Sweet Million

[HoneyBerry]

I bought a Sweet Million tomato plant start. The care instructions say to amend the soil with all purpose organic fertilizer and lime. But I think that adding lime is best if done in the fall. It's not fall now, it's summer, so should I add lime to the soil or not? I didn't amend with lime last fall or any year prior. I have good soil and I usually can grow tomatoes without adding anything. I mixed in some peat moss a couple of years ago. So the soil is soft volcanic river bed soil mixed with peat moss. I have another tomato plant close to the Sweet Million, a different variety, and it is doing well. I planted that one a few weeks ago. I'm just not sure about whether or not to add lime, at this point.

[rainbowgardener]

Tomatoes like their soil slightly acidic, pH 6 - 6.8. So unless your soil was very acid and you needed to bring it up to pH 6, I don't know why you would lime them. I don't know if they were thinking of the lime not for the pH, but for the calcium, as a Blossom End Rot preventative. But still doesn't make sense, because BER is about the plant's ability to uptake the calcium. Usually there is plenty of calcium in the soil. Inconsistent watering is the commonest cause of BER.

So I wouldn't worry about adding lime, now or ever (as noted unless your soil is more acid than pH 6).

[HoneyBerry]

Thank you!