I'm surprised by the statement in the first post that too much organic material in clay soils will make it soggy. I found exactly the opposite - organic material turns clays soils into loam. Overwatering will make anything soggy, but the reason clays are so difficult to work with is that they are lacking in organic material.

Maybe Kimm1 has info on this?

Maggie

If one were to mulch an unamended clay soil they could end up with a wet, useless soil because clay, unamended will hold water and covering that with a mulch, which is meant to hold moisture in soil, will result in a too wet clay soil. Clay soils need to be well amended with organic matter and one way, if that clay already drains relatively well, is to mulch it, But if the clay soil does not drain then it must first be amended so it does drain relatively well.

ItDoesntSck2BMe,

Kimm1 is right. All I wanted to add is that when I see a plant effected by BER, I start a regimine of spraying it once a week or so with a diluted powered milk mixture and it does help, but only on the fruits that haven't formed yet. Anything you can catch in the blossom stage should be fine. It worked great for me.

In reality spraying the plants with powdered milk does little, although the extra attention form that spraying will do much more. Adding egg shells, powdered milk, liquid calcium, while the plant is growing does little because it takes time for the type of calcium presented to be converted into something the plant can use.
The best time to prevent BER in your tomatoes is now with a good, reliable soil test (if you have not done one for some time or ever) and start amending your soil, as needed, now so what ever you need to put in has time for the Soil Food Web to work on it and make that available to your plants.

There has been mention here of using lime for BER. There are three types of lime, Agriculture Lime which is nearly pure calcium carbonate, Gypsum which is calcium sulfate, which includes sulphur being a vital plant nutrient and then, Dolomite, or Dolomite Lime, which contains both calcium and magnesium carbonates, usualy in more or less rqual amounts. If you choose only one type of lime it should be dolomite, but you will get better results using all three types.

By using all three types you will get calcium, sulphur and magnesium which if applied in spring and worked into the soil immeaditely should solve all the BER problems. This can be done every year without a soil test but just in the planting location of tomatoes and peppers. If you follow the Rule of Seven in planting tomatoes by the time you rotate to the same location you can start over with the same procedure.



Caution: Do not use quicklime, burnt lime, hydrated lime or other "chemically active (hot) limes"

What you need depends on your soil and what is missing from it. Never, ever simply apply lime, either calcitic or dolomitic, or gypsum to your soil unless a good, reliable soil test tells you which and how much to add. If your soil is low in Magnesium and you add calcitic lime to it you are simply wasting your money, time, and energy since low Mg levels will inhibit a plants ability to uptake Calcium, just as a too high Mg level will inhibit uptake of Ca.
Nutrient imbalances create as many problems as lack of nutrients do and often mimic problems that have other causes.

I dont know how you all think clay holds moisture. I have farmed clay fields and sandy fields. Water soaks down deep into sand. The top kind of seals off and runs together and lets the moisture stay down there. Clay on the other hand is known for it impermeable nature. You put or dig down to clay to make stock tanks and lakes. Because the water wont penetrate it. Clay gets a rain and the water only soaks down so far and then when it starts to dry, it cracks allowing sun and air to get even deeper to dry it out even further. The cracks continue to get wider and deeper till some can reach 3 or 4 feet deep. Clay can be soaking wet and sloppy after a rain and in 48 hours you can drive on it. Its already dried out because the water didnt penetrate more than a couple inches. Sand would have let the water go down as far as it could usually till it hits, well, clay!!...then it stops because it cant go any further. Then it holds the water down deep, away from the heat and sunlight and wind. Roots can go easily down through the sand to find the moisture.. Plow a sandy field in July and watch the moist soil roll up. Even after a couple weeks without rain. Plow a clay field in July and watch the big huge chunks of dry hard brick like material form. Thats if you can even get your plow to go down into it.
I think what you are calling clay, may actually be sandy loam. Real clay soil sucks for moisture retention. At least the black and red and gray clays of Texas.

I stand behind my post as it was only intended for the suppression of Blossom End Rot. I have used this method for 20+ years in conjunction with the 7-7 rule and have never had any BER. I have also had no problems growing other vegetables the next year in the spot where the tomatoes were the year before.

A couple things I wanted to add to the excellent information: there are varieties of tomatoes that get BER less and some that get it easier. You might want to ask around for success stories on varieties. There are a couple organic BER sprays that can repair your problem this year. I think Gardens Alive has one. I spray this occassionally before I get the problem. For even watering you might want to try a soaker hose wrapped around the base of the plants. A new soaker hose is pretty even. You can turn it on in the morning and can shut it off later when you have the time. It cuts way back on time spent watering. As long as you watch it from time to time to make sure it is still evenly watering it works great.
For planting next year make sure to use a mix of calcium and magnesium additives. Powdered milk and egg shells were mentioned, also bone meal and actual people calcium tablets work too, along with Epsom salt for magnesium. I mix that in with Tomatoes Alive. It is really hard to keep everything perfect with bad weather. Hopefully you will get some maters. If all else fails pick them when they are about to begin turning color and ripen off the vine. This will give them less time to rot.

Since what causes Blossom End Rot is not genetic there are no tomato plants that are more prone to it than others. BER is caused by a calcium deficieny and that could be caused by a number of things and the start of not having this problem is now with a good, reliable soil test to be sure your soil has nutrient balance so your plants have a chance to grow strong and healthy. Then next year when you plant do not waste your time and energy putting bone meal, epsom salts, powdered milk, egg shells, or what ever into the soil since none of those will be available to your plants (except maybe the magnesium sulfate which could cause BER by interfing with Ca uptake) during that growing season. Be sure the soil the tomatoes are growing in stays evenly moist and the plants have an even growth rate, and that rain will not cause other problems such as splitting.

Wow, I didn't expect so many replies to this. Thanks for the useful tips. :-)

Kimm1 - since you seem to have experience with clay soils, perhaps you'll have an opinion on this: I've read in some places to add a shovel full of sand to my beds (a book on gardening in my area specifically, to name one source) to help with the tilth and drainage of the soil. The cooperative extension website says specifically NOT to do this, as the result is something close to concrete. Do you, or anyone else, have any experience with this? With such conflicting opinions, I'm not sure which to believe.

And keeping on the subject of BER, I'm harvesting a couple of tomatoes each day now, and they are doing well. Tossed one that rotted the other day, but not every single one like I did last year. I suppose one must seek to find satisfaction in any improvement, eh?

Adding small amounts of sand to clay soils will do nothing. Those that say adding a shovel full of sand do not know what they are talking about adn those that tell you that shovel full os sand added to clay will result in concrete have no idea what they are talking about. Both are simply repeating what they have been told, wrongly. To make any difference in the workability of clay by adding sand you would need to get 45 percent sand by volume worked in there, and that would be a lot or sand and very expensive to boot.
What clay soil needs is organic matter and about 5 to 8 percent OM in that soil will do more for the clay than would that 45 percent sand. The same thing goes in reverse, adding clay to sandy soils except not as much clay is needed, but to get enough clay to properly amend my sand even that the clay is free the trucking costs to get that much here is prohibitve. Organic matter, for many of us, is available free, providing we do not throw it away every year. Of course, depending on where you are in Colorado, or some of the other western states, that may not be true because trees are not common there.

Thanks. I'm working on the soil. A compost pile is completely against DH's wishes (I'm working on that, but it takes patience)so I've been buying bags of organic mushroom compost. Right now, it's about the best I can do. Hopefully next year I'll be able to do some more before I plant.

quote:

Since what causes Blossom End Rot is not genetic there are no tomato plants that are more prone to it than others

I have never seen a small or cherry tomato with BER. I have also noticed the flatter shaped heirloom tomatoes get it less than medium round tomatoes or especially paste tomatoes, those are the worst. There is more to BER than calcium. It has to do with bringing up the nutrients into the stem. That is why it is related to watering. Even if the calcium is there the extreme watering may make it too difficult to draw it up the plant. Hope this makes sense. Maybe others have had cherry tomatoes with it but I never have.

The Cherry or Grape tomatoes seldom will get BER because they do not require as much as the much larger, longer season cultivars, but they too are prone to that disorder. Beefmaster, Big Boy and the other long season, large tomatoes are more prone then even the smaller cultivars such as Early Girl and other shorter season cultivars.
Improper watering is one of the causes of BER, but not the only one.