Fertilizing and rainy days, a quick container question.

[squirrel789]

Hello TV folks,

This may be a silly question, but I am new to both fertilizing and growing tomatoes in containers. Although I have learned a lot here at TV. Anyway here goes:

It's lightly raining all day today here. I had hoped to use some of the TFF I just got and wondered if this is a waste or not. I know that rain washes out nutrients, and that typically in most containers (5, 10, or 15 gallons), the water moves through quickly and probably it would be a waste to add any TFF since it's water soluble and not time-release and would it likely wash out with the rain.

However, my experimental setup is a 170 gallon container (2' deep horse trough w/drainage holes) with multiple plants and I wondered if fertilizing during a light rain might help wash that TFF down, but not out. The hope being that it will put the nutrients right near the roots where I assume it should be.

The mix has some compost but no garden soil (other components are sphagnum peat and vermiculite), and the starter plants were planted about 14" vertically down in the container. Am I wasting my TFF here, or might this be a good method?

Also will the peat or vermiculite absorb any of the fertilizer and keep in reach of the roots, or do these components only retain water?

I guess the same questions would apply to an automated soaker-hose-on-a-timer system, which I assume will be necessary later this summer as it's hot and dry here in July/August? Would I skip the regular watering and water only with TFF, which would take awhile because of the big container size. Or, perhaps just add the TFF in addition to a morning and/or evening watering regimen?

Any thoughts are appreciated, and I really love this forum. I've been obsessing over my container patio garden as it's my first time without an in-ground space to work with. I've have a million questions to ask, and I really appreciate those you have taken time to help with the ones I've asked so far

Thanks!

[zeuspaul]

I admire your enthusiasm. I think you will find that rain will benefit the fertilizer. Rain water is soft so it acts as a better transport for fertilizer than water with minerals which can react with nutrients.

[squirrel789]

Great to know! I would hate to be wasting a fertilizer like TTF by flushing it too quickly through the container with no benefit. If that is even how it works. Like I said I admit I'm a total newbie when it comes to fertilizer and how the tomato roots can utilize it.

I do wonder if any of the growing medium components, like the peat or vermiculite, help keep this stuff where the roots can reach it? If they help store water, then does it follow that they also help store the water-soluble fertilizer?

I plan to keep trying different methods with the TFF and would love to hear what others think or have experienced.

Thanks for the response!

[Stvrob]

Between the top of your soil and the holes in the bottom are many inches of water in storage.
Look at it this way, When you add water to the top and stop when you begin to see water come out the bottom, the water coming out the bottom is NOT the same water you just added to the top (unless the soil was perfectly dry in which case the plants would have been dead). Say the field capacity of your container soil is 50% and your container is 20" deep, then there is 10" of water in your soil when water begins to drip out the bottom. You are not going to completely flush your soil unless you get at least 10" of rain.

These numbers are just made up, I dont know the field capacity of YOUR soil, or how deep your container is. But in principal it should put the idea of flushing in perspective.

[squirrel789]

Originally Posted by Stvrob

Between the top of your soil and the holes in the bottom are many inches of water in storage.
Look at it this way, When you add water to the top and stop when you begin to see water come out the bottom, the water coming out the bottom is NOT the same water you just added to the top (unless the soil was perfectly dry in which case the plants would have been dead). Say the field capacity of your container is 20% and your container is 20" deep, then there is 4" of water in your soil when water begins to drip out the bottom. You are not going to completely flush your soil unless you get at least 4" of rain.

These numbers are just made up, I dont know the field capacity of YOUR soil, or how deep your container is. But in principal it should put the idea of flushing in perspective.

Thanks for the info, I learn more here literally every day!

I have a lot of peat and coarse vermiculite in my newbie mix, which should hold water pretty well. I guess that means it holds the water soluble nutrients as well. The container is 2' deep and 170 gallons total, so I am guessing what I fertilize with will stick around for while until watered/rained on again. That should be good for the roots right?

Thanks for helping me put this into perspective. Good fertilizer isn't cheap and I'd hate to be wasting it. Luckily it sounds like I'm not!

Thanks, and happy growing! I appreciate the time folks on this forum put into to reading and responding to people who are new here. I think the members here should be proud, as many other internet forums can be sort of exclusive and snarky... You guy's really help us newbies trying to learn, instead of just making this ONLY a place for established friends to chat. I hope you all know how much it's appreciated!