First feed

[jinjamiki]

Any recommendations as to when to commence feeding?
I have been told by a so-called "expert", To start feeding a dilute high phosphorus fertilizer before flowering. Has anyone any experience of this?

[Cole_Robbie]

Are you growing in soil? Fertilizer requirements are going to depend a lot on your soil. I use mostly nitrogen for seedlings, a high phosphate fertilizer from planting out until fruitset, and then a high potassium fertilizer while fruiting. By contrast, there are people on this site who grow in very rich soil and get good results with no fertilizer at all.

[jinjamiki]

Thanks for your prompt reply.
I'm growing in compost in an unheated greenhouse! I grew from seed using a heated cold frame. I probably planted the seed too early, as the plants became too tall for the cold frame. Not leggy, good stocky plants but too tall, so I've planted them out in the greenhouse.
Temperatures here, range from 60F during the day, to 40/42F at night. Using a candle plantpot heater I can keep the greenhouse to a minimum of about 48F. The plants are about 14" tall, Miravsky Div, Delicious and Gardeners Delight. I understood that feeding shouldn't start until the first truss had formed, but this guy was insisting that better results could be obtained by starting a dilute feed immediately. I thought I'd ask the experts !