fertilizing

[jordanleereynols]

I got ten free bags of 10-10-10 from my uncle. Which I was hoping would save me from having to buy anything else. I was wondering what would be the best way to use that on my seedlings? One idea I had was to put some of it in a water bottle and dilute it with water and bottom water with that solution. I also wondered if I could just sprinkle a small amount on top?

Do I need to go with a different fertilizer altogether?

Any help would be great.

[Kisal]

How big are your seedlings? If they need fertilizer at all, it needs to be a very weak solution, to avoid burning the roots.

[jordanleereynols]

The tomatoes are about 3 inches tall with the 2 split leaves and the peppers are about half that height.

[Kisal]

If your plants are less than 3 months old, and you planted them in a commercial growing medium, they probably don't need fertilizer yet. Most bagged growing media contain a slow release fertilizer.

I prefer a very dilute liquid fish emulsion as the first fertilizer for seedlings. It's high in nitrogen, so produces good strong foliage growth. When the plant is ready to produce flowers, I switch to a fertilizer that has a higher phosphorus content.

Your fertilizer would probably work okay, if it's water soluble. Have you tried dissolving it in water? I have no idea what ratio to use when you mix it, though. What kind of fertilizer is it?

[wordwiz]

I wouldn't use any of it yet - tiny seedlings don't need ferts, especially ones with much N (as in NPK). What I do is mix a bit in with potting mix when I repot the seedlings.

You'll also find that with a lot of the granular ferts, they are not completely water soluble. For instance, Tomato-Tone has a 3-4-6 NPK ratio but 2.1% of the N is not water soluble.

BTW, I love TT for seedlings. I add a tablespoon per gallon of water, aerate it for 24 hours and use that solution, diluted at a 3:1 ratio to bottom water every other time.

Mike