For the pros out there, how do you prevent or reduce blossom end rot? Every year that @&!@#&* thing ruins 1/2 or more of my crop. I've got maybe 20 plants this year and I'd love for them to have less trouble.

Couple of questions-

How close do you plant?

How do you feed/water?

Where is crop located (full sun, partial sun)?

Have you noticed lots of ants in the past?

I'm going to keep an eye on this thread to see how others respond

5 feet spacing
I used tomato tone and started them off with some and twice a month I hit then with more
Watering depends on the weather. I have drip irrigation for everything. I usually established them by watering once or twice a week and then tapering off
I have some in full sun and some in partial sun. Most are in full sun
No I don't have ants in my garden really.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

We've had it and minimized by planting tomatoes after soil warms up to 55* overnight temps for a few days, here it's mid may. This is a canning year so we have 12 plants in and hping for a good year.
Never plant in the same location (rotate location every year) and in one area we lacked calcium in the soil so got a bunch of oyster shells and ran them through a antique corn cracker to pulverize and mixed in soil.
We also strip leaves on the lower 1/2 of plant seedling then plant to the bottom of the first set of leaves, water frequently and as plants grow increase (i.e. deep) then as summer wears on start decreasing water frequency, but still water deep ) make wells around plants. Old timer told me that by the end summer no watering is necessary as the roots will go do 20' or more. We cut back, but do not stop. Lastly we take off the first (i.e. low hanging) tomatoes and leaves up about 6".
With all that we still get a few with ber. I also think free draining soil is play a role (more ber with clay soil less with sandy soil).

Have the soil tested, and maybe try some Rot-stop. Availible online, have not seen it yet in our local gardening stores.

We have also dealt with this in the past, we have had a hard time totally eliminating it, so we plant an extra 1 or 2 plants to make up what we have to toss.

It rarely gets that warm at night here in the middle of the summer It'll be early June before we dare plant anything outside and leave it uncovered.

We do have 30 something tomato plants and some other stuff outside hardening up right now.

We just planted 38 tomato plants...

I don’t water tomatoes in the late afternoon/evenings. Water sitting on the plant over night can lead to fungus related issues. As others have mentioned, spacing is key and pruning to remove low vines can be helpful. Also make sure you’re getting full sun for your plants.

A lack of calcium in your soil can also contribute to your issues. You might have to add calcium to your soil. In areas where you have to irrigate, you may not get calcium from your water supply.

Finally, I completely remove tomato vines and bad tomatoes at the end of the season. I do this by either burning the vines (if dry) or discarding with my trash. This helps eliminate any diseases by removing these from your garden area so they don’t linger until the next planting season.

If you're from central PA you know, dont mess with Paul B's advice!😆

Sounds like a water or cal-mag problem. You need to ph the soil and ensure that the beds drain well to start with. Also ensure your drip system is wetting to the bottom of the bed. Just because the soil on top looks wet does not indicate 6-12" below. Good luck with your project. Gardening is a great way to relax.