Quote:
Originally Posted by EarlyStarter
I start with my composted soil, which I'll mix some blood meal into, often along with some local duck manure. I use bone meal in the hole when I do my final transplant. Early on I will water with a light dose of fish emulsion. Once the plants have taken well to final transplant I water about once weekly with fish emulsion and straight water if needed in between. About once a month I will use a manure tea instead/as well, typically made from the same duck manure. I also use Green light super bloom 12-55-6 once they've been in the ground/containers for a couple of weeks. I use the super bloom fertilizer every 1-2 weeks. I think that's basically my bag...
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("super bloom 12-55-6") I say this with all due respect: this ratio is great for indoor pot-growing, but is the opposite of what tomatoes require for optimum fruiting, at least in reference to the P and K. During fruiting, tomatoes want less P than N, by about half, or even less. They want as much as twice the amount of K than N. A large amount of potassium is fundamental in maturing tomatoes: it contributes greatly to sweetness, firmness, disease resistance, and many other metabolic processes. Only small amounts of P are needed. Calcium is needed at roughly 2/3's the amount of N.
I say this not to sound like an internet expert, which we're all familiar with, but from 30 years of greenhouse experience, and many thousands of dollars spent on lab analysis. Also, read the research from any ag university and it will say approximately the same thing.
It sounds like you are happy with your results. Perhaps if you switched to a ratio of 2-1-3 (or any multiple, such as: 6-3-9, 12-6-18, etc) you might even see better. However, since you already are adding bone meal to the hole, you might reduce that middle number even more.
Best regards,