My cousin told me that the “old farmer with perfect tomatoes” that he met at the country store, told him his secret is powdered milk .... either top dress, then work into the soil a bit, or use in the hole when planting. The calcium in the dried milk is in a form that the plants can readily take up (so it’s said).
When I dig the holes for my tomato plants, I save the dirt in a bucket, add the dried milk, a little Tomato Tone & milorganite, mix well, then fill the hole back in with it. I rarely have blossom end rot any more and it used to be a fairly significant problem .... my cousin said once he started using the dried milk, no blossom end rot for him either.
I think I’ll experiment next year - plant some with dried milk, some with ground egg shell powder. The dried milk can be hard to find & gets pricey.
Great idea on the powdered milk!
I have 4, #32 cans of the stuff leftover from my Dad’s ‘prepper stash’ that I ‘inherited’ when I moved him from his apartment. I’ll use up some of it for soups & baking; we don’t like powdered milk unless we’ll HAVE to drink it in the future. (I will save 2 cans for the two of us; it makes a TON of milk.)
As you know, when I have an empty milk jug, I fill it with water and feed that to houseplants. My Geraniums and Christmas Cactus are in full bloom right now and loving life. :)