Fertilizer ?

[Starlight]

Has anybody used Bill's Perfect Fertilizer 6-11-5 and also Spray and Grow micronutrient?

Is it good for the tomato plants and pepper plants? Potential problems if any?

Should, I use it? Yes or no and if so how do you use it?

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Starlight

Has anybody used Bill's Perfect Fertilizer 6-11-5 and also Spray and Grow micronutrient?

Is it good for the tomato plants and pepper plants? Potential problems if any?

Should, I use it? Yes or no and if so how do you use it?

I used to get these glossy small catalogs for Spray and Grow in the mail and the hype was over the top. When I Googled it last night it was the same hype online. And the Bill's Perfect ( ahem)fertilizer is named for Bill, who owns the Spray and Grow CO

6/11/5 NPK is close enough to standard 5/10/5 widely available with no hype.

So your choice.

Carolyn

[luigiwu]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

6/11/5 NPK is close enough to standard 5/10/5 widely available with no hype.

I just googled 5-10-5 and came up zip. Do you know if there is a brand name at the big box stores for this?

[Gardeneer]

Maybe Carolyn can help us with the role of NPK and how much of them (ratio wise) plants (tomatoes here) need.
If P is for flowering then a 1-2-1 (N-P-K) is like bloom booster. Do we need that ?
So far I have been using 16-16-16 and MG all purpose ( 24-8-16), which proportionally is high in N and very low on P. AND all my plants are loaded with buds and flowers. Not crazy but enough of them that the plants can support through fruiting cycle.
Al (tapla) in GW (container growing forum) has advocated that a 3-1-2 ratio is what most plants need and use.
I have also read in some studies that excess K can block the uptake of Magnesium. What is amazing ( maybe confusing) that Uof MO and Cornell have different recommendations when it comes to NPK ratio. Whom should I believe ? Mr. Bill ? HMMM
I have a feeling that tomato plant can thrive within a wide varied NPK ratios, just as it can thrive is a wide pH range.
I would think that an organization as big and as old as MG should have a few scientists to figure out this thing. Not a rocket science !!

[Gardeneer]

Here is yet another University recommendation:

WA State University :


"Typically, tomatoes require 1.5 to 2 ounces of nitrogen per
10 linear feet of planting bed and roughly equal amounts
of phosphorus and potassium. Prior to planting, submit
garden soil samples to a soil-testing laboratory for nutrient-
level testing. (See Further Reading section for information
on laboratories serving the Pacific Northwest.) Based on
test results, chose a fertilizer that meets the nitrogen, phos-
phorus, and potassium requirements of your site in order
to give your tomato plants the best possible care. For more
information on how to calculate the amount of fertilizer to
add to your tomato-growing area, see the publication
Soil...."
------------------------------------
This is similar to Cornell's recommendation.

[Starlight]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

I used to get these glossy small catalogs for Spray and Grow in the mail and the hype was over the top. When I Googled it last night it was the same hype online. And the Bill's Perfect ( ahem)fertilizer is named for Bill, who owns the Spray and Grow CO

6/11/5 NPK is close enough to standard 5/10/5 widely available with no hype.

So your choice.

Carolyn

Yep, that is what I got, a nice shiny, fancy catalog showing all these huge plants you'll get if you use the stuff. I wondered if it was hype or for real. Now I know. Thanks.

Originally Posted by luigiwu

I just googled 5-10-5 and came up zip. Do you know if there is a brand name at the big box stores for this?

I don't know about the 5-10-5. Maybe Carolyn will. I know that Vigoro Tomato and Garden with Calcium is sold at Home Depot and it is a 12-10-5 with 3% Calcium added.

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by Starlight

Yep, that is what I got, a nice shiny, fancy catalog showing all these huge plants you'll get if you use the stuff. I wondered if it was hype or for real. Now I know. Thanks.



I don't know about the 5-10-5. Maybe Carolyn will. I know that Vigoro Tomato and Garden with Calcium is sold at Home Depot and it is a 12-10-5 with 3% Calcium added.

This is like 2-2-1 ratio.
The TTF is almost 1-1-2 ratio ... 4 time more K, proportionally, than Viagro.

I just wonder how they come up with all sorts of ratios ? and for what reason ?
Call me skeptic !

Gardeneer

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Starlight

I don't know about the 5-10-5. Maybe Carolyn will. I know that Vigoro Tomato and Garden with Calcium is sold at Home Depot and it is a 12-10-5 with 3% Calcium added.

Star that sounds like a fairly good fertilizer to use on tomatoes especially the added calcium which seems to help with fruit set. I use Texas Tomato Food which has a good bit of calcium in it and it has worked great for me. I have also used several of the Miracle Grow soluble fertilizers with good success. The main reason I use the TTF is because of the much higher fruit set I get. That is really important down here in our heat which can really negatively affect fruit set especially as the season progresses. I can't use any of the high P fertilizers since my soil is extremely high in P from years and years of adding tons of manure to my garden.

Bill

[Starlight]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

This is like 2-2-1 ratio.
The TTF is almost 1-1-2 ratio ... 4 time more K, proportionally, than Viagro.

I just wonder how they come up with all sorts of ratios ? and for what reason ?
Call me skeptic !

Gardeneer

I have no idea. I figure somebody, somewhere had to do some major testing and recording. Basically what I been doing is following what folks here have recommended and so far it has worked. Keeping fingers and toes crossed it continues.

Originally Posted by b54red

Star that sounds like a fairly good fertilizer to use on tomatoes especially the added calcium which seems to help with fruit set. I use Texas Tomato Food which has a good bit of calcium in it and it has worked great for me. I have also used several of the Miracle Grow soluble fertilizers with good success. The main reason I use the TTF is because of the much higher fruit set I get. That is really important down here in our heat which can really negatively affect fruit set especially as the season progresses. I can't use any of the high P fertilizers since my soil is extremely high in P from years and years of adding tons of manure to my garden.

Bill

Bill... The reason I got the Vigoro for Toms with Calcium is because my Kmart was out of the Tomato Tone that Ray had recommended way back and I had found and used. I should have kept my mouth quiet instead of telling other folks about it and where to get it. I called the other Kmart over in Columbus Ga, but the garden person had no idea what I was asking for. I hope they get some more in, but with the stores closing, I figured I better get something before it all gone. I use the regular Vigoro on my flowering plants and they love the stuff. Same as Osmocote but a whole lot cheaper.

I been using it and Epsom Salt every other week 1 Tbs per plant and I water with MG think my waterhose attached fertilizer siphon mixer is set at about 1ppm. I make a 5 gallon bucket of water add 1/3 cup of powdered MG, mix and water the plants. Pain in the rump when the bucket empties and you have to make more, but it works and works good. Best few bucks I ever spent.

When ya get a chance, what does the TTF have in it, please. The Tomato Tone is a 3-4-6

3% N which is 0.2% Ammoniacal Nitrogen
0.7% Other water soluble Nitrigen
2.1% Water insoluble Nitrogen from Hydrolyed feather meal, Pasterurized Poultry Manure, Cocoa Meal, Bone Meal, Alfalfa Meal, Greensand ( whatever that is) Humates ( don't know that one either) Sulfate of Potash
and Gypsum.

Phosphate 4%
Soluble Potash 6%
Calcium 8%
Sulfur 3%

The Tomato Tone also has 895 Colony Forming Units per gram of the following species:

Acidovorax facilis ... 21 CFU
Bacillus licheniformis 208 CFU
Bacillus megaterium 208 CFU
Bacillus pumilus 208 CFU
Bacillus subtilis 208 CFU
Cellulomonas flavigena 21CFU
Parnibacillus polymyxa 21 CFU

Does the TTF have the above species in it too? Is that TTF something I need to order online?

90F today and tomorrow, but got a feeling it is going to be even hotter temps and the humidity so bad already. I am soaked in sweat just froma few hours out this morning.

I am hoping that even if I loose blooms from heat and humidity that I can keep the plants alive and healthy to maybe start producing when we cool down a bit. At least I hope they will make some tomatoes then and I will not be having a season of just pretty foliage. With me, it is quite possible.

I'm out there now trying to make like a bee since there are no pollinators other than my one bee and I have lots of blooms and it would be nice to not loose them all.

I tell ya, I feel like them monkeys at the zoo, where they always picking and hunting through ever square inch of each others fur. Takes me a while, but I out there checking every leaf top and bottom for critters and grey mold. I have to watch though cuz I had a bunch of baby Assassin Bugs hatch on one of my tomato plants and the darn things don't want to let me check the foliage and they hurt if they bite ya. No bugs, but they done claimed that area as their territory. So far , so good thanks to your bleach spray method.

[b54red]

I love assassin bugs. Most pest free year I ever had was 3 years ago when my garden was absolutely over run with assassin bugs. Last year for some reason I had none til late August and also had more problems with aphids than I have ever had so I think there must be a cause and affect there.

Texas Tomato Food has a lot of stuff in it but without looking at the label I can't tell you for sure what all is included. Whatever is in it works. I am still getting good fruit set despite the heat and even my single stem plants are loaded with tomatoes. Here is a link to the Urban Farm store and I have to buy mine online because no one carries it around here that I know of. I would probably buy it online anyway since I usually buy a case of gallon jugs because I use so much of it in a year.

http://theurbanfarm.com/legr1.html

Bill

[Starlight]

Thanks Bill! : )