Tomato Plant Food

[rainbowgardener]

Banana peels are good and a lot of people bury a banana peel in the planting hole for planting tomatoes. But of course the nutrients aren't released until the peel breaks down, so it's not a quick fix.

Bone meal is pretty high in P and K and has no N, so it is good to balance things out if you have given too much N. And being ground in to meal, the nutrients are released a bit sooner.

You may be treating a problem that doesn't exist. You said "I may have gone too light" on the fertilizer. What makes you think so? Are you seeing any problems, stunted growth, no flowering, yellowing, etc?

I would not take the directions on the fertilizer package re how much too use and how often too seriously. Remember they are in the business of selling their product, so they want to get you to use as much as you can, short of burning your plants. If your soil is decent, you probably don't need as much as they say. If your soil is not decent, then you should work on fixing that, which fertilizer does not do.

I'm another one who never uses any actual fertilizer (just compost and mulch). All tomatoes need is good rich organic soil.

[amylong]

I am sorry if I mislead in my post, I haven't use any fertilizer besides tea bags, and a few banana peels when I first put them into the smart pots so I thought maybe it was due to refertilze. I think my plants look ok, they are green and starting to put out blooms. I thought maybe since it is about to put out blooms that it may need some fertilizer. I probably won't use the fertlizer that I brought. I know for bone meal, people make them into fine particles? Is it ok if I bury whole bones? I know it will be slower. I have dried seaweed (like the ones use to make sushi) is that useable? thank you:)

[Dillbert]

bananas are supposed to be a high K thing - don't know if the K is in the fruit or the peel or both.

the one issue tho is it takes time for stuff to decompose to the point the elemental compounds are in a form the plant(s) can use. for a "quick fix" consider green sand or a very weak solution of wood ash.

wood ash is very alkaline - over application can result in not-so-nice dead burnt to a crisp plants - half a cup in a gallon of water is a good starting point. wood ash potassium is highly soluble.