Question
i'm getting ''end rot'' on all of my tomatoes after they reach golf ball size. i've read that i should add lime to the soil. my question is, how much lime in a 5 gal. bucket?
also will lime fix my problem even though my tomato plants are 4 feet high with lots of fruit on them? the tomatoes are fine until they get to golf ball size.

Answer
Hi Karl,

Unfortunately, adding lime to the soil won't do much at this point to help with your blossom end rot. Lime takes a while to work, so I usually advise people to add it at planting time if they know (via a soil test) that they have low calcium levels in their soil.

Since I don't know what kind of soil you used in your container, I'm going to recommend a few things you can do right now that will hopefully take care of the problem. Blossom end rot usually has more to do with watering practices than it does with soil nutrient levels. Here's the deal: tomatoes require regular moisture levels to take up soil nutrients efficiently. Growing in a five gallon bucket, while a great, space-saving idea, often makes watering a bit tricky. Over-watering and under-watering are both common issues when growing in containers, and often we see container-grown plants suffer from both extremes during a season. This makes it hard to take up nutrients (especially calcium) and the result is blossom end rot.  Here's what I recommend:

1. Remove all fruit with B.E.R. These are simply using nutrients that need to go to newly-developing fruit.

2. Closely monitor your soil moisture. Water only when the top inch of soil (stick your finger into the soil up to the top knuckle) is dry. Water it deeply when that happens.

3. Fertilize once a week with fish emulsion. You can either add it directly to the soil or use a spray bottle or hose-end sprayer to apply it as a foliar feed.

Good luck!