Tomato Fertilizer Alternatives for an Average Gardener

Growing juicy and delicious tomatoes is easy, but there are some tricks you can use to further enhance the quality of the produce you reap from your tomato garden. First of all, decide on the type of tomato to utilize. The old fashioned sweet-type variants are suggested, but some of the new hybrids are acknowledged to be more immune  to pests and a variety of fungal diseases. Some variants are sweeter than the rest when developed in an ideal location, while others are highly dependent on soil class.

You also have to consider the horticulture techniques you are going to employ for your tomato plots. You may pinch out the suckers, as some gardeners do, but you can also opt not to. There are gardeners who build cages or put up stakes to hold up the plants, while other growers let their crops trail on the ground.

After you have selected a type and a plant training style, the next thing to do is decide which fertilizer to make use of. Tomatoes demand a consistently high amount of micronutrients. Because of this, you’re required to choose a fertilizer that has a high amount of the required minerals, such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

Before buying a fertilizer product, check the label for the NPK ratio. The numbers you will see there will correspond to a specific N-P-K formula. For instance, a packet with 5-5-5 on it indicates equal parts of N, P, and K are present, while 5-1-1 means the tomato fertilizer contains five times as much nitrogen as phosphorus and potassium.

Each ingredient plays an essential role in the development of your tomato plants. For greener leaves, nitrogen is crucial. For better and on-time blossoming and fruiting, you need the right volume of phosphorus. Rooting and root enlargement can be improved by potassium.

If you’re set on going natural all the way, these nutrients are readily available in organic form by using fish emulsion. This is a liquid fertilizer created from fish waste and is very fast acting. The fast release attribute is specifically important for a heavy feeder like tomato. You can apply this tomato fertilizer directly on your plants, or you can apply them to the soil in granule form.