It is just 3-1-2 ratio fertilizer.

In my opinion, it is ok early on when you need your plants grow foliage. But once the start setting fruits, this ratio has too much nitrogen. I would prefer something with half of that much nitrogen. Even all purpose 10 -10- 10 is better than that.

Fertilizers are like CLEANERs. They package and label them for various special uses. This is for tomatoes. that is for vegetables, etc. An all purpose like 10-10-10 is good for 90% of the needs.

thanks for that! i'll look into a tomato fertilizer.
Any nutrients I should look out for that might be added?

How's 16-9-26 for tomatoes?
Someone gave me a box of it. It's from Eastern Europe and I can't find much info about it online.

How's 16-9-26 for tomatoes?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I cannot recall any fertilizer with such a high percentage of "K".
I have heard Potatoes like a lot of "K".

Does it list any anther ingredients and trace elements ?

You probably don't need a tomato specific formula if you add some other nutrients and use the Miracle Gro product as a supplement. One should handle limestone additions first to adjust soil pH and provide for Calcium and Magnesium. A soil test would help in that regard but I find I almost always need to lime soil. Dolomitic Limestone (with Magnesium) is the cheapest way to supply needed Mg along with Ca.

I wouldn't worry so much about micronutrients until you are getting in the ballpark with the Macros. I always add Nitrogen (as CaNo3) later in the season mainly b/c the other major nutrients are difficult to add by drip tape. If you try to add your MG product via driptape and you have hard water you'll just block drip emmiters. Therefore concentrate on getting most of the needed Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K) needs met preplant, just like the liming (Ca + Mg) needs.

Since Super Phosphate and Muriate of Potash are not readily available fertilizer sources for home gardeners you would be better to use a low N preplant fertilizer closer to a 1:2:2 ratio. I would try to use the MG product as a transplant drench or sidedress after you begin harvesting.

Ok for what it's worth, I would and I do stay away from chemical fertilizers such as Miracle-Gro because over time it destroys your soil. You spend all your time adding compost, manure etc to enrich it and then MG destroys it, Plus I don't like ingesting chemicals. If I wanted to I could just go to the local grocery store and buy their tomatoes. There is a ton of information out there to support what I am saying. The solution is to use an organic fertilizer.

Tomatotone is an excellent organic fertilizer used as directed. Although it is best to build your soil up with organic amendments like compost, that can take years. Until that time, organic tomato fertilizers can help without hurting the soil. Have you done a soil test to see if you need to add lime or other fertilizers?

I think that you have to watch out for nitrogen.
It is critical in early stages for tomatoes and peppers. to get established with good foliage for photosynthesis. But beyond that it the plant will grow at the cost of fruits. Most popular fertilizers are formulated in 3-1-2 ratio. That is fine early on , but might not be a better choice to continue with that. as "bmoser" mentioned a 1-2-2 ratio should be a much better option. Even a 1-1-1 ratio (like 10-10-10) is much better than 3-1-2.

Number numbers NUMBERS! Bah humbug. I get some good quality composted manure such as bagged chicken manure, toss a heaping handful into a 5 gallon bucket of water, allow it to set overnight and use this mild steeped manure tea as a constant source of nutrients. Your plants grow fast, healthy and produce delicious fruit without jacking them and the soil with the chemical suicide of Miracle Blow. PLUS your soil is useable over and over instead of all salted up from artificial fertilizers. Just my method and two cents. There are many methods. Have fun! :)

Prax

You are entitle to your opinion and are free to practice your method. BUT everything is CHEMICAL. Some made by the chicken's digestive system, some made by man, synthetically. AND everything is NATURAL. Nothing comes from outside the nature. We, the humans are also part of the nature and hands of nature.

As far as the plant is concerned, it does not make any difference where that "N" atom comes from, because it existed before the humans and the chicken.
Lets look at it this way : The source of ORGANIC is INorganic.

Seysonn, I offered my comment to a forum member as helpful advice for their soil and plants. You know full well what I meant in my comment. For you to twist it into a sarcastic smarmy reply shows much to your character and intent. Please refrain from interacting with me again. I find you to be distasteful and a bit creepy.

Have a nice day

>>> Posted by praxxus55712 5a (praxxus55712@gmail.com) on Sun, Nov 17, 13 at 15:01

Seysonn, I offered my comment to a forum member as helpful advice for their soil and plants. You know full well what I meant in my comment. For you to twist it into a sarcastic smarmy reply shows much to your character and intent. Please refrain from interacting with me again. I find you to be distasteful and a bit creepy. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Talking about some character !!!

Firstly, I did not make a personal characterization of you as you have done about me. What I said were some general remarks, about CHEMICAL ..., NATURE.. not about "YOU" as a person. I respectfully mentioned that " you are entitled to your opinion... "

Secondly, You posted right after my post, which happened to have a lot of NUMBERS and you made comment about " numbers..". That is why I addressed you. I did not notice that you are talking to somebody in particular.

Of course you didn't make a character personalization of me. You had no need....whereas I did due to your negative remarks and less than mature attitude concerning my comment. Starting out with "You're entitled to your opinion" is not a valid reason for being a butthead towards my effort to assist the OP. You assumed I was replying to you instead of the OP because my replay came after your post? Where else WOULD my comment go? Before it? Beside it? Any comment would come after it in line but unless your name was mentioned it would easily be assumed that a person's comment was meant for the OP.

Your continued attitude in this further shows to your character.....or rather lack of it. I neither need nor want your snotty interaction. I am here solely to assist the OP.

To say that there is no difference between chemical fertilizer (such as miracle grow) and organic fertilizer(such as compost) is just not true. One treats the soil, and the other treats the plant. One comes from petroleum distillates and the other comes from natural ingredients such as plant and animal matter.

There are some wonderful organic fertilizers to use in the early stage of your garden, and I strongly recommend them early on. BUT, never forget your soil. Healthy soil reduces pest and weed problems, Healthy soil grows wonderful tasty and healthy plants and vegetables. Healthy soil is less suspect to drought or excess moisture. Healthy soil is the answer to almost every gardening problem.

Chemical based fertilizers and pesticides are the enemy of healthy soil.

If you truly want good tomatoes, that taste good and are packed full of nutrients. That are pest and problem free, I strongly advise you to forget the miraclegrow , and grab the compost and manure. It will not happen over night, but it will happen.

Good luck on your maters!

And....

It is always a good idea to get at least one soil test, although I recommend three, from three different labs, then you will know what your soil needs.

Tomatoes are heavy feeders, and I usually side dress with my mixed compost when fruits on tomatoes are just coming on.

OK, let me join in as well.
The ratio of NPK that tomato takes from the soil is roughly:

1 : 0.13 : 1.42 (source AVRDC)

(Fruiting plants like tomatoes, pepper, egpplants, etc. don't need as much phosphorus relative to N/K as people think.)

That is not to say you need to get fertilizers close to that ratio.

First, the ratio you want depends on how much is already in the soil, thus soil test is important. That's a bit of a problem 'cause most people don't do test. However, it is easier with store bought soils because they usually have nutrient analysis labeled on them.
Second, plants need more than NPK, micro-nutrients are important. when choosing ferts, also take those into account.
Third, good luck finding that ratio, such as 10-2-14, 6-1-9, etc., but you can mix and match.

Tomatoes normally take most of their N and K during vegetative growth, then the uptake for those slow down during fruit set. The uptake for phosphorus is opposite, the plant wants most of it during fruit production.

Soil analysis, nutrient ratio, and uptake at various growth stages are important to remember if you want to be efficient and minimize environmental hazard from leaching/runoff.

Also, I'm pretty sure the whole chemical based ferts are inherently bad or that organics-based ferts are inherently better is a MYTH. Maybe there is some truth to it, but at this point it's more used as a marketing tool for higher price organics based ferts.

They both have their ups and down, the problem is mis-use or over fertilizing.
Yes, even over applying organic-based ferts can be just as bad as chemicals. Either, one can have nitrate runoff.

Organics based ferts has the potential to increase the pH of the soil.
Chemical based ferts has the potential to decrease soil pH. From long term use or just over application.

wow just new to this site and well the forum is a lively little nest of character assassination. Like soapy on TV. Hehehehe ! But hey thanks so much for the comments from all. Both sides of the chemical/ Organics have their case. For me I always prefer natural. And yes even organic branded fertilizer is for making money. True organics is a long term process and a deep love starting with the earth takes time. Chemicals are quick. Ask yr selves ask any farmer? Have chemical fertilizers improved their soil or their farm ? their yield yes of course. but their farm and soil condition? let you all answer.
With regard to Tomatoes and soil and fertilizer. When I was in 1st yr grade high school my brother grew the most large tasty healthy tomatoes for the local pub. He was a police officer and did this for hobby. I remember how strong and beautiful his plants and fruit was large and sooooo tasty. Gross Lisse. Geoffrey's method--- He was in the country. He would take his trailer to local farms collect sheep manure from under shearing sheds. cattle manure hard dried pats from farm paddock. He had three 44gal drums set up he would put manure fill with water and let it sit. every morning he would water the rows with this liquid gold. he jest kept adding manur and lots of water to the drums. I could almost see the bushes shaking in delight at this feed. I love poo. Hey its gods fertilizer package. seeds go out in the package and grow in the ground what a starter. The four legged fertilizer plants factories walk around continually dropping their wonderful package. The Chinese have been growing their veggies in human and other poo for centuries. Here in Philippines people on subsistence farms are now dependent on chemicals. Its like drug pushing and drug addiction. so I fully agree with the natural fertilizer not commercial organic or Chemical. However I do realize its sometimes good to use chemical fert. I will try both. On my new project to grow descent tomatoes in the Philippines. I want to grow San Marzano, and Super Roma. for pizza sauce. Just got my seeds sent from Thompson and Morgan UK from the net. Any comments or suggestions welcome??????

Hey I re reads the comments. The chicken poo man has my vote. I think the other guy is full of organics. Truth is he got blown away by the simple logic of the poo man and became defensive. To say that everything is chemical is shear crap. These are only chemical figures and labels assigned to the limited things scientists have been able to isolate in our so intricate and delicate ecosystem. Most are for financial gain by chemical artificial reproduction and sale. so inferior to the real thing as with medical science. Generic extraction from nature then fabrication for sale never as good as the real thing. A very inferior substitute.

I vote for steer manure. Use it every year in my beds. Turn it in the beds in Dec/Jan so it sits awhile. Then plant seeds(from the $ store) in March/April. That's it, that's all they get besides water. Grow great, produce great with no blossom end rot.
Growing veggies is suppose to be fun, some people over engineer everything. Just saying

I'm not sure who decreed that growing vegetables was supposed to be fun or when that happened in the course of human evolution, but in my mind, fun is in the eye of the beholder -- or "haver," so to speak. What's fun for me is understanding the science of growing the best tomatoes I can and doing all in my power to create the optimum conditions for doing that. Reading, studying, sharing ideas with other enthusiastic growers and then trying things out in my own garden is fun for me. I'm glad someone gets a kick out of sticking seeds from the Dollar store in a pile of poop, but it doesn't sound like fun to me.

Had to add a picture to prove steer works.
Yep that's me with one of last years tomato plants. It was the end of the season, everything else was done
Check out my god awful dead soil.

Looking good Campy!

Hooray for steer manure. I also like the very sheltered garden you have there!

Now we just have to edumecate you about those $ store seeds! (LOL)

Linda

Great pic "Campv" and to each his own as to what plant food to use..Manure is the best and if it is of the fresh variety then it is even better. Sadly I don't have any access to the fresh stuff so I use the bagged variety. As to having fun growing veggies, it is what you make it. I too think its fun. Yes I love to research, studying compare notes etc too. What makes this challenging is the fact that regardless of how much you know or don't and how much or little you do we tomato growers are dependent on "Mother Nature". LOL and as for your dollar store seeds are concerned that's great. When you come right down to it, seeds are seeds and if in the end you get what you want, who cares where you purchased them from! Thanks for your posts and your picture. HAGD !

Thanks Joe I have been tomato/veg gardening for over 30 years. Some years it was great, other years not so much. From Idaho(2hrs from Canada)New Mexico, my beloved So. California and now Arizona. Every place was different from water, soil, bugs and the weather. It was all a learning experience and a challenge @ times, but fun. I use the cheap $ steer from Wal-Mart.
Linda- About 10 yrs ago $$$ was tight, so I bought 3pk for $1.00 @ the $ store. Thinking like others that they can't be good. OMG they worked great. @ that price I can afford to try different types of tomatoes and veg. This years tomato plants are the great, great + grand- daughters of those seeds.
The picture is of my other raised beds with the tomatoes just coming up. May 2013

Hi Campv,

Nothing wrong with saving money. What I was getting at was that there are some amazing varieties of tomatoes out there, and it's fun to grow different ones and to discover what does best in our growing area. I was thinking that the selection might be "somewhat limited" at the $ store (VBG).

Linda

Yeh, but I grow more than just tomatoes. The selection can be limited, agreed, but if I spend some money on seeds there, I can buy more expensive seeds from Seed Savers Exchange Catalogue where they have every color of the rainbow when it comes to tomatoes and everything else for that matter. I once got eggplant that was white w/purple stripes.
Thanks Linda for the input
www.seedsavers.org
PS the catalogue is free
Happy growing

What folks need to keep in mind is, not all soil is the same.

Cow crap and water, may work fine for some, but not everyone, and even for the "some", results might be better if a complete soil evaluation is done.

Don't get me wrong, I am a strong believer in organic "methods". Nature has been growing stuff for awhile, and I am not going to second guess her. I do like to hurry her up a bit, though.

On dollar store seeds; They will probably work most of the time, but if you have a harvest where you get nothing, that buck you saved will be lost.

I buys seeds from proven companies, and not just one. Seeds are the cheapest and easiest thing we do, so I do not save my pennies there.

Just my opinion. The truth is it shouldn't be hard to grow stuff, and it should be fun. I just believe in hedging my bets , the best I can.

Use natural methods, forget the chemical stuff, and enjoy your garden! It is a wonderful thing!

This year I am trying a new method I heard about as with the amount of tomato plants I put out, I should be getting better results. For each hole along with the tomato plant I added this mixture. In a 5 gallon bucket, I added 3/4 compost, 1/4 peat, 1 cup bonemeal, 1 TB of epsom salts, and 1 cup of table sugar (it can be organic). Then the suggestion I saw said to mix a tsp of epsom salts in a water bottle and spray your blooms as they come on the tomato plants. Too when planting, bury the stem well by laying down in the hole a few inches on its side. Also prune as needed. I am going to see how this works and may experiment on a couple of plants with some other additions such as tomato garden tone, composted manure, or fish emulsion as have seen on other threads good results. For me Miracle Grow has been a joke as i haven't ever got the expected results. Also in my garden in the fall lots of leaves and grass clippings. The composted leaves tilled into the soil in the spring seems to help hold in moisture during the summer growing months. Again experimenting and a trial run so any suggestions or comments would be appreciated!!

Best tomatoes I ever had came from burying the fish heads.

How does MG "kill" ones soil?

>> How does MG "kill" ones soil?

This is not a troll; just trying to straighten this all out in my dim little head.

Everyone likes to smear the name "Miracle Gro" in all it's incarnations and aspects. it's the whipping child of organic growers. That's not to say it doesn't deserve it and that's not to say that it does, but the very name is an anathema for some. I don't use it simply because it's on the wrong side of a line drawn in the dirt, and one has to try to keep to one's lines, no?

The chemicals, very harsh relative to "organic" materials, tend to cause their own problems through overuse. It seems that the fert companies encourage overuse in their advertising (this stuff fixes everything! Be the envy of your insufferable neighbors!). The mode seems to be "minor problem? Throw chemicals at it". The promotions are in 256 million colors on eight square feet of television screen and all the cautionary instructions are in light gray sub-agate type on a medium gray label. These are all cold-hearted practices; it's how they think of us.

Now I'm starting to sound sour...

Organic growers also feel assailed pretty much everywhere, and so will tend to be a BIT defensive of their choices verses the chemical choices. That can lead to the previously mentioned anathemal feelings. Is that a real word?

Others, organic growers or not, don't trust chemical companies, even though those same chemical companies have only our best interests at heart. Just ask them!

Modest use of chemicals won't kill worms, sterilize soil, poison your kids, or ruin us all, but MG does sit squarely in the camp of the nasties. Its non-use is largely an ethical choice. I won't use it. Ever.

Good points, cold_weather_is_evil. Nevertheless, I will never understand organic growers who claim to be afraid of fertilizer chemicals in their food. Do they not realize that even organic fertilizers have to be broken down into inorganic ions to be absorbed by plants?

Pesticide use - that's a valid concern.

Excess chemical fertilizer use - that's also a valid concern from the view of soil health and local environmental health. I specify "local environment" because the industries that produce the organic gardener's favorite fertilizers - blood meal, bone meal, fish meal, soybean meal, etc. are major polluters of the environment on a national or global scale. I'm thinking of all the fertilizers and pesticides that went into producing grain to produce a factory-farmed cow, so its blood could be dried and packaged into cute little bags to make every organic gardener feel good about themselves. I'd rather just skip that whole process and use a small amount of fertilizer directly.

Compost is a great soil amendment though.

I just don't like black and white methods of thinking.

This post was edited by Slimy_Okra on Wed, May 28, 14 at 15:06

Agree with Ohiofem above regarding Tomatotone......for those who are religious about organic, it's that, too....but what works for our fertile, built-over-time soil each year are the NPP numbers :

3-4-6. (Anything close to that will likely work well for you).

I use combination of organic and inorganics fertilizers:

Organics: Compost (Home made and purchased), cow manure chicken manure. I will never pay those high priced for packaged ORGANIC fertilizers. That is just me.

Inorganic: I use 3 or 4 different brands, depending on the plants and time of year.

Like Slimy _Okra said, i see a point to be concerned about using pesticides, herbicides around the garden. But when it comes to fertilizers it is a non-issue to me. The only thing is the concern for the environment ( Like leaching phosphorus to ground waters ...etc)

Then, we should respect others way of life. I have no quarrel with those who practice strict organic gardening.

Speaking as a chemist and a gardener ... "Organic" is a really lousy label at this point. It excludes a lot of bad things, but some good and safe practices as well.

Light application of chemical fertilizers are safe (for us, for plants, for the soil) and cost effective.

Don't paint the composting home gardener using half strength MiracleGro with the chemical farmer who injects raw ammonia and no organic matter.

(The "-cides" are a whole other kettle of fish.)

Lots of good input from Slimy Okra, Seyson , Johns Coastal Patio and others. I am on both sides of the fence using mostly synthetic in containers.

As I mentioned, I hold nothing against the ORGANIC gardener/grower. But I want to remind all of misuse word : CHEMICAL (vs organic); We should use "synthetic" in its place. Every fertilizer is one kind of chemical or the other too. So then "Chemical" is applicable to organic as well.

I completely agree with seysonn - go organic if you have to. A molecule of N, P or K is just that no matter what the fertilizer so yes synthetic is the right word and not chemical.

The only one big advice I can give is to not give too much Nitrogen. Watch the video in the link and you will be all set!

Here is a link that might be useful: Tips to grow great tomatoes

No one word summary, or rule, captures the reality. Substances have varying positives and negatives for soils, plants, and us. And the negatives fade at varying rates.

State and federal agencies have been pretty good at phasing out things that we now know have too many negatives or are two long lasting.

I guess the bottom line is that analysis of organic and conventional produce show identical nutritional value, but the organics have lower pesticide residue. That, IMO, is where the action is.

Choose your -cides, if you use them, carefully.

"I vote for steer manure." Is that better than bull manure?

I guess that makes it testosterone free? ;)

I'm just kidding, I couldn't resit!

OK, everyone be nice now please?

Build your soil. That is most important thing to do for any gardening. Am working on mine and yeah, science is getting there, so much excitement!
Canôt help but be on pins and needles to try my new fert Urban Farm Texas tomato fertilizer. Have heard tons of great reviews about it. I am pretty much Neptune person and love the products. For NPK I have used in the past Amaze from Intern Ag Labs. Great stuff because it has soluble Ca and phosphate. Canôt use it till tomato fruit is set though... From Urban Farm I ordered one pre fruit set and one for after. We will see and compare.