Tomatoe tone vs garden tone

[gregory]

I noticed both Home Depot and lowes carry the espoma products except
For Tomatoe tone. Is there a big difference between the two?

U probably know there is a picture of various veggies and tomatoes being one of them

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by gregory

I noticed both Home Depot and lowes carry the espoma products except
For Tomatoe tone. Is there a big difference between the two?

U probably know there is a picture of various veggies and tomatoes being one of them

Not a lot here are the links to both data sheets.
http://www.espoma.com/p_consumer/pdf...Esp_Tomato.pdf
http://www.espoma.com/p_consumer/pdf...Esp_Garden.pdf

[Al@NC]

I had trouble finding Tomato tone here also, Kmart was the only place I found it...

[Father'sDaughter]

I don't know why, but every store of this type around here carries the full-line as well, but not Tomato Tone. Small nurseries are the only place I've ever seen it on the shelves.

[Barb_FL]

I've bought the 18 lb TT from Acehardware.com and had them ship it to my local Ace so no shipping charges. It was the best price I found for 18 lbs.

[pauldavid]

I have had bad luck finding this too. I have found Garden Tone and I think Rose Tone, but zero Tomato Tone! I have looked at Home Depot, Lowe's, Wal Mart, Atwoods and nothing. Going to try Hi-Yield Tomato & Vegetable. I think its 4-10-6 but not organic. Anybody try this or Jobe's tomato spikes?

[cjp1953]

I too had trouble finding Tomato Tone,so I bought Garden Tone and will use it with Cotton Seed Meal.I found Cotton Seed Meal that is fed to cattle,50# bag for $25 at a local feed store.That should last me a few seasons.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by cjp1953

I too had trouble finding Tomato Tone,so I bought Garden Tone and will use it with Cotton Seed Meal.I found Cotton Seed Meal that is fed to cattle,50# bag for $25 at a local feed store.That should last me a few seasons.

I cant remember who said they paid that much for a 50 pound bag a while back here.
Yesterday I was at the feed store and they get 13 dollars for a 50 pound bag.
I was really glad to hear that.

Worth

[cjp1953]

I know that prices can get high fertilizer but I paid $9 for 7lbs of Cotton Seed Meal last fall that said fertilizer.It was your advice that I ask for the cattle feed witch they were out of at the time.Now they have the 50 lb. bag for $25.I don't know if I can find it closer to me as this feed store is 15 miles away.Garden and Tomato Tone is very pricey and you don't get 50 lb. for $25.I'm happy with the price.Thank you Worth1 for you good advice!

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by cjp1953

I know that prices can get high fertilizer but I paid $9 for 7lbs of Cotton Seed Meal last fall that said fertilizer.It was your advice that I ask for the cattle feed witch they were out of at the time.Now they have the 50 lb. bag for $25.I don't know if I can find it closer to me as this feed store is 15 miles away.Garden and Tomato Tone is very pricey and you don't get 50 lb. for $25.I'm happy with the price.Thank you Worth1 for you good advice!

You are more than welcome.
The place where this is at is about 25 miles from me.
While I was there I looked at pressure canners but they want almost 100 more for what I want than I can get on line.
And I forgot to pick up some wicks for my kerosine lanterns.
But I did find some sulfur I needed and they did have the wee bags of the cotton seed meal for a hefty price.
I completely forgot to look for tomato tone.

Worth

[lrussillo]

In DC--they have Tomato Tone -- 18 lb for ~$22.

[Worth1]

I dont know if all of you guys have been reading some of the soil test results coming back to people but here is my take on them.

Many of them have been saying that the P and K were fine or way too high.
The results also said the the soil was lacking in N.
For this reason I have always used either a balanced fertilizer or one that was higher in N.
Right now I am using Plant Tone that is 5-3-3 and Ladybug that is 3-1.5-2.
Before I was using Miracle Gro 24-8-16 all purpose plant food.
and I have tried Miracle Gro 18-18-21 Tomato food.
I am using up the last of it on some flowering plants I have.

Worth

[lrussillo]

I use Logan Labs soil test and Steve Solomon & Erica Reinheimer's (The Intelligent Gardener) work sheets to figure out amendments. I have had excellent results--after starting out with that good old Virginia clay. I use ag lime, gypsum, greensand, potassium sulfate, bone meal, kelp and feather meal. I have started throwing bone meal into the compost heap. Am also charging biochar, and will spread that this year.

I use a little Tomato Tone to give the tomatoes a boost. Am planning to give them the aspirin treatment too. Also will treat the curcurbits, mondara, and zinnias to try to keep the powdery mildew at bay.

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by lrussillo

I use Logan Labs soil test and Steve Solomon & Erica Reinheimer's (The Intelligent Gardener) work sheets to figure out amendments. I have had excellent results--after starting out with that good old Virginia clay. I use ag lime, gypsum, greensand, potassium sulfate, bone meal, kelp and feather meal. I have started throwing bone meal into the compost heap. Am also charging biochar, and will spread that this year.

I use a little Tomato Tone to give the tomatoes a boost. Am planning to give them the aspirin treatment too. Also will treat the curcurbits, mondara, and zinnias to try to keep the powdery mildew at bay.

No doubt all that will work. The question for many of us is whether there is a cheaper way to do the same thing? One reason I was able to scale up my garden into a market garden/small farm is that I spend practically nothing on amendments. You can't loose 3,000 dollars an acre if you don't spend 3,000 dollars an acre! One of the simplest ways to radically reduce inputs is use tomato tone or other fertilizers only sparingly and only in the tomato transplant hole. Seeing as how that's what I do, I have seen no difference between tomato tone, garden tone, Jobe's organic vegetable and tomato, etc..... then mulch only a small area around the plants. In my case either a 2 foot wide strip or a 4 foot wide double strip.

For the rest of the soil? That gets free inputs or no inputs at all..that's a hard and fast rule. If you never break that rule you'll never produce the stereotypical $64.00 a pound tomato!

How to restore soil health and fertility to the rest with minimal inputs?
Gabe Brown's 5 keys to soil health
1) Least amount of mechanical disturbance possible
2) Armor on the soil
3) Diversity
4) Living root in the ground as long as possible
5) Animal impact


PS I don't have animals yet, but as soon as I can add chickens rabbits or anything like that I will. For now it is a mower to simulate grazing.

[lrussillo]

I have a very small garden with raised beds (~250 sq ft total growing area), planted very intensively. I also grow over the winter. Initial investment has paid off, garden is coming into balance very quickly, so less amendments are needed. Once I have the cover crops going, it should be close to a closed system. Very small property so limited composting material.

If you don't garden in clay--then you don't get clay. We are sitting on top of a 200- to 600-foot layer of clay--the stuff they make bricks out of, ph about 5, no drainage. Worms don't like the stuff. It has to be dealt with via ag lime, gypsum, and greensand.