A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 tomatoes and tums

I was talking to a friend of mine about tomatoes and blossom-end rot. She told me that when her Dad planted tomatoes, he put a Tums on either side of the plant next to the roots and never had the disease. He said the plant thrived on calcium and Tums has calcium, so voila!!!!!! Healthy tomatoes.
Anyone ever heard of this? Sounds interesting to me. I'd like to try it next year.

I have heard that putting lime in the dirt will stop blossom end rot. But it does have to do with the calcium so maybe Tums would work.

that's interesting! i heard that peppers like calcium too. so maybe i'll put some tums on those guys too. i read that you can use the shells of the eggs, crush it, and let is soak in a pail of water and them just pour it over the plants. but i think the tums idea will be easier!

I save all my egg shells and when I have a bunch I grind them up in my Vita-Mix till they turn to powder. I put a mixture of 1/4 c. egg shell powder, 1/4 c. powdered milk, 1/4 c. epsom salts and a shovel full of compost in the holes before I plant my tomatoes. Then I sprinkle 2 tablespoons of powdered milk on the surface around the plants. (Do this last bit every 2 weeks throughout the season) This is called The Mighty Milk Tomato Blight Cure, (I added the eggshells to the recipe) but I haven't had any blossom-end rot either since I've been using it.

After reading these posts I've decided to start an independant study on Tums and tomatoes, but on a different angle.
I get heartburn REALLY bad when I eat tomatoes, but I LOVE them. So, after I eat them I have to eat TUMS! Maybe if I use the Tums to grow the tomatoes, I won't get heartburn!

This sounds like something I could get a government grant for!!!


Cindy

too funny about the heartburn study! LOL that recipe sounds good with the powdered milk and easy too. i have a box of powdered milk that i only use really for potato soup so i could use that since it's just sitting in the pantry! thatnks for the idea!