Have you ever wondered whether you can make your own tomato fertilizer so that the plants thrive naturally without chemicals? The right approach to cultivation and during various growing seasons can promote the health of the plants and enable richer harvests. Although tomato plants are demanding when it comes to fertilization and nutrients, there are some easy ways to keep them happy. The following information and tips for making homemade fertilizers can help you always enjoy naturally healthy tomatoes in the fruit or vegetable garden.
What should you consider before making your own tomato fertilizer?
Gardening can do thatFertilizing tomatoesNot always an easy task, although there are different reasons for this. For one thing, tomato plants have a complicated root system, and although they are considered hardy, they require appropriate soil conditions and plant care. Since the plants also produce a lot of fruit, they are heavy feeders and need sufficient nutrients to thrive healthily.
So, so that you can make the ideal tomato fertilizer yourself, you should take a few important factors into account. Depending on the plant nutrients available in the soil, tomatoes may need organic fertilizer at certain stages of their growth. However, there is no magic formula for fertilizing tomato plants. Some of the factors that may affect the amount and frequency of use include:
- Soil quality and texture
- Tomato variety
- Same results with homemade tomato fertilizer and store-bought products
Remember that too much fertilizer can harm your tomatoes more than a lack of supplements. Therefore, you should increase the amounts gradually instead of supplying the plants with too many nutrients too early. In addition, such plant varieties have a relatively long cultivation and growth cycle. For example, if you start seeds instead of seedlings, you can do this as early as March or April. Depending on the ripeness of the fruit, you can pick tomatoes until September or October.
So it shouldn't surprise you that tomato plants require the appropriate soil nutrients at every stage of growth in order to thrive healthily. Nevertheless, with the right steps and a well-thought-out strategy, you can achieve a satisfactory tomato harvest without resorting to traditional fertilizers. Find out below how and when it is best to fertilize tomatoes.
Use of homemade fertilizers after soil analysis
About thecorrect natural fertilizerTo use for tomato plants, you should first test your garden or pot soil for present or missing nutrients. For example, if it has a high nitrogen content, you may not need to add any more nitrogen to it. However, it is unlikely that you have too high nitrogen levels in your potting soil or garden soil, as nitrogen leaches easily from the soil mix. Here are some other general tips for fertilizing tomatoes based on the plant's growth cycle:
- Before cultivationYour soil should be nutrient-rich to sustain tomato plants throughout the growing season. Therefore, try to bury compost underground before planting when the soil temperature is still low. To do this, make holes about 40 cm deep, add compost made from cow manure and other organic nutrients such as bone meal and even crushed eggshells and cover with soil.
- When sowingTomato seeds do not require additional nutrients to germinate as they already contain enough to form the first leaves.
- After cultivationThe safest solution is to add nitrogen fertilizer three or four weeks after transplanting. However, only do this once the tomato plants have already gotten used to the new environment. If there is enough nitrogen in the soil, you can add phosphorus-rich fertilizer, such as blood or bone meal, which has a ratio close to 3-15-0.
- During the stage of floweringTomato plants demand potassium so that the potassium content in the soil is twice as high as nitrogen. To make this possible, you can use purchased fertilizers with ratios of 8-32-16 or 6-24-24. Instructions for applying the product vary with the type of tomato fertilizer you choose.
- At fruit settingTomato plants need an adequate supply of phosphorus. Some of the following variants, which you can make yourself as tomato fertilizer, are suitable for this.
This means you can make reliable tomato fertilizer yourself
Homemade versions of tomato fertilizers can be great alternatives to store-bought products. Most of them can be prepared quickly and easily using ingredients on hand. Below is a list of the most common products and ingredients you can use when making homemade fertilizer for your tomato plants:
- Aged compost, which should make up at least half of the final product
- Alfalfa dry leaves or pellets rich in nitrogen
- Blood meal as an equally rich source of nitrogen
- Animal and human hair for more keratin and nitrogen
- Crushed eggshells high in calcium
- Bone meal as a rich source of phosphorus
- Used tea and coffee grounds, which are also rich in potassium and phosphorus
- Wood ash, composted banana peels and algae such as seaweed in the form of flour as natural sources of potassium
- Epsom salt for more magnesium and water when making your own liquid tomato fertilizer
Note that your final product does not need all of the ingredients described above to be effective. Depending on the composition of the soil and the plant's growth stage, you may need to add or remove components to provide your tomatoes with the proper nutrients for their needs. You can apply a liquid fertilizer for tomatoes directly to the soil, but not too close to the stem. This will prevent the roots from burning. You should also avoid spraying the tomato leaves with fertilizer or water.
When it comes to dry fertilizers, they can be sprinkled onto the soil around the plant without touching the stem again. You should also water the plant slowly, and only after you have worked the fertilizer into the soil.
