Fertilizer Question

[bikeukeguy]

I am new to Vegetable gardening, I have done some hydroponics, but no Tomatoes. I just received some seeds from Victory Seeds and will be germinating them really soon.
I am either going to use 2 containers, both 18 gallon Totes and am inclining toward a simple holes in the bottom design rather than the EarthTainer3. But am still undecided.
What ever way I go I will be adherring to what I learned in Hydroponics. Different Ferilizers for different stages with a flush between Veg and Flower and Flower to Bloom. With a indoor Gardening Store about 150 yards away I have my choice of a variety of brands, Foxfire, Roots, Nectar for The Gods (I do like that Name..), etc. All are Organic and I do know that Foxfire uses Tomatos for testing all their products, another plus. It also seems that their Potting Soil/Grow media, Roots Organic and Foxfire Happy Frog are both ideal for container use, with either a Coco or Humus base with Guano, kelp and worm castings, and perlite galore. Both are designed for good drainage.
So has anyone tried this method with similar products ?
Robert

[fortyonenorth]

bikeukeguy - it sounds like you're on the right track. Many of the same concepts apply whether you're growing in soil or hydroponically, but there are major differences. With regard to fertility, think of hydroponics as a agile sports car and container culture as an 18 wheeler. You can turn the corner in either, but the sports car will respond to your inputs much quicker. Timing your inputs to growth cycle looks good on paper, but its not as precise as with hydroponnics. Flushing between phases isn't as effective either. With organic fertilizers, you're dealing with physical particles - not just fertilizer in solution. And, various nutrient elements will be held (to varying degrees) on the soil colloid and organic matter. When you flush, you're not going to flush all nutrients equally. For example, you'll flush away stuff like phosphorus, boron, and potassium - which are not held tightly or not at all - while leaving behind other elements which are tightly held.

There's a lot to consider, but have fun, expect to make mistakes, and learn. After all, even the "mistakes" usually taste pretty good.

[bikeukeguy]

I do believe I am on the right track with the soil but I did not realize the volume probably has alot to do with actual feeding, so onto Plan B. I was just on Foxfarm's Web site and the have a product
Peace of Mind® Tomato & Vegetable Organic Fertilizer (7-4-5)
This is a dry Organic Fertilizer that is applied less often and seems to have some nice beneficial additives and appears to be a bit less turbo charged. I may try this route on the first grow.
Thanks for the info...
Robert

[willyb]

Too much N You will get too much folage at the loss of fruit. The right ratio is 2-6-3 or as close to that as you and get or make. It is good from seedlings to harvest. No need to change for fruiting.

[amideutch]

The correct NPK ratio for Tomatoes is 2-1-3. GE Floramato is pretty close to that ratio. The other product I have used for my container grow outs is BioBizz Biogrow with excellent results. FloraMato is inorganic and BioBizz is organic. MycoGrow Soluable (fungi.com) would be a good product to innoculate your growing medium with during plant out and they are located in your neck of the woods. Ami

[mdvpc]

I used this past winter in my greenhouse tomatoes this GH product:

http://generalhydroponics.com/site/g...anova_grow.pdf

I alternated the FloranNova grow with Saltwater Farms Sea Start 0-4-4.

Had my best winter greenhouse season ever.

I also used actinovate as a foliar, and great white myco as a soil drench every 2-3 weeks.

[fortyonenorth]

Originally Posted by willyb

Too much N You will get too much folage at the loss of fruit. The right ratio is 2-6-3 or as close to that as you and get or make. It is good from seedlings to harvest. No need to change for fruiting.

What's of primary importance is that nutrients are available in the right proportions from the soil's perspective so as to minimize nutrient competition and antagonisms. The plant simply needs the necessary nutrients to be available at the appropriate times and in adequate amounts for each phase of growth.

I wonder if these "ideal" ratios are a legacy of the synthetic age, when fertilizers were applied in immediately available forms. In the organic world, applying 2-6-3 (or 2-1-3 or whatever) doesn't mean that a specific proportion of nutrients will be available to the plant at any given time. You have to look at the ingredients and application instructions (initial + subsequent dosing). Even then, nutrient availability is subject to any number of factors.

I'm not familiar with the ingredients in the Fox Farms product, but let's use it's NPK as an example. 7-4-5 may seem like a lot of N in proportion to PK. But, if the N is from a quickly available form, like blood meal, then it's going to provide a quick boost of N precisely when the plant needs it. By the time fruit has commenced, it will have tailed off to perhaps 30-40% of it's peak. P from rock phosphate will be more slowly available than P from bone meal. K, most commonly from potassium sulfate or K-Mag are both minerals and take some time to become available.

To complicate matters further one has to consider pre-existing substrate and environmental conditions, not to mention container substrate. Are you using a straight peat-lite mix? Or, a premium mix that's been fortified with forest humus, kelp meal, worm castings, bat guano, mycos etc. etc. If you're using mycos, you don't need as much P to get the same response.

So, just a long-winded way of saying that there's a lot that factors into the NPK equation, especially with regard to organic fertilizers.