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Entry Date
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Nick Name
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Location
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Wednesday, October 14, 2026
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Little Catch Up
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Grittyville, WA
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Entry 283 of 283 |
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https://extension.unh.edu/resource/growing-vegetables-managing-blossom-end-rot-fact-sheet-0
Don't know how I missed this it was in an old thread. One of the reverse-logic tidbits is that thinning fruit increases BER. So it's not just superstition... its superstition backed by science.
Also interesting to note that low calcium fruit can nevertheless avoid BER sometimes (somehow!) I think I've seen this firsthand so I believe it. The plants will set a fruit undee some damp, dense foliage where there must be almost no transpiration at all and yet the fruit will grow in this terrible location and these tomatoes will have a translucence compared to those grown in normal conditions. And they seem to be immune to BER. I can't explain it other than maybe it's like the story of the Princess and the Pea. The logic is that it may be comfortable enough to lay on pea gravel or I would imagine a bed made entirely of loose peas... but to have a single pea or pea gravel in an otherwise smooth bed could ruin someone's rest?! Likewise, one drop of water could ruin a pampered tomato... but these cold, clammy tomatoes under all this rotting foliage simply dont know the difference.
Last of all, changing the leaf:fruit ratio is a real thing but when I did this I think I messed it up slightly... I cut through some of the larger, older branches and I think the plant got stressed by this. The vines dont heal that well...? I think I'd have gotten better results had I only pruned leaves and small growing tips and let the older thicker parts of the plant remain despite "not needing" them. So the pruning I did was not optimal, however I think the result was still positive.
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