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market-farming - Re: calcium to my 'maters

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  • From: "Bill Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT inil.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: calcium to my 'maters
  • Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 09:00:34 -0500



Calcium foliar sprays are not consistantly helpful with blossom end rot.
They may seem to help sometimes but controlled studies using many different
kinds of calcium materials have not been able to consistantly demonstrate a
corrective response. It really is a problem with water uptake into the
plant. As it sets fruit and continues growing, the tomato plant increases
it's demand for calcium. It's means for uptake and distribution is the root
system, then through the xylem (vascular water) tissues. Calcium is a big
ion which moves passively, and slowly, with the water. If water isn't moving
efficiently through the plant, the calcium fails to accumulate sufficiently
in rapidly growing tissue, like the blossom end of fruit or interior leaves
of leafy crops, like lettuce or cabbage. That's why tipburn in lettuce and
blossom end rot in tomatoes are the same physiological disorder. Using
organic soil amendments to build soil organic matter help address this in
the long-term by improving the soil's water holding capacity and by
improving availability of calcium. In the short term, using drip irrigation
with a proper schedule will usually prevent Blossom-end Rot. Also, if the
conditions that cause Blossom-end Rot persist, so will the problem, even up
to the end of the season.

Bill Shoemaker
Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops
Univ of Illinois - St Charles Hort Research Center


>>I doubt that those calcium foliar sprays conflict with your organic
>>principles, but the calcium was needed when the fruit was being set.
>
>Did I miss something? What calcium foliar sprays are you referring to?
>
>If the blossom end rot indicates a calcium shortage, blossom end rot
>aside, won't it be to his benefit to boost the calcium avail. to the
>plant? Isn't appropriate calcium level essential for extended fruit
>bearing?





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