Any thing that makes you feel better. As far as the plant is concerned it really makes no difference.

Believe it or not hole prep isn't required for any reason and most don't practice it unless they have a specific soil issue to deal with.

Most of the things folks add such as egg shells (that take years to decompose and don't provide a usable form of calcium anyway) and bone meal that may provide some phosphorus 6 months from now) are added to make the gardener feel better, more pro-active.

If your soil is already well amended and has an active soil micro herd so that organic fertilizers can be effective, then it is your choice.

There are a number of discussions running here right now just a bit down the page on the calcium issue.

Dave

I neve put anything in the planting holes and never will, I just put the plants in and water well to get rid of any air bubbles and give moisture to the plant.

And please see the thread about BER and one of the last posts there, by me, I think it might help as regards eggshells andother stuff that most folks think will prevent BER.. ( smile)

Carolyn

These days I just put dirt and water in the hole.

There was a time when I amended the hole. Then one year I was pressed for time to finish planting, so I didn't add anything to the hole for the last half of my tomatoes. Throughout the season I could see no difference in the plants with and those without additions to the hole.

So, since it is much easier to plant without doctoring the hole, I stopped doing it.

Betsy

This post was edited by bets on Tue, May 28, 13 at 13:00

I would rather do that treatment on the top , around the plant (not too closely.). This way, with rain and manual watering the nutrients youl eventually reach the roots. But see what would happen to the BofH prep, if it rains for days after you did all of the hole job? The answer is: Probably most, if not all, of the stuff will go further down and away from the reach of he plant's root system, may be until toward the end of season.

Thanks for all the tips! I have been holding off on planting since it's been a slow cold spring in SW Wisconsin. This week it finally warmed up but we have rain and severe weather in the forecast daily. My plants have been happily waiting on my sheltered (but sunny when the sun is out) deck, and I think I'll get them in the ground on Saturday when all the threat of hail and high winds has passed. I'll have to think about this no doctoring of the hole! Going off to read the other calcium posts now. The good news is, I suppose all my bone meal and TomatoTone from last year (applied 2-3x per month) is probably all built up in that soil and ready for use now! ;-)

It is a raised bed with my own soil mix I made from compost, peat, and perlite. Tomatoes seemed very happy there last year. Hope this year is more of the same! Thanks for the advice.

If you have dogs, be aware that they really like to dig in bone meal! I don't use it for fertilizer at all anymore because of that.

Their actually pretty fond of TomatoTone also. All critters seem to love it.

Calcium & cholate Womens supplements
A whole egg
Eggshells
Aspirin
Tums
Epsom Salts

macbettz,

Why would you recommend all that .... um ... "junk" be put in the bottom of a planting hole?

Eggshells take years to break down enough to supply any calcium to plants. BER (Blossom End Rot) is seldom caused by a lack of calcium in the soil, it is rather an issue of maldistribution of calcium within the rapidly growing plant during the early part of the season and/or an uneven watering pattern. So adding "Calcium & cholate Womens supplements, A whole egg, Eggshells, Tums" and such are likely to only invite critters to dig up your tomatoes.

Discussion of BER (Blossom End Rot)

GardenWeb BER Search Results

Aspirin I can almost understand, because salicylic acid can help with rooting cutting of hardwoods, but tomatoes root so easily, that they don't require that kind of help. Ask anyone who has ever broken off a tomato branch and stuck it in the ground and gotten a productive tomato plant as a result.

As for the Epson Salt, most people don't need it: A Washington State University Puyallup Research and Extension Center document about Epsom salt myths that in part states "There are two reports from over 60 years ago on tomato production. When tomatoes are grown on magnesium deficient soil, a foliar application of Epsom salts can relieve magnesium deficiency in tomato plants; no effect on yield was reported. An automatic application of Epsom salts to plants or soils that are not magnesium deficient is a poor management strategy that can injure the plants and contaminate the soil."

So, unless one has a soil test and it is recommended, most of the "junk" you recommend be put into a planting hole is at best, useless, and at worst could be damaging to tomatoes.

Betsy

I have my garden soil tested every spring by the state ag. college soil scientists by way of my "extension" office.

Every year they make suggestions of fertilizer and other soil amendments I need. My soil is naturally alkaline, and high in (P)hosphorus, and has a nearly toxic level of K (potassium).

Every year I have to add (N)itrogen at planting and also side-dressing through the season.

Every second year I am advised to add sulfur to reduce the Ph of my garden soil.

Ideally, I would add the Nitrogen and Sulfur to my garden, then till it in to the top foot before I dug my furrows or built my raised rows. BWAHAAA!

Not going to happen! Kansas weather does not allow "plans" to work. Could not till this year. Rain just before planting time prohibited tilling. Would have to have waited until July to till!

So, I'm planting on last year's raised rows. Scraped a groove, dumped in some Sulfur and Nitrogen, planted onions, spinach, beets, radishes, carrots, lettuce, beans, cucumbers, and melons beside the groove with the amendments.

Just started setting out tomatoes today. Dig a hole with a small trowel, put in the tomato plant, sprinkle some urea (Nitrogen) and Sulfur around the transplant, rake in the dirt. Got 13 tomatoes in (only worked an hour at it), 120 tomatoes and 45 peppers to go.