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Old May 7, 2017   #2
RayR
Tomatovillian™
 
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Cheektowaga, NY
Posts: 2,464
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If I understand this correctly, you haven't used any fertilizer yet in your containers?
The lack of fertility alone could account for blossom drop. there are other causes also that may add to the problem in your climate. See here

I'll give you my take on fertilizing organically in a container. I mostly use standard containers for peppers and other stuff, but have also used them for tomato. I have only one SWC and I have grown tomatoes successfully in that. I never use the reservoir for anything but water, no fertilizer there.
You can use Garden-Tone for tomatoes, I've actually have used all the Espoma Tones without any issues- Tomato-Tone, Garden-Tone, Plant-Tone, even Holly-Tone. I have the same problem this year again, can't find any 18lb bags of Tomato-Tone locally, so I'll be using Plant-Tone which I have. No big deal.

1.) Dry organic fertilizer - mix it thoroughly into the potting soil at recommended rates or a little more won't hurt anything. Dry organic fertilizers are not exactly instant food for your plant, but work over the season as soil microbes do the job of making plant available nutrients available to your plants.

2.) Soil Biology - Soil life is the key to organics, for plant nutrition as well as other factors that makes for a healthy organically grown plant that produces. A lot potting soils don't come with a wide variety of soil bacteria and fungi to do the work of nutrient cycling. Actually you don't know what's in there most of the time or if they have the best species of organisms that benefit the plant The Espoma fertilizers are inoculated with spores of 3 workhorse Bacillus species which is a good start. That's good but not good enough for me. I always inoculate my seedlings and containers with mycorrhizal fungi, Trichoderma and a whole host of other beneficial bacteria. They come together in one package, they're cheap to buy and they make a big difference.

3.) Liquid Organic Fertilizers - I don't consider it an option for container growing organically especially in the beginning vegetative stages. Liquid Fish hydrolysate or Fish emulsion with or without kelp are commonly available, there are others though. They provide a more more instant source of nutrition for the plant and the microbes. I supplement that when watering every week of so during the season. Always water in top down with liquid organics right into the root zone.

That's all a basic organic growing program for me in containers.
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