How Much Fertilizer do Tomato Plants Need?
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 27 май 2024
- How much NPK do tomatoes need and are the recommendations on commercial products correct? Should we follow agricultural suggestions?
Become a better gardener, Subscribe: ruclips.net/user/Gardenfundamen...
Share with a friend: • How Much Fertilizer do...
-----------------------
Free Stuff:
Free Garden eBook: 24 1/2 Garden Design Ideas:
www.gardenfundamentals.com/24-...
-----------------------
My Books:
Garden Myths:
www.gardenmyths.com/garden-myt...
Building Natural Ponds:
www.buildingnaturalponds.com/
Soil Science for Gardeners
www.gardenfundamentals.com/so...
------------------------
Free Resources:
Garden Fundamentals Blog - lots of gardening information:
www.gardenfundamentals.com/
Garden Fundamentals Facebook Group:
/ gardenfundamentals
My Garden Myths Blog:
www.gardenmyths.com/
Building Natural Ponds Facebook Group:
/ buildingnaturalponds
-----------------------
Recommended Playlists
Seed Germination - Everything you need to know:
• Improved paper towel a...
Garden Myths:
• Epsom Salt Myths - lea...
-----------------------
How Much Fertilizer do Tomato Plants Need?
List of Credits:
Images:
All slides and videos belong to GardenFundamentals.com or are public domain images, except for the following:
Some images and videos provided by Depositphotos, depositphotos.com/ 
Хобби
"Your goal is to replace the nutrients that are missing in the soil. You do not feed plants"
This quote sums up where most people seem to go wrong with fertilizers. Thank you.
I mean that's just not the case. If you feed plants with synthetic and soil with organics the response from them is full and evident. It def makes a huge impact.
Last Sunday I was eating breakfast with with a group who are on the board at our church. They were discussing proper fertilizer for the lawn. I told them I tested the area for NPK. It was like talking to people who were just thinking the next thing to say. They wanted to put the right ratio that the big box store recommended. They did not understand I had a degree in Soil Science and had spent millions fertilizing my farm crops. I said to a brick wall, I tested the church lawn and it tested very high in P and K and only needed N and sulfur to lower the PH.
So you're worshiping with a bunch of immobile bricks? Super.. seems that degree could help you with that😂😊❤
@@jakemelinko They are petroleum plant workers...
exactly Robert, to even drive a car you got to learn what D, F and P mean to get anyplace. I've gotten the Deere in the headlight glare so much I stopped trying to explain anything to people.
sounds like my central Pennsylvania soil. lol
They were probably waiting for you to tell them how much and how long the soil test told you to pray after the proper fertilization, and which prayers are best. If they are protestant, tell them they must pray 5 hail marys 4 times a day between 3am and 10am. If they are catholic, tell them all they have to do is read the bible for an hour every day. Naw, just kidding. Doing either will likely get you excommunicated from the church.
I put all my kitchen scrapes in a 50 gallan container. This year I dumped out all dirt in all my containers. Refilled them half way. Then put a layer of my compost off dead leaves and just black sludge of my compost. DID that in January. Refilled them and waited till May to plant my seedling. As I planted I put Bonemeal,Blood Meal and All pupose fertilizer. And they are just blowing up. The stems are the strongest I've seen in years. Looking very green and healthy. I make a compost tea that I areate for 72 hours. Feed the plants with it. And I do that with egg shell and banana peels. You really don't need to buy fertilizer.
I just sprinkle a bunch of granules somewhere near the plant and hope foe the best.
At the end of the day, that’s what we all do.
Fertilizer should to be applied around the plant at the drip line. So for some plants, that can be rather far from the stem, like a foot or more. To be more precise, look at where water goes when a plant is watered from above (like when it rains). Where the water ends up hitting the ground after it drips of the leaves is where the fertilizer should be applied. That also means that's where you should be watering...from the drip line and inward toward the stem.
@@ASpinnerASpinner I try to do this when it's possible, but most of the time I plant in pots on the balcony and the drip line is outside the pot so I just throw some granules at the edge of the pot and call it a day.
@@Ammar.D Well, yeah. For pots it's different. The roots would never reach the drip line unless it's a very wide pot.
This is absolutely the BEST video I've ever seen on how to understand fertilizing tomatoes!! And many plants for that matter. Thank you so very much for this OUTSTANDING information!!
So nice of you
Mr Pavlis
Great video. I always learn so much from the info you provide.
As container gardener, I wish your videos are more focused on growing in containers.
I started my first garden back in April 2024. I'm 60 yrs old and only had a shovel and lots of determination to grow vegetables and help feed people in my community. It's been very challenging to me with temps in the 90 * Please send me more info on creating better soil with no money to spend.
Thank you
Nicely laid out video. Stopped using "fertilizers" a couple years ago. Have worm bins, aged hot compost , leaf mold, LAB, cover crops, mulch with comfrey leaves plus some fermented comfrey and different extracts. So far so good. Stay Well!!!
Thanks for the helpful information! 🇨🇦
Just grab a handful of the organic fertilizer dump it in the hole before putting in tomato. I do another hand full and throw it at the base of the plant. Organic fertilizers are more forgiving. It’s hard to mess up in a bad way planting tomatoes. Bury the tomatoes deep you’ll have an easier time because you won’t have to water as often as a shallow plant.
Thanks for addressing this.
Hoss did a video with someone that works at a soil testing company. They said that even accurate nitrogen tests might be out of date by the time you get them back.
Really it seems tricky because nitrogen is the most important but it's hard to anticipate how much you need. Yet waiting for signs of under fertilization doesn't seem like the best policy either.
So you use a simple trick: Fertilizer that releases the N over time. I use a mix of different organic and mineral fertilizers so that I am "one and done" for the season. Just a little bit of easily soluble blue pills on top for the starting kick, then some organic N in the middle and I bury stinging nettles underneath the tomato plants, Ofc it is the other way around: First some stinging nettles in the bottom of the hole. Then some hoof clippings in the middle with the compost, and the next to last thing on top is some blue mineral fertilizer.
When I dig up my tomato plants after the end of the season, there is only good soil underneath them. Back when I started I used only mineral fertilizer, had problems with the plant growth and needed to reapply in summer. Nowadays I get strong green plants with no signs of either too little or too much oomph. Instead they are truly picture perfect examples of plants how they should be,
Excellent video. Thanks
Thank you Mr. P. 💐💚🙃
Thanks
Organic gardeners up north would do well fertilizing with a nitrate in april and may. Those organics just arent available until the soil warms.
I learned that the hard way.
Amazing content once again! I am feeling good about the new liquid fertilizer I just ordered that is organic and has mostly soluble nitrogen. It should offset the delayed release of the insoluble nicely for my soilless applications.
The liquid tomato feed I use here in the UK says it's 4-3-8 but in fact it's 2.1-3-6.6 in _available_ nutrients.
Instructions are to mix 20ml in 4.5 litres & apply 1.5 litres per plant every 7 days.
This _seems_ to be comprehensive & if I calculated correctly, will apply 0.14g of ureic nitrogen per plant per week, or about 2.2g per plant through the growing season.
This falls within the range of nitrogen depletion of soil when growing tomatoes commercially & I usually have what I consider good yields of around 20kg from 2.2m².
Great video thanks
In one of your videos, you mentioned that you use soluable fertilizer of 3-1-2 for ALL of your plants. Miracle-Gro general soluable fertilizer is of this ratio with a 14 day application schedule. I intend to use it for my tomato plants as I do on my flower gardens. What's good enough for "Prof P" is good enough for me! Scarborough, ON.
The FarceBook “Soil & Garden Experts” should be looking at these videos rather than make up stuff based upon no scientific data or evidence to support their “observations”. It’s all based upon other online sources that sound like “real science” but isn’t. These people are very stubborn and extremely resistant to acknowledging they could be “wrong” in their beliefs and opinions. Opinions are never scientifically sound.
Dr. P we need more of this type of real science in the gardening communities everywhere. Thanks again for outstanding service to our gardens.
It takes experience to grow with these products. Just have to learn how how to grow with them. I've over used them and under used them. I've chosen one product to stick with and have learned how to use it for the most part to produce pretty nice gardens. But we must always be working to make our soil better.
Best thing I ever did was to revamp my vegetable garden space into beds/rows with consistent and easy to calculate space. Most of my beds are now 100 sq ft making fertilizer calculations trivial plus I actually know how much area there is. Same idea for the lawn areas.
I live in Colorado and I too am surprised at the CSU nitrogen recommendation. Soils around here (northern Colorado) test very low in nitrogen as a rule.
I'm convinced "NPK" mentality has set our understanding of plant nutrition back. It's not the whole story, and focusing on NPK will never allow you to grow the healthiest tomatoes. Plants can also absorb biological macromolecules like peptides, amino acids and some larger proteins.
Plants can absorb some larger molecules, but not most of them.
apparently even microplastics
@@Gardenfundamentals1when it comes to nitrogen I think this is important because soluble salt based formulas may have lower nitrogen use efficiency than what we perceived to be slow release N or "insoluble" N. Comparing the mass of N is overly reductionist.
I’m doing a control tomato without fertilizer as an experiment. I’m hopeful it grows great. Time will tell. ruclips.net/user/shortsaqsVFr3aI9g?si=UiOkgk8NyQ62v4We
Capitalizing on over simplification is the name of every game
thanks, great info! yep, its basically useless instructions on these fertilizers for the most part. sadly, we must resort to trial and error quite often. for strictly nitrogen, i stick with the much maligned miracle grow... at least ihave a handle on how to use it after all these years, and can actually see results in days most of the time.
thanks again my friend for all the great videos!
This is a really good video. There’s no way to know how much fertilizer to add to your soil unless you find out what’s already in your soil. This means you have to have a soil test done. Plus, as Robert always says, your plants take what they need from the soil.
I use tomato feed on all my perennial flowers in containers and annual flowers in containers once a week. I have a glasshouse and grow cherry tomatoes in containers which I feed once a week. The tomato feed I use has a NPK of 6-3-9 and flowers and tomatoes seem to be happy.
This is too complicated for me. I'm just going to use the fine art of acting without thinking.
Yeah 😂😂 ur tomatoes will be scary
Can you do a video on foliage feeding
I feel like there’s a positive correlation between the length of one’s growing season and the need to use fertilizer. The shorter your season, the more of a boost you need to give your annuals. But the converse is also true to an extent. In general, we could probably use a little less fertilizer overall, especially for something like a kitchen garden which is probably what 95% of people on here have. Not some huge operation where you’re trying to squeeze every ounce of productivity out of the soil.
Sorry i know i could probably find this online but i just started so im not sure what to search. Are something like tomatoes where you have to overwinter it a perennial or does that nullify it?
Great video, very informative on an elusive topic. I’ve been fertilizing my container tomatoes and peppers for over 20 yrs (about 15 containers) once a week with miracle grow soluble fertilizer. Never knew how much to add to each plant, I’d say on average i added 1/2 gallon each plant. Plants always did well. I also used the same soil for years, at the beginning of season I would empty all the pots and mix in a bag of peat moss with some bags of sheep and cow manure. As of last year I changed my strategy, new organic soil and will be doing less chemical fertilizer. What I did notice is that in the last 4-5 yrs the taste of the tomatoes has been bread out of them. They are thicker skin, last a little longer but are almost tasteless. Not just mine, my friends and neighbors too (so its not my containers). They now taste like winter tomatoes! Have all tomatoes been genetically modified? Is there a way to improve taste?
Stick to heirloom varieties.
Yes, I agree. Heirlooms can taste like candy. Also, having high levels of biology in soil will increase secondary metabolite production for more complex flavor. So using more organic fertilizer will help.
Sir, could you please make a video about fertilising potted conifers and succulents? 🙂
I've run the gammit of RUclips gardeners advise and find your approach the best by far, still intimidating when I see your yard and reaching for that level of quality and knowledge but better none the less. I did a leaf compost pile over the winter with shredded wood chips with some worm castings from my bin and some non activated charcoal I made from hardwoods, it seems pretty airy and I am wondering if I should do nitrogen more often even though it has organic material, I must have missed if you mentioned how to test for nitrogen levels prior to application? Thanks for all you do!
Forgot to mention I also added on year old horse manure.
My understanding is 3-1-2 NPK ratio is the best but you need to look at plant availability. Organic gardners really got the agricultural farms beat on quality of vegetables. It takes time and work to build highly fertil soil the naturalway. Large farms do not have that advantage. Good soil needs no fertilizer. An old poultry yard gives tremendous plant growth.
All you need is cost free: A handfull of dirty sheepwool and a bit of wood ash mixed with soil. Put it in a bucket, so your tomatoes can grow 2m in the same spot every year. My sister added some commercial fertilizer and the plants were overly provided.
Maybe some info on micro nutrients too.
I am guessing the difference is because of the different growing zones of each state. I believe the growth rates would be difficult requiring more or less nutrients.
Burpee specifies the fertilizer per given area already, It mentions fhat half a cup should be applied tp 10 SQAURE feet, which is the area. So a width of a 10 feet row would 1 foot, so you may want to revise your statement at 8:31
I don't have room in my small backyard for an in-ground garden, so I only do container gardening using vertical planters and fabric grow bags. I make my own potting mix using peat moss and other amendments. I add a granular organic fertilizer in the potting mix. I water weekly with a liquid water soluble fertilizer 6-12-6 using a hand held garden sprayer with the dial set to 1 ounce of fertilizer per gallon of water as listed on the product label instructions. For my herbs and greens, I use a 16-0-2 liquid water soluble fertilizer every 2 weeks. Should I use a higher fertilizer to gallon water ratio for my tomato and bell pepper plants? I enjoy watching your videos. The info you share is concise and realistic for gardeners. Thank you for your sharing your expertise and experience.
After flowering and when the fruits grow, tomatoes need more K in the mix. I got something along the lines of 20-5-15. Plus I collect eggshells and crush them and put them in the potting soil so that my tomatoes don't suffer from end-rot.
I would use neither of your fertilizers for tomatoes, you will need to look for something that is more like 4-1-3 in proportion, slight differences ok. The 6-12-6 is ok very early in the year, but as soon as there are fruits, you should change to something else. And the 16-0--2 is truly only ok for salad and green herbs, unless your soil is very rich in phosphorous or you use your urine in addition, you need a fertilizer with some stuff besides N in it. Else your plants grow weak and soft and will be eaten by pests.
@@donaldduck830 I recently switched to a fertilizer that is 4-18-38 by Masterblend. Put 6 ounces of water in a measuring cup, add 2 tbsps of fertilizer, stir to dissolve completely and put in my hand-held Ortho dial sprayer. I set the dial to 2 tbsp per gallon and water the plants. I am also using calcium nitrate, PowerGrow 15.5-0-0, 1 tbsp per gallon, weekly on my tomato and bell pepper plants and water with about 24 oz per plant. I mix the calcium nitrate in a measuring cup with the same water/product ratio like I do with the Masterblend and use the Ortho sprayer to water the plants. You don't want to mix the Masterblend and calcium nitrate together, because the negative electrical charge of the potassium will bind with the positive charge of the calcium and tie it up. Mix each product separately and water a couple of days apart.
Nice🎉
How often should one get a soil test after getting the first test?
Lawyers. That's why instructions on the box of fertilizers recommend such low frequency of use. Companies don't want to be in lawsuits over the use of their products that could damage a crop. So company lawyers recommended the least amount possible that can't cause any damage. Even though the crop needs much more then recommendations on the bow. Yep. Lawyers.
I just use organic hen manure pellets in the planting hole and dirty belly wool as mulch. The tomato plants are outrageously robust. They get nitrogen from the sheep pee and poo everytime we water or it rains. Tomato plants are trellised.
OSU recommends a 1-2-1 ratio fertilizer at time of planting (1-2 oz per plant) , an additional application at fruit set time, and then NO more nitrogen when fruit is forming (Bell, Detweiler et al. 2018) Thanks for your videos
what about indeterminates?
Video recommends 3-1-2 for all plants, fruit producing or not. OSU recommends an inverse ratio, what is high is now low. Who do I believe? It's most frustrating. My experience with high nitrogen is indeed the usual "High nitrogen grows leaves, not fruit" I sprayed my peppers one year with Calcium Nitrate and had the tallest peppers ever, very impressive until I found that I had no fruit.
at least twice a year apply calcium separately to NPK fertilizer. calcium is water soluble and readily leeches thru soil, especially with frequent irrigation in summer. without sufficient calcium, NPK fertilizer wont work much. it's the reason why so many gardeners see blossom end rot on tomatoes. as soon as you see blossom end rot, apply extra calcium..not egg shells
Are you talking about calcium nitrate, calcium carbonate, or one of the other many compounds of calcium such as the calcium phosphate in bone meal?
@@user-cv1xe9yf3f : i apply hydrated lime, mixing thoroughly into several inches of topsoil. i've done it around existing plants, both veggies and perennials, and havent seen negative response due to ph spike.
if you want something more ph balanced you can use calcium thiosulfate, but is harder to get.
i feed the soil and it does the rest perfectly
I use blood and bone plus some chook pellets, and rake it in water it, and within a week or two I dig a hole throw in a fish bury it, and plant tomato seeds on top. I grow giant Syrian and Italian tree tomatoes. I do very well with them. I only water them from there on.I never fertilize them after they come up.
I found that lawn fertilizer often has the ideal npk ratio of 3 :1:2, especially the ones for spring application and the cheaper ones. Also the N content is often higher compared to other types of npk fertilizers. So you get the most nutrients for your money. If you regularly add compost to your garden, then you have sufficient P&K and only need to apply N in form of urea.
Some areas have banned P in lawn fertilizer because it is just not needed.
@@Gardenfundamentals1 must be the glyphosate in the air is making up the difference, with it phosate content adding to soil systems.
Actually you can fertilize either or both.
Bio available fertilizers like urine for example are directly taken up by plants without microbes having to process anything. Microbes do not use urine.
Using Miracle Grow as a foliar feed does in fact feed the plants.
MG also does nothing for microbes and is taken up by plants.
Microbes need a carbon source and a carbohydrate source for food.
'Organic' fertilizers do indeed need microbe intervention to convert the source material into something bioavailable.
Plants can use either chemical or biological fertilizers.
Chemical fertilizers can harm soil microbes though.
Which is better a liquid or a gradual fertilizer for a tomatoes?
What's your thought on urea fertilizer with leaf mold in it??
?? urea won't have leaf mold on it?
It’s even more complicated than reported here. Hybrid tomatoes differ in needs than a heirloom tomatoes. Hybrid tomatoes are bred to be producing machines and need lots of fertility especially in a region so depleted in nitrogen and organic matter as mine. Thanks
"Hybrid tomatoes differ in needs than a heirloom tomatoes." - not true. Heirlooms can also be fast growers.
My tomatoes are small and there is a lot of flower drop. I was using 12-18-18 granule for raised bed. Not sure how much to use or how often
If your nighttime temperatures drop below 55 degrees or so, in my experience you can expect flower drop.
Moral of the story: Put a little bit of everything. some milk, bone meal, lime, miracle grow, epsum, gypsum, awesome.
Soil has all the nutrients a plant needs if you have a healthy living soil. I stopped using nutrients years ago.
I transplanted my tomatoes and the next time I mowed the lawn, I collected the clippings and spread them on top of the soil around the plants as mulch. Will the clippings add nitrogen to the soil as they decompose?
Yes, but not a significant amount either in the short or long term.
#NorthPhillyPeacePark loves
Too much nitrogen makes fruit that is woody. The stem actually grows through the fruit and shows as white spots in the meat as looking at the tomato slice. My observation. Anybody else?
Thanks for another great vid. A fine example of why the home gardening industry needs more regulation.
And standardization, and research
Where is the best place to get a soil test in Ontario?
Good question.
3-1-2
Very informative! I frequently see on the internet that using a high nitrogen (low phosphate, low potash) fertilizer results in vigorous leaf formation but inhibits flower (fruit) production. Is there any truth to this?
Yes, Robert touched on this in this video.
Oh, didn't catch it! Will rewatch.@@teresaedwards3659
Organic fertilizers tend to feed the soil in the long run, and synthetic fertilizers feed the plants since the latter are immediately bio available to the plants.
Soil isn't a living thing. It doesn't eat. It doesn't do anything for the microorganisms in the long run either. The number and type is constantly fluctuating due to innumerable variables.
nutrtion depends on sunlight, more sunlight equals more nutrition, equals more yield. Watch the weather forecast, at days where the sun shines more, feed more in the morning. Rainday feed less as it gets whashed away. Soil test is definatly a good idea, but the growth/uptake is definatly influenced by the weather. (Liquid Fertializer) For pure long term fertializer only the earth test is needed. Learn to read the leaves and add minerals to your earth. (magnesium /kalium /calcium /copper/zink stone powder)
Meds
Interesting idea - fertilize just before the sun comes out - but I am quite sure that is not the best idea. The nutrients need to get to roots, into the roots and up into the plant. Better to prime the plant ahead of time.
@@Gardenfundamentals1 Maybe try it with some plant, and see if it makes a difference, bor effects the magnesium uptake of the plant, faster leaf growth.
They dont need much. I only added some composted manure in the spring and they were alright.
I think I put too much phosphorus last year in one of my beds cuz nothing grows there. Any way to solve this?
Doubt that’s the problem, should wash away with rain
I thought it was the phosphorous level, not nitrogen, that increases the flower formation thus increases the fruit set...true? or not true?
If you increase your intake of calcium can you make your bones turn into adamantium? No. You need certain nutrients to grow. Consuming extra typically serves no purpose other than them being expelled in your waste.
There is not much information on the use of human urine as a nitrogen source even though it has been used since the beginning of time. What are your thoughts?
www.gardenmyths.com/urine-safe-garden/
@@Gardenfundamentals1 Well written article. Thank you. "Pickled pee might just become the next garden craze" That reminds me of the great song by Donovan 1967. "Electrical banana, Is gonna be a sudden craze".
I would never use any of those fertilizers you highlighted for tomatoes. Tomatoes use more K then N during it's life and the rate of uptake changes drastically depending on the stage they are in so the ratio must change with stage. The ratios of 3-1-2 and any of the fertilizers highlighted is why plants are consumed by fungi and have deformed tomatoes. N should never be higher than K at any stage, and high N levels will distort plant tissue causing cracks in the stems and opening a door to disease.
To much P will decrease nutrient uptake of Zinc, Iron, potassium, calcium, boron and copper. DON'T even think about those high phosphorous fertilizers. To much calcium will decrease uptake of nearly everything except Nitrogen, but to much nitrogen will decrease potassium uptake, and to much potassium decreases calcium uptake and vice versa. The problem with growing tomatoes is all these premixed ratios of fertilizers and the reason your plants are funky looking, with deformed fruit and infested with disease. There is no correct ratio fertilizer for tomatoes and if there was 4 would be needed. This is why soil farmers and hydroponic growers mix their own.
Someone sees blossom end rot when there is enough calcium in the soil but uptake was disrupted by to much phosphorous and right away they dump a pile of calcium nitrate on the soil causing a disruption of K, Fe, Mg, or B. The plant is so UNHEALTHY fungi see an easy target and turns it to dust. Final analysis, oh the damn blight killed my plants, no you did using these premixed fertilizers. I know how much fertilizer tomato plants need down the tenth of a gram, and per stage. Once the ratio is messed up and excessive in something in you are shooting in a dark hoping to hit something to fix it..
Hats off to this channel for trying to explain something which is very complicated to understand and even harder to explain because of all the relationships between so many inputs. Consider a video or two on math and why 0.02082 is so important to convert parts per million to grams of fertilizer per square feet.
The proper answer is, “ it depends on your soil.”
I been putting raw chicken shit in the bottom off the hole when I plant about 7 inches they seem to get it as they need it.
Always follow directions on the label! Only
🌸🌸🌸
Lawn fertilizer has to much nitrogen, it's for leaves not fruit. Use 10 10 10 or 20 20 20. Cow manuer is 1 1 1.
never use a 10-10-10
ruclips.net/video/1COpSNWSG8o/видео.html
I use 20 20 20 Miracle-Gro.
I use chicken poop fertilizer. Work well for me. ruclips.net/user/shortskzZLXU-E0PY?si=dgjC5UvkjViGSnqg
Don’t use MG…
Zero
Your video leave more questions than answers. Very frustrating.
How much? None! Tomatoes are inflammatory and encourage carbs/protein binding in the upper gi tract.....but anyway.......
Tell that to Italians lol.
I'm still eating tomatoes.
Another Dr. Gundry disciple.....
Tomatoes are fine.
Another Dr. Gundry disciple.......Tomatoes are fine.
@@usx06240 no, lyme disease taught me some things.... and once I healed I didn;t forget what I learned.....
@@usx06240 gundry has nothing to do with discussing how certain proteins bind with certain carbs in the upper gi tract, particularly when in the context of acidic food stuff.... but whatever, you got it all figured out.