How to Avoid Blossom End Rot on Tomatoes Grown in Wheat Straw Bales
- 1). Add calcium in the form of powdered lime, bone meal or ground-up eggshells to the soil added to the top of the straw bale before planting tomatoes.
- 2). Avoid using straight chemical nitrogen as a fertilizer on straw bales, either before or after planting tomato transplants. Use a balanced fertilizer instead of pure nitrogen additives. Balanced fertilizer will also lower the possibility of an imbalance of potassium or magnesium, which can also contribute to blossom-end rot.
- 3). Provide consistent moisture to tomatoes grown in straw bales. Inconsistent soil moisture is perhaps the greatest cause of blossom-end rot in tomatoes, especially in humid climates. The best way to remedy this is to use slow-drip irrigation or pipe emitters for watering, according to Nichol's Garden Nursery.
- 4). Grow cherry tomato varieties, rather than Roma or other oblong-shaped tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes seem to be less susceptible to blossom-end rot than larger tomato varieties are.
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