after it was first found in Canada in 1913, but subsequent experience demonstrated that climate almost limits it to cool regions such as those near the United States-Canada boundary in the east and west. The fungus seems to be unimportant, except perhaps at high altitudes, in Asia, Africa and South America. Possibly a consideration of the effect of climate on this and other pathogenic fungi would permit some modification of the elaborate quarantine and inspection regulations imposed by most [[p. 480]] countries. Unfortunately, we do not yet know how much faith to place in climate. Can we be sure that Claviceps purpurea will not develop in the tropics, and only in Algeria and Morocco in Africa?     Cronartium ribicola has now spread over most north temperate regions where its hosts grow, Ribes and five-needle pines in association. The same is true of many another parasite of economic plants.

*********In other words, the host is of primary importance in dissemination of parasites. It would be hard to stop nature and man in their efforts to spread pathogens, were it not that climatic and other factors are also important, and may hinder as well as favor spread."*********

[Paul M. Cook]

I water daily because the plants suck up all the water during the day. They are not overwatered. I water just until I see a little seapage from the bottom of the pots. Big plants, warm and breezy days mean a lot of transpiration.

Paul

[Paul M. Cook]

I am thinking it must be witchcraft.

Paul

[balvenieman]

Damn. Then some kind of curse is all it can be. Have you really pissed somebody off? :-)

[David Hare-Scott]

Smaller pots mean smaller root systems and smaller yields. Also smaller pots dry out more quickly and so contribute to BER by varying moisture content. Your results will be compromised depending on your soil and the susceptibility of your cultivar to BER. For those who simply don't have room for a proper garden or big tubs this may be the best result possible.

It reduces the amount of useful soil for no gain, if the soil is free draining then gravel will not make any difference.

Eggshells are calcium carbonate which is only slightly soluble in water. Eggshells, marble chips and solid limestone will dissolve much more slowly than finely divided calcium carbonate such as garden lime.

David

[Spence]

Newsgroups are a great way to dicuss topics. In this case, the topic is BER

[FarmI]

You are using pots and you admit that these dry out daily. Either take on board the message the BER comes as a result of inconsistent watering, which is what you are doing by using pots, or start planting your toms in the ground where they might have a fighting chance to avoid BER.

[Dan L.]

Warning!!! - Dolomite can be very nasty stuff to handle. Use a respirator mask! Not some simple dust mask! Dolomite can burn your soil (and your lungs) if too much is applied. I suggest a non burning form of agricultural lime. There are some forms of lime that are pelletized and much much safer (mask may OR may not be needed) and easier to use.

However, I have never heard of anyone using dolomite for pots. Like the person stated above, just use some calcium tables.

[Bill who putters]

[Tom J]

I don't know where you get that information from, but I've used dolomite limestone (ground up marble) since I was on the farm 65 years ago. We got it by the dump truck load and used broadcast spreaders to put it on the fields and nobody every had mask or gloves. Since moving to smaller property some 40 years ago, I've been buying it by the 100, then 50 & now 40 pound bag because that's the way it was/is sold. What I get in the bags is pelletized, but what we got by the truck load was not.

I agree, I have never tried to grow anything but flowers in pots!! My regular tomato vines are caged 6 foot high & the grape tomatoes are hanging over a 6 foot high wall. They wouldn't last an hour in a pot.

Tom J

[Boron Elgar]

I have grown tomatoes (all sorts, hybrids, heirlooms, full size and cherries) in pots for over 20 years. The seasons and my watering habits and capabilities/attentions have varied greatly over that time, and I have had seasons of great bounty and seasons of minimal harvest due to yield or predation of various sorts.

Nevertheless, I have never, ever had BER, so don't go thinking it is inevitable for pots or variable watering. T'aint so.

And yes, I have tomatoes growing in the ground, too, so it isn't too difficult to draw comparisons. I never had BER there, either.

I have many thing successfully growing in pots this year:

tomatoes cukes peas beans broccoli radishes lettuces bok choi scallions chives grapes shallots musk melons yellow squash blackberries broccoli rabe

12-15 herbs lots more, too...I'll remember later on.