Showing posts with label blossom end rot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blossom end rot. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 02, 2021

Calcium Spray to Prevent Tomato Blossom End Rot. 6.2.2021

 Since the tomatoes are blooming, I want to try calcium supplement to prevent blossom end tot.  That happens mainly with sauce tomatoes.  I really don't know if it helps.  Internet sites are all over the place on that, as is research on google scholar.  It seems like the bottom line is, they just don't know and have not really done the work - spray some and don't spray others, and see what happens, and report on it.   Some sites say, absolutely, use the calcium.  Others say it's useless.  The joke is on me since I didn't think of that until I sprayed them all.

The instructions say, spray in early am or evening, during periods of rapid growth.  Spray to point of run-off.  Apply every 5 to 7 days.  It's just calcium chloride so I don't think it will hurt anything.  For the rest of the sprays, I'll spray all but one of the hybrid Romas and also leave a nonhybrid Roma unsprayed to see if there is a difference.



Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Planting More Seeds for Kitchen Garden. 3.24.2021

 This morning I planted more seeds for the kitchen garden.  With so many seedlings already, it can be a challenge to give them space under the plant lights.  Most of the early ones are tropicals, like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, but some should be able to go outside soon.  Like lettuce, cilantro, celery, chive seeds.

What I planted:

Two six-packs of Chinese chives.  We use a lot of those for dumplings.  Home-saved seeds from last fall.  We've been growing Chinese chives from our saved seeds for about 20 years.   They are perennial so I don't save and plant every year, or even every other year.  The seem to fail to thrive after four or five years, so it's good to regenerate them now and them.

Two containers of cilantro.  One from new seeds, one from seeds saved last fall. 

Paste tomatoes, experiment.  One batch is Roma II hybrid, one is Amish paste tomato.  One six-pack of each.  I have not tried either.  The best are Ranger hybrid from Territorial Seeds but they are WAY more expensive and their shipping and handling is horrendous.  If the Amish turn out OK, I can save seeds from those for future growing.  If not, there is the Roma II hybrid.  My main challenge with paste tomatoes has been blossom end rot.  I read that calcium spray will prevent that, so ordering that now.  Flavor-wise, it's possible that either the Roma or Amish will be better than Ranger, anyway.

I planted some old parsley seeds.  About 5 years old.


The last batch of cilantro seeds was interesting.  I thought the home saved seeds always did well.  This time, germination has been spotty.  Maybe I'm just too impatient.  Still, there is some.  Today, to do a side-by-side comparison, I planted a pot of new Ferry Morse cilantro seeds, and another pot of home saved seeds.  We can use a bunch of cilantro each week, so they can be planted every week or two.

Photo is cilantro seedlings.  I think this is about 2 weeks old.  It does look like more are germinating.



Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Tomato Blossom End Rot. 9.28.16

Roma Tomatoes with Blossom End Rot.  9.28.16

Roma Tomatoes with Blossom End Rot.  9.28.16
This is a good example of tomato blossom end rot.  I knew the soil was low in Calcium, having had it tested last year.  I did not get around to applying lime to this garden bed.  Not every tomato was affected, but this was about 1/3 of this crop of Romas. 

I cut off the bad end with about 1/2 inch margin, and cooked the good part.  The bad part goes to the chickens.

Meanwhile, this fall I should get a bag of dolomite lime.  Dolomite contains magnesium as well as calcium.  I have somewhat low magnesium, but the calcium is the main issue.  In the Pacific Northwest, calcium is leached by the constant winter rains.  Low calcium causes blossom end rot.  Inadequate watering, cold soils, and using high nitrogen fertilizer can also be an issue, and I should watch for those as well.  The main thing that I am aware of is that the calcium here is low.