Tomato Fertilizer
Tips for Choosing a Good Tomato Fertilizer
Choosing the right tomato fertilizer and understanding how to use it can be a trying situation for a first time tomato gardener. There are plenty of store-bought products available that claim to offer miracle growth for your plants, but how can you be sure if they are really the best choice? We are going to take a look at the ingredients that make up a good tomato fertilizer as well as a few interesting homemade fertilizer "secrets" that you might find helpful in boosting your tomato plant's nutrition.
There are certain necessities that your tomato plant will need in order to grow to its fullest potential. Calcium and magnesium are a few of the vital nutrients that many people tend to overlook when choosing a standard "NPK" fertilizer. While an NPK fertilizer is definitely an essential when growing tomatoes, it is important that you either fine one that has added calcium and magnesium or that you find an alternative method for providing your plant with these minerals.
You may be wondering, "What is with all this talk about NPK, anyway?" NPK is the elemental abbreviation for Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium--nutrients that all plants need. Unlike what we learned at school about photosynthesis, some plants do need a little more than carbon dioxide, water, and the sun's energy in order to thrive. They can make their own sugar and carbohydrates from this combination of elements, however they do still need a healthy balance of the NPK elements. Normally, a plant would receive these elements through nutrient rich soil, but potted plants or plants that have been grown in soil that is lacking in nutrition require fertilizer to provide these elements.
One of the most highly recommended tomato fertilizer combinations is an NPK with a balance of 5-6-5 or 4-5-6. What do these numbers mean? They are a way for gardeners to gauge the fertilizer's balance of NPK based on the percentage of each element. The first number is for nitrogen, the second for phosphorus, and the third is for potassium. You may also see 10-10-10, 20-20-20, and so-on, so make sure you pay attention to which type you grab.
Although store-bought fertilizers are generally quite helpful in giving your tomato plant a much-needed nutrient boost, they aren't your only option. You can actually make your own fertilizer at home using ingredients from your very own kitchen. Start the foundation of your fertilizer by raking together a pile of leaves. Steer clear of the leaves of black walnut trees, as they can cause more harm to your tomatoes than good. The leaves you rake together now can make an excellent fertilizer for next year's crops. Over time, add things to the leaves such as dried-out egg shells and used (dried-out) coffee grounds, vegetable shavings, grass clippings, and even rabbit droppings. Cat hair (or your own, if your hair brush needs cleaning) is a great way to boost the nitrogen content in your fertilizer. Be sure not to add too much of any one item, as this can throw off the balance of your homemade tomato fertilizer. For instance, adding too many egg shells to your compost pile will cause it to have a greater calcium content, which isn't necessarily a good thing.
As you can guess, homemade fertilizers do have to be allowed time to break down, as you want a fairly moist compost, which is why we mentioned making next year's batch of compost a year in advance. Buying fertilizer from the store doesn't make you a lazy gardener, nor are their products inferior. As long as you understand what to look for in a fertilizer and pick out the right type, your tomato plants will get the nutrients they need.