All-purpose, balanced fertilizer blends like 10-10-10 are easy to find and do a good job of keeping most plants happy. The. Once your plant has achieved a good size, you can cut back on the nitrogen and provide more phosphorous to stimulate fruiting and more potassium for good root structure and fruit setting. You can follow yours or simply go with my version, either will work. Once they’ve been watered, then add your fertilizer and you’re set for another couple weeks. Epic Gardening occasionally links to goods or services offered by vendors to help you find the best products to care for plants. After a couple of weeks and they start to bear fruits, you may change it into the 5-10-5 or the 5-10-10 ratio. This prevents root-burn while the plant is unwinding itself from being in a pot. This process takes a little time, but it’s well worth the effort. The best tomato fertilizer will supply the plants with a good ratio of the big 3 macronutrients of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, while also utilizing the most important micronutrients. Be sure to cut up the hair finely so it will mix into the fertilizer, rather than clumping. Tomatoes use that calcium to prevent against blossom end rot. If you can’t, it’s too compacted. It’s better that your tomatoes get the nutrition that they need, no matter what! All-purpose, balanced fertilizer blends like 10-10-10 are easy to find and do a good job of keeping most plants happy. If you want to give them a much higher level of nitrogen, consider adding a half cup of blood meal to your mixture. Tomatoes are heavy feeders and usually require fertilizer to reach their full potential. Source: Lorin Nielsen, Rat Proof Garden: How To Get Rid Of Rodents In Garden Spaces, Hoya Plant: How To Grow And Care For The Wax Plant. All of the big three macronutrients are necessary if you hope to grow great tomatoes. But if you do a soil test and discover your potassium levels are low, this might be the perfect choice for you. If you don’t have homemade compost, you can do a blend of composted animal manure and either peat moss or coconut coir, thoroughly blended together. However, you can opt to use your own homemade blend, and it can work with great effect. Further, there can actually be too much nitrogen, potassium, or phosphorous in the soil, and that can leach off into local water via runoffs and the watershed. This creates a “fake” compost which should work just fine as a starter. I still do encourage adding a little extra calcium to your soil if you opt for a chemical alternative. Phosphorus helps with flowering and fruiting, which is essential for tomatoes. Potassium increases plant vigor and helps fight stress and disease. If you fertilize properly, you’ll be canning your produce all season long! The plants themselves do not seem to care much whether their nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous come from chemical or natural means. Take about a half-gallon of your compost and place it into a large mixing tray or bucket. I’ll explain how to minimize your chances of blossom end rot and other related problems. Prepare your soil before planting. These elements help the plant in different ways: The ratio between the big three is often referred to as N-P-K (Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium), where the number of each is the percentage used in the product. Do you have a favorite blend that you use, or a preferred brand? But the best forms of fertilizer may not be readily apparent. It’s more environmentally friendly to build your soil naturally! As mentioned before, nitrogen spurs plant growth. And hopefully by the time you’re done reading, you’ll have every piece of information necessary to grow a an abundance of “love apples”. Source: Ethan Hurd, Fertilize with phosphorous to encourage flowering and fruiting. Specialized tomato fertilizers are also available. Instead of wasting time on other products, just try Tomato Secret. As mentioned before, nitrogen spurs plant growth. What Tomato Fertilizer Ratio Should I Use? Vermicompost from my worm composter is a great additive. So to clear up all this confusion, I’m going to offer you solutions for your tomato fertilizer dilemma. Tomatoes are heavy feeders and usually require fertilizer to reach their full potential. Here is more about our approach. After using eggs in the kitchen, I wash and dry the shells and make a powder of them. The best tomato fertilizer will supply the plants with a good ratio of the big 3 macronutrients of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, while also utilizing the most important micronutrients. At that point, it’s easiest to use a diluted liquid fertilizer or “fertilizer tea” and fertilize around your tomato plants every couple of weeks until the end of the harvest period. The remaining amount consists of micronutrients and other fillers. A half cup to a cup of bone meal will raise the phosphorous. will supply the plants with a good ratio of the big 3 macronutrients of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, while also utilizing the most important micronutrients. While you're here, why not follow us on Facebook and YouTube? Simply work them into the top layer of soil lightly, then water them in. 2 cups of alfalfa pellets or leaves will give a slow-release nitrogen boost as well. Some of these may be affiliate links, meaning we earn a small commission if items are purchased. Ensure that you have calcium in your soil to prevent blossom end rot. Avoid tomato blossom end rot by ensuring there’s calcium in your soil. The last thing you want is to have huge, happy plants that don’t produce fruit! As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. You can use the 10-5-5 ratio (for the compost, the base, and the nutrients). I personally feel that there is no single “best fertilizer” for tomatoes, because it is all varying dependent on what your soil will need. Espoma Tomato-Tone is another reasonable choice, especially if your soil needs a bit more potassium than phosphorous or nitrogen. After five days, strain off the liquid and use it immediately, undiluted. If it’s chemical, place a thin layer of normal soil between the fertilizer and the base of the young plant. Ensure that your tomato beds are well-draining, loose soil. However, let’s not rule out chemical means altogether. Many mainstream fertilizers use too many chemical-based ingredients that will actually cause soil burn-out. I also add about a cup of cleaned, dried and powdered eggshells to add extra calcium. Before you fertilize, be sure your plants have been thoroughly watered. I use a five-gallon bucket for this purpose. It can be used just as it is as an additive to the soil, or brewed into a fertilizer tea and then added in liquid form around your plants. You can also use dry fertilizers around your tomatoes. This gives your fertilizer time to cure before use. You can also use the 10-5-8 when you start planting. As any long-term gardener can tell you, the better your soil is, the better your plants will grow. This means that your tomato fertilizer will change as the plants mature, and that’s okay! If using pellets, lightly dampen them so they fall apart before adding them, so they will combine evenly through your mix. A little more about me. Many people are concerned about whether chemical fertilizers will come through in your harvested fruit. Home » Tomato Fertilizer: How To Feed Your Plants For Ultimate Harvests. There are few studies that show any significant signs of chemical additives appearing in your harvest. by LarsPK | Sep 28, 2019 | Tomatoes | 0 comments. If you want a bumper crop of tomatoes, you’re going to need a good tomato fertilizer. If you want to use a product like Miracle-Gro Tomato Plant Food, you can. This is largely because the wide variety of chemical options out there are formulated to only provide the N-P-K fertilizers and lack a lot of the micronutrients that my plants may need.