organic liquid fertilizer for tomatoes

[Dean A]

Hi Fellow Gardeners!

Can anyone tell me the best liquid organic fertilizer for tomatoes. I'm in Canada and where I can get it?

Thanks for your help!
Dean

[imafan26]

There are a lot of organic fertilizers available. If you are planting in pots then just use fish emulsion and kelp. Most garden centers will carry a line of organic products.

If you are planting in ground. It is best to start by adding compost and manure in the fall to your bed. Organic requires that you constantly add compost for the carbon. Liquid fertilizers will provide faster releasing nutrients like nitrogen but the basics of organic gardening is to feed the soil and build up the soil web so it can feed the plants. A liquid diet primarily feeds the plants. If you are fertilizing just to feed the plants than why choose organic?

BTW unless you have a large enough soil volume in pots, there is probably not a large enough microbe population to support plants. You will be obligated to provide fertilizer like fish emulsion to support most vegetable growth to maturity. If you are supplying more than 10% of the nutrients through additional feeding like compost or manure tea, fish emulsion, kelp meal, etc, then the soil is not sustaining the plants, the fertilizer is.

[rainbowgardener]

Did you scroll down to the Similar Topics at the bottom of the page? Lots more discussion of your question.

[digitS']

I do very little growing of tomatoes in pots but have had a few in my backyard for about 4 or 5 years. Usually, I have fairly standard size varieties in about 5 gallons of compost. Last year, I tried mixing the compost with soil, about 50:50. I'll go back to 100% compost this year.

Fish emulsion works fairly well with tomatoes. It isn't likely that the gardener is actually applying a whole lot of fertilizer at a time so it's a good idea to schedule several applications. I don't usually use the emulsion for tomatoes in the garden, opting for dry organic fertilizer and the potted plants are growing in pretty dang good compost. So, I don't really know how many times for fertilizing would be good if there is any question about the growing media in pots or soil. It would be a good idea to recognize that tomatoes are quite "heavy feeders."

I use the Alaska 5-1-1 fish emulsion.

Steve

[imafan26]

The orginal poster did not say whether the tomatoes are in the ground or pots. Organic liquid fertilizer would have to be applied weekly especially when the plants are very young and growing.

[Gary350]

The BEST organic fertilizer I have found, mix soil with water then stir well. Water your plants with the muddy looking water. When I buy plants in 4 pack and 6 pack plant trays like tomatoes, peppers, etc, I water them with muddy water until they double in size about 4 days then transplant them in the garden