Early ripening of BER affected fruits

[Frosti]

Can someone offer an explanation for the early ripening of fruits that are affected by blossom end rot? What I mean by that is that fruits that are affected by BER ripen days to weeks before unaffected fruits, even if the affected fruits are on later fruit clusters.
I suppose it is the same process that lets wormy apples ripen sooner. Some kind of emergency ripening. Or it it because BER affected fruits are smaller, so it has something to do with mass?

ber_second_cluster_ripening_first.png

[bower]

It's an interesting question. And perhaps hinging on the ecological relationship of tomato plants and the organisms that rot their fruit and release seeds from germination inhibitors in the gel.
I know that BER is physiological and not a "rot", but are there or not organisms present in the BER area that are just waiting to process the fruit. Granted that some seeds may be damaged by internal effects of BER, there is still some seed viability in the fruit.
We know that fruit will ripen faster if rots are present. Rotting fruit gives off ethylene, for a fact. Granted that the BER is a form of decay, or at minimum, a place for decay organisms to get their chops wet, is ethylene given off as the BER develops? This would explain the early ripening.

I have another question about BER, that is, do you remove the affected green fruit or leave them?
On the one hand, they are using up resources that the plant could be putting into better fruit.
On the other hand, they may actually be giving off ethylene, and perhaps part of an accelerated "ripen now" schedule in the plant.

[slugworth]

I get rid of green BER tomatoes.
Interesting this year;normally plum type tomatoes get it worse/faster than the round ones.
The plum types knock wood are still ok.
I've seen round ones rot faster than ripen.In instances when you are trying to save seed.

[Sue_CT]

I am betting on plant stress. A stressed plant will go into survival mode and ripen fruit to produce seeds when it is stressed, especially stressed from lack of water I have found. Since uneven watering also causes BER, I would bet the two go hand in hand.

[slugworth]

I cut a branch off to clone with a small green tomato and it got big and ripe and red,no BER.
I think decapitation would be the ultimate stress on a plant.

[slugworth]

The parent had 2 red tomatoes ready for the supper table and both had BER.
Tomato picked today indoors was fine and yummy.

[Sue_CT]

It isn't any stress that causes BER, it is uneven watering, specifically.

[MissS]

I disagree with you @Sue_CT. I think that uneven watering is one component in the equation. I also think that temperature plays a major role. I only get BER on tomatoes formed in early spring when the temperatures are cool and the ground is wet. I can have uneven watering in July when it is hot and not one single fruit will have BER perhaps some splits and concentrical rings but no BER.

I remove fruits with BER as early as I can. I have found that tomatoes for me will set fruit, ripen a certain amount and then the rest of the pollinated fruit will sit and wait until the first batch ripens. Once they have been picked then the plant will put energy into those little ones that have been setting there on hold. If I remove those with BER then I feel that the plant will put its energy into producing those that are unblemished.

[Sue_CT]

Interesting, I got BER all season long when I tried to grow in pots and could not keep them consistently watered. I had a couple of plants that I don't think I got a single good fruit out of. I thought I had read, and maybe some also came from Carolyn, that the uneven watering interferred with transport of calcium and that led to BER. Anyway, I have not had any since I went back to almost always growing in ground. I will have to look it up.

https://hortnews.extension.iastate.edu/blossom-end-rot

https://portal.ct.gov/CAES/Fact-Sheets/ ... -of-Tomato

Turns out while uneven watering is the most common cause, there appear to be others, at least according to UCONN.

[pepperhead212]

I have some varieties this season that are prone to BER, and it seems they were getting too many tomatoes per cluster, and it just can't support them. It's not uneven watering, in those SIPs, and I add calcium on a regular basis. Also, it seems that when I remove the tomatoes in each cluster down to 2, they would not get any more, unless I missed some, and they had more tomatoes, and I'd remove them as soon as any got BER, and the others on the cluster would stay fine.

[Frosti]

We know that fruit will ripen faster if rots are present. Rotting fruit gives off ethylene, for a fact. Granted that the BER is a form of decay, or at minimum, a place for decay organisms to get their chops wet, is ethylene given off as the BER develops? This would explain the early ripening.

Hmm, that's the best explanation so far. Unfortunately I do not possess the equipment to measure ethylene concentration around individual fruits.

I have another question about BER, that is, do you remove the affected green fruit or leave them?
On the one hand, they are using up resources that the plant could be putting into better fruit.
On the other hand, they may actually be giving off ethylene, and perhaps part of an accelerated "ripen now" schedule in the plant.

If fruit production on the affected plant is low already and I do not plan on saving seeds from that particular plant, I'll usually take them off.
I do however use them regularly for saving seeds. I take the seeds from the unaffected parts of the fruit. Are you sure seed viability (of the seeds not directly affected of course) is impacted by BER? First time I hear about that.

[mama_lor]

What I noticed, is that even though BER fruit does indeed ripen much faster, it still tastes surprisingly good.

[Gardadore]

I have been having a problem with BER in a couple of my smaller square Earthboxes. I grew three tomato plants for the first time last year in three boxes and encountered BER in one box. This year I added two more boxes and and have the problem in three of the 5. Plants are huge with lots of flowers and setting fruit.,I have been removing affected green tomatoes but getting frustrated. I read somewhere that adding some calcium nitrate to the water I pour down the tube should help. Have been doing that. Hope it passes fast. The plants have been taking up a gallon to almost 2 gallons daily as they are so large. Seems calcium is not getting to them despite a cup of Dolomitic limestone in each box as recommended.
Anyone else find this issue with tomatoes in Earthboxes? No problem with eggplants.

[pepperhead212]

@Gardadore That sounds like the problem I have had with certain varieties - even a cherry tomato, which, as a rule, are never prone to this. This was Amy's Sugar Gem, which didn't have a huge number of fruits, compared to some of my others, but another variety in the same SIP had not a single problem! So that's just one I won't grow again. Larger varieties, however, seemed to develop BER only on clusters of 3 or more fruits, so when I thinned them to just 2, there would be not a single bad tomato. But, of course, there were always those I would miss, and those would often have BER.

How do you water your Earthboxes? Have they ever dried out, even just briefly? I have drip emitters in every one of mine, on timers, set for every 12 hrs - this way, they don't overfill, but they also never dry out.

[bower]

@Frosti there's a thing where you have dark bits on the seeds, even in fruit that look normal, which has been identified as internal BER. It was discussed back on TVille and that was the explanation given. The affected seeds were said to have limited viability cw normally colored ones.
We were also cautioned not to save seeds from fruit with BER.
Not sure why that would be, especially if they look normal and are not darkened or damaged.
I've actually never eaten a fruit with BER, so I am surprised to hear they taste good. I don't often see it, but it's usually been at the height of the season when there are so many perfect tomatoes to choose from, and it never occurred to me that these would also be good enough to eat. Good to know!

[Gardadore]

I try very hard not to let the Earthboxes dry out. I water until the tiniest bit of water dribbles out the hole. I think the idea of reducing a cluster to two tomatoes has merit but which ones do I take off? They don’t all form at the same time! I have just been removing affected tomatoes and don’t plan to even let them ripen. Fortunately there are still a number of good ones.

[Shule]

Wounded and punctured fruits tend to ripen more quickly, although I forgot why. I would think the BER early ripening is at least in part for the same reason.