The Grass Doctor

What type of Fertilizer do you use to grow tomatoes?

Not a brand or anything, just what is the best kind. Internet went weird. So sorry that my internet isn't as significant as yours. lol.

Public Comments

1. Is there some reason you keep asking this same question? You only need to ask it once... if you don't get an answer, then that means nobody CARES enough about your question to answer it. My tomatoes grow very well on cat sh*t because evey cat in the neighborhood uses my garden for a toilet.
2. Miracle Grow is the best. Keep them watered. Do not let tomatoes get dry.
3. I use a tablespoon of epsom salts in the hole when I plant them. Tomatoes love clay soil. Also if you can get them -iron shavings (usually from a garage that does brake turnings). I sprinkle a heavy circle around each plant about 6 inches from the stem.
4. I use no store-bought fertilizer of any kind; only compost. (if you grow your own tomatoes from seed, a little liquid organic plant food or compost tea may be needed while they're in the pots) It's easy to make your own compost. If you have an abundant supply, you can add as much of it to your garden soil as space will allow. When I plant tomatoes in the ground, I apply an inch or two of compost around each plant. If your soil is really poor, you could add some organic ingredients, such as cow manure, poultry manure, blood meal, etc. I believe that many fertilizers alter the taste of garden crops. The synthetic plant food products, such as MG, add salts to the soil which build-up over the years and can contaminate the soil. Lots of compost will produce the best crop of tomatoes you've ever grown.
5. I grow commercially and have a beautiful crop of tomatoes each year. I grow completely chemical and pesticide free and still have a huge crop for sale at farmers markets each season. Stay away from the store-bought chemicals. If you are growing your own produce, you can use what you have around your home to grow food that is better (and safer) than what you find in the grocery store. Certain vegetables, particularly root vegetables, will leach up and concentrate impurities found in the soil, including chemicals. You don't want to be eating that! I use garden and barn compost to amend the beds each year. Grass clippings and shredded leaves that are picked up with the vacuum attachment on the tractor are top-dressed in fall and turned into the soil in spring. Rabbit manure is by and far the best free fertilizer I have - low in nitrogen and doesn't burn plants, so it can be top-dressed and mixed directly into the beds without a long period of composting. We also use chicken and goat manure and old barn bedding as mulch. It suppresses weeds and breaks down readily. I mulch the walkways with it, and alternate walkways with beds each year. When it's time to turn the walkway into a bed, the soil underneath is rich, black and crawling with worms. If you don't have access to barnyard compost, you can add any combination of kitchen waste to your compost - banana peels and coffee grounds are a good source of potash. Egg shells help regulate soil pH and all of these work to attract earthworms, which are wonderful at natural aeration and fertilizer in the form of castings (worm poo). Attract worms and your entire garden will benefit from it. You can use any type of vegetable matter, but avoid dairy or meat items. To control pest insects, such as the tomato horn worm, try some companion planting close to your tomato beds. Plants that have small, airy flower heads, such as carrot, dill, yarrow, fennel or queen anne's lace are a good food source for parasitic wasps that will prey on the worms. These wasps lay eggs on the caterpillars, which are then used as larval food for their offspring. This is the best biological control I've found for reducing or eliminating horn worms. Hope this helps and happy gardening!
6. I just used grass clippings and leaves all around my property as my fertilizers. It's not a simple process but it worked for me. I have so many earthworms as my helpers to speed up the process.