Tomato Plant Fertilizer – Different Kinds of Fertilizer to Make Your Tomatoes Grow Healthy
One most important thing to consider in raising tomato plants is the way you feed them. If you take proper care for your tomato and you feed them with the right elements and nutrients that they need, then, you will surely have healthy tomato plants. Not only this, but you are also guaranteed that your plants will bear more fruits.
Tomato plant fertilizer is the key thing to keep your plants healthy and full of fruits. It is true that gardeners really avoid pesticides which are harmful for our plants. Therefore, you must ensure that your plants will grow healthier with the use of fertilizer that will suit your plant’s requirements.
One common and natural organic fertilizer that you can use for your tomatoes is the cow manure. You should use aged or composted cow manure. If you try to use fresh cow manure for your tomato plants, it will eventually burn the plant.
It does not literally mean that fresh cow manure burns the plants, but the high salt content of the cow manure leaves the plant lacking of water because cow manure abstract the water from the plants due to its salt.
If you prefer to use cow manure, you should mix it with the soil before planting the tomato. And then, you must top dress the plant with the cow manure once every two weeks. The amount should be a handful of cow manure. Top dress or layer the soil with cow manure about ¼” thick.
You can also use a miracle grow to fertilize your tomato plant. This is not as organic as the cow manure but your plant will surely get enough amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
You can buy miracle grow at home depot, lowes, walmart etc and you should see the numbers 15-30-15 printed in the box. Mix 1 tsp of miracle grow in a gallon of water and water the tomato plant every two weeks.
You should always remember that when using either of the two products, you must water the plant regularly and also water it between fertilizer applications.
Cow manure has 0.3-0.2-0.1 NPK (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium) content while miracle grow has 15-30-15 NPK content. Obviously, the ratio of the three nutrients in cow manure is not balanced, having higher amount of nitrogen.
Cow manure has 1.5 times more nitrogen than phosphorus while miracle grow has 1.5 times more phosphorus than nitrogen. Therefore, miracle grow can be a better fertilizer for your tomato plants. It is because it will prevent production of yellow leaves and wilting of the plants. Too much nitrogen will cause this problem.
There are still a lot of different fertilizers available for your tomato plants. I juts have presented the two among those common and popular fertilizers but these two are useful and will really help you grow healthy tomatoes and harvest more fruits.