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Fertilizer for tomato plants #6253864
06/04/18 02:32 PM
06/04/18 02:32 PM
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 552
New York
Camohoyt340 Offline OP
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Camohoyt340  Offline OP
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New York
What do you all use for fertilizer on your garden? Specifically for tomato plants? What I’m using now is this....
I have a massive pile of mulch from when my town widened the road about 20 years ago. About 7 years ago the pipeline company came through and mulched everything up and put it on the pile of old mulch. My uncle has a sawmill and takes all of the mulch from the de-barker and dumps it onto this pile also.
I get all of my garden soil from the bottom of this pile. It’s a really nice black soil.
We have chickens, so this spring I mixed almost a half of a pickup truck (s-10 sized) load of chicken manure in with my garden soil.
Every week or so I take the chicken manure out of the coop and put it between the rows in the garden. I’ve always been told chicken manure will burn plants when fresh. From my experience that’s only if you put too much on and put it right on the plants.
My tomatoes seem to be growing good.
For my other plants like corn, beans, cucumbers etc. I try to sprinkle the manure lightly around the garden without over doing it. So far everything seems good. I’m just wondering what you all use for your gardens? Thanks.

Re: Fertilizer for tomato plants [Re: Camohoyt340] #6253865
06/04/18 02:39 PM
06/04/18 02:39 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 17,548
Rodney,Ohio
SNIPERBBB Offline
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SNIPERBBB  Offline
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Rodney,Ohio
Raccoons work nicely.

Re: Fertilizer for tomato plants [Re: Camohoyt340] #6253881
06/04/18 03:04 PM
06/04/18 03:04 PM
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 9,132
SWMo.
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tjm Offline
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SWMo.
Epson salts and miracle grow knock off.

Re: Fertilizer for tomato plants [Re: tjm] #6253886
06/04/18 03:13 PM
06/04/18 03:13 PM
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 552
New York
Camohoyt340 Offline OP
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Camohoyt340  Offline OP
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New York
Originally Posted By: tjm
Epson salts and miracle grow knock off.


I’ve heard about Epsom salts a lot. Never have used them. How do you use them?

Re: Fertilizer for tomato plants [Re: SNIPERBBB] #6253889
06/04/18 03:14 PM
06/04/18 03:14 PM
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 552
New York
Camohoyt340 Offline OP
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Camohoyt340  Offline OP
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New York
Originally Posted By: SNIPERBBB
Raccoons work nicely.


I’m sure they do. I’ll have to save some next year.

Re: Fertilizer for tomato plants [Re: Camohoyt340] #6253918
06/04/18 03:55 PM
06/04/18 03:55 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 17,548
Rodney,Ohio
SNIPERBBB Offline
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Just dig some deep holes in the garden and plant the carcasses. Some wood chips or sawdust down the hole will help it breakdown better.

Re: Fertilizer for tomato plants [Re: Camohoyt340] #6253925
06/04/18 04:07 PM
06/04/18 04:07 PM
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Wright Brothers Offline
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All soil East of Mississippi River is acidic, you've made yours more acidic. Apply quick lime, not ground limestone but the stuff that works right away. Thank me this fall.

From what you wrote, if mine, I'd add no fertilizer.





Re: Fertilizer for tomato plants [Re: Camohoyt340] #6253927
06/04/18 04:09 PM
06/04/18 04:09 PM
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Wright Brothers Offline
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Over here, we can have our soil tested free or cheep.





Re: Fertilizer for tomato plants [Re: Camohoyt340] #6253960
06/04/18 05:39 PM
06/04/18 05:39 PM
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SWMo.
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tjm Offline
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SWMo.
Originally Posted By: Camohoyt340

I’ve heard about Epsom salts a lot. Never have used them. How do you use them?
A little in the hole, a little in water sometimes, a little sprayed on the leaves sometimes; like many things there are different applications for different purposes. I use dish soap spray some too.

People have written books that explain these things better than I can.

I would guess the bottom of that pile should be near perfect, and I would never add chicken liter at this season. Heavy manures should be applied in fall and "seasoned" before planting, I think. Snow is good fertilizer too. Horse manure can be added about any time.

Re: Fertilizer for tomato plants [Re: Camohoyt340] #6253969
06/04/18 05:57 PM
06/04/18 05:57 PM
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Pa.
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Bigbrownie Offline
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I side dress my plants with Epsom salt and 12-12-12 fertilizer. I also mulch around my plant with mushroom compost....in addition to enriching the soil, it holds moisture and keeps the weeds from growing.

Re: Fertilizer for tomato plants [Re: Wright Brothers] #6253977
06/04/18 06:13 PM
06/04/18 06:13 PM
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 552
New York
Camohoyt340 Offline OP
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New York
Originally Posted By: Wright Brothers
All soil East of Mississippi River is acidic, you've made yours more acidic. Apply quick lime, not ground limestone but the stuff that works right away. Thank me this fall.

From what you wrote, if mine, I'd add no fertilizer.


Just wondering do you think the soil would be acidic even though technically I didn’t use any real soil? It’s all rotted down mulch. They are growing very well at the moment. Started from seeds they are close to 2’ tall. I know that the soil around here is definitely acidic due to the soil tests I’ve had done before planting my food plots. Since it’s not actually soil do you think it’s still acidic? I guess I can just get a soil test done and find out lol. Thanks for your thoughts. Just nice to know what everyone else does.

Re: Fertilizer for tomato plants [Re: Camohoyt340] #6254014
06/04/18 07:01 PM
06/04/18 07:01 PM
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EC Indiana
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MikeC Offline
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EC Indiana
Lots of compost and gypsum where the tomato plants are, and a little nitrogen before the onions bulb out. Mike

Re: Fertilizer for tomato plants [Re: Wright Brothers] #6254018
06/04/18 07:10 PM
06/04/18 07:10 PM
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 3,660
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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Originally Posted By: Wright Brothers
All soil East of Mississippi River is acidic, you've made yours more acidic. Apply quick lime, not ground limestone but the stuff that works right away. Thank me this fall.

From what you wrote, if mine, I'd add no fertilizer.


Soil near the Niagra Escarpment is heavy in limestone and has a higher pH

Re: Fertilizer for tomato plants [Re: Camohoyt340] #6254045
06/04/18 08:29 PM
06/04/18 08:29 PM
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Asheville, NC
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charles Offline
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Send several soil samples to your state for analysis. NC has a free service this time of year. Your state surely publishes a guide for gardeners. Your use of chicken manure could border on too much nitrogen. If so, you could have lots of vine and not so many tomato. You might also burn your plants.

Tomato require calcium to avoid blossom end rot. Epsom salt is magnesium, not calcium. Nevertheless, my wife sprinkles a little epsom salt in her hole along with finely crushed egg shells when we plant.

Re: Fertilizer for tomato plants [Re: Camohoyt340] #6254056
06/04/18 08:47 PM
06/04/18 08:47 PM
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 66
Central Wisconsin
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ol marshrat Offline
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Small handful of ebsom salt and a small handful of bone meal in each hole when planting. My brother has used it for many years.


God, Family, football....Vince Lombardi
Re: Fertilizer for tomato plants [Re: Camohoyt340] #6254071
06/04/18 09:26 PM
06/04/18 09:26 PM
Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 248
Southern Indiana
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Always had good luck with used coffee grounds also.

Re: Fertilizer for tomato plants [Re: Pressure9pa] #6254089
06/04/18 10:11 PM
06/04/18 10:11 PM
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East-Central Wisconsin
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Mulch has a lot of organic matter (nitrogen) but it needs to be broken down by soil bacteria to be used by the plant, short term and thus actually consumes N for the short term. The more fiber in the mulch the longer this process takes. Mulch is great however and in the future why not mix the fresh chicken manure with mulch and let that compost and work that in the garden soil. Chicken manure on the other hand is very high in N (lots of ammonia) and thus why when fresh it will burn the plant leaves. Work that stuff in the ground and it will provide excellent N fertilizer for your crop. Many times it is good to use some commercial or granular type fertilizer in the colder or earlier days of your garden. Why? Commercial fertilizer (N) is broken down to plant usable form and just needs the moisture to provide the N. Organic N needs to be broken down by soil bacteria etc. and many of those are growing degree day or temperature sensitive and thus won't kick in until soil temps reach the needed temperatures.
That is why organic N works so well in mid to late summer and into the fall.

Also not all soil east of the Mississippi is acidic. Where I live we have the Niagara Escarpment made up of dolomite as our bed rock running from just north of Madison all the way to the Falls. Here our pHs run 7 to 7.4 with a few higher.
Bryce

Last edited by bblwi; 06/04/18 10:13 PM.
Re: Fertilizer for tomato plants [Re: Camohoyt340] #6254159
06/04/18 11:33 PM
06/04/18 11:33 PM
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Oregon
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Organic matter is not nitrogen. I think what bblwi means to say is mulch may contain a lot of carbonaceous materials. Most of the time it will contain <1% nitrogen. Cow manure will test out around 1% or less, but fresh chicken manure with sawdust litter will usually go from 4 to 7% N.


My fear of moving stairs is escalating!
Re: Fertilizer for tomato plants [Re: Camohoyt340] #6254185
06/05/18 01:03 AM
06/05/18 01:03 AM
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 2,220
SE NEBRASKA
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On my garden I use compost from the town's compost site, where I work. We compost leaves and grass ... wood chips and saw dust with the sludge from the wastewater treatment plant. Works great. I spade or till up my garden each fall and then cover it with about 4" or 6" of compost. The compost looks about like fluffy potting soil you buy at the local nursery store. Then roto till once to mix. In the spring it's like planting into sand. That's all I do and it seems to work great. But my soil on the creek bottom is pretty good anyway. My mom has a garden that is pretty much mostly clay gumbo.... but after a few years of putting compost on here's fairly thick it is starting to mello out into nice soil.


Remember "Forbidden Fruit makes many Jams"
Re: Fertilizer for tomato plants [Re: Camohoyt340] #6254187
06/05/18 01:16 AM
06/05/18 01:16 AM
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 552
New York
Camohoyt340 Offline OP
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New York
You guys are saying some interesting stuff. Thank you. I screwed up my garden last year and ended up with almost no tomatoes. So this year I went crazy and have started around 200+ Tomato plants of various different types. My friends and family have gotten a good portion of them and I have somewhere around 40 plants left. Some are close to 3’ tall and others are only about 6” tall. I’m also growing a fair amount of corn, beans, peas and cucumbers. It’s a fun thing to do with my daughters. They have their own plants and are already dreaming of getting rich by selling their tomatoes. lol.

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