Earthbox/EarthTainer and Urban Farms BioActive Fertilizer

[jjones]

I HAVE been doing quite a bit of searching and reading on Tomatoville and other sites, so I apologize if I'm asking something already well-discussed, just please point me to what I overlooked.

I had a very successful (4th) tomato season using nine Earthboxes, with Promix BX (2nd planting), 1lb of Dr. Q's 7-7-7 (shorter, center strip), 1 lb of dolomite, weekly calcium nitrate "snack", and foliar spaying about every five days with Spray-n-Grow Perfect Blend Trio (switching out Bob's Perfect Fertilizer with SeaCom PGR after a couple weeks), with Actinovate added to the spray mix. Any leftover spray, I applied to the roots, at the base of the plant. Large beautiful plants, abundant fruit, but a bit of work, and eighteen huge plants maxed out the capacity of my powered 5 liter sprayer.

I expect to plant a fall crop in a few weeks, and I'd like to experiment, especially if I can cut down (or eliminate) foliar feeding in the heat and humidity, maybe just spraying Actinovate, etc., as needed.

So, my questions are: Has anyone used Urban Farms Bioactive in the fertilizer strip in their Earthboxes/EarthTainers? How much (two pounds???)? Did you supplement with Urban Farms liquid Vegetable Fertilizer and/or Texas Tomato Food? With what method, concentration, and frequency did you supplement? Any actual issues with dispensing Urban Farms liquid fertilizers through the Earthbox Automatic Watering System (AWS)? I have an AWS that I have never installed.

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge.

[Ed of Somis]

jj...I have planted an EB for the first time...so I am no expert. However, the EB forum is very helpful. Posts there have made it clear that sticking to recommended practices/formats is the way to go. Freelancing with ferts, non-dolomites, etc should be done at your own risk... for experimentation if you must. goodluck.

[tnpeppers]

There is a huge Urban Farm thread here at T'Ville that the manufacturers of TTF monitor...post your question there, and they are bound to respond. As far as Earth Boxes go; I make up a batch of TTF (per instructions) and pour a 20-ounce bottle of that solution (1 tsp per gallon of TTF) down the tube of each Earth Box every two weeks...my 64 plants are LOADED with blossoms and green tomatoes...LOADED. Coincidence? I don't think so.

[Sun City Linda]

I have been growing tomatoes in EBs for several years. I now use a synthetic fert, like 10-10-10, I also use calcium nitrate at one teaspoon per EB per week as a snack. Other than the required dolomite lime, that's it. I live in an arid climate so I don't need to spray much and rarely do. Mites are my biggest problem. My tomato plants don't look that beautiful as time goes on, but I do get abundant fruit!

[jjones]

Ed of Somis:
I'm pretty familiar with the EB forum; their members' collective advice made even my first EB a tremendous success. However, I believe the conventional wisdom over there is that while most other vegetables do well with an organic fertilizer strip in the EB, tomatoes generally perform much, much better with a synthetic 7-7-7 or 10-10-10 fertilizer. A possible exception is using an organic fertilizer strip in "experienced" EB medium that previously was fertilized synthetically, likely due to residual synthetic nutrients from the synthetic fertilizer.

tnpeppers:
Yeah, I read the whole thread, and I intend to try the Texas Tomato Food, thanks to all of the positive member input. I hope that because of the popularlarity of TTF exhibited on this forum, some of the Tomatoville members might have some experience with Urban Farms' dry, organic fertilizer. Instead of reposting my thread, I think I'll email my questions to the folks at Urban Farms and invite them to respond here if they wish.

Sun City Linda:
I first tried foliar feeding when I was going to spray some plants with Actinovate anyway. I was impressed with the results. This spring I began using SeaCom PGR, after reading posts about it here on Tomatoville. I was really impressed with the visible boost after only a single application of the SeaCom.

Thanks for your responses.