npk ratio for tomatoes

[b54red]

I think if you do a soil sample every few years or more often if you want you might have a better idea of what ratio of NPK might work better for your own soil conditions. I have a serious overabundance of P and am deficient in K. I have added a lot of greensand the last couple of years and the added K seems to be helping because my tomatoes seem more healthy the last two years but maybe it is just the TTF which I use all through the season to feed my plants weekly.

I have tried different fertilizers over the years and found that good well amended soil followed by the weekly feeding of diluted liquid fertilizer gives me the best results. I have also discovered that a bit of extra nitrogen the first month after the plants are set out in the weekly feeding is beneficial. That extra nitrogen does increase vegetative growth which gives me somewhat larger plants before the fruiting stage. After that it is usually nothing but TTF weekly until the end of the season. I do adjust the amount and frequency if I see it is needed. For instance if the plant is looking a bit pale I will increase the amount of diluted fertilizer I will apply to the root zone when feeding them with the hose end sprayer. If I find them getting too vegetative or too dark green I will cut back or even skip a week.

I have noticed that sometimes after that first big flurry of tomato ripening of the first half dozen or so trusses that the plant will sometimes appear tired and seem to pause in production and growth. If this does happen and it doesn't always I will give the plants a little boost in nitrogen again or just a heavier feeding of TTF to get them going again.

I think the most important thing with fertilizing your tomatoes after the initial amending of the soil is the ability to read your plants and know what to do to adjust your feeding according to what you see.

Bill

[Lindalana]

Traditional agriculture is a bit obsessed about this NPK and their numbers IMHO.
While I am just a student yet, here is what I have learned. For home grower generally spending energy on producing and applying compost and growing cover crops takes care of most needs. When it comes to vegetative growth vs reproductive one for tomatoes - it is like calculus out there- useful for people who have big operations and need to produce big yields etc Usually large operations can not apply enough compost to their fields anyway so they " need" to use synthetics.
Plants need many minerals/ elements but at certain times they need some more than others. Calcium, magnesium, potassium and chlorine are more needed for growth period and phosphorus, sulfur and ammonium is more requested at fruiting stage. For Nitrogen there is difference between nitrate nitrogen- veg state and Ammonium nitrate- fruiting stage... Ammonium nitrate is the stuff used to make explosives.
This is just theoretical knowledge but I have heard of formulas grower would use when they need to break cycle and move plant into growing side more, some organic and non organic origins.
As for foliar sprays, for home grower this option I think is less expensive as 1 tsp of liquid fish fertilizer will cover like 1000 sq feet in foliar feed application.
And most NPK formulas do not even come closer to mentioning some important things like optimal level of boron in the soil which can make or break absorption of said above Nitrogen, Potassium and Phosphorus.

[Gardeneer]

Ok. Time to plan since nothing else to do.and you get itchy and winter blues
Last couple of years I got this 3-9-9from seed and feed store
Whic is low in N an high in P and K. What's more, the price is
affordable. I think it has few other things too like Ca
It is Via gro brand.
Initially at plant out I feed mg , high inN. Got to give N. because
it gets depleted and won't stay around long.I have done soil
test few time before plant out. The report comes low in N.
Wishing you a happy 2025.

[Gardeneer]

Update ..
I order a bag of 4, 18, 38 frm amazn , best deal, 25 lbs for
16 buck, free shipping.
They say it is water soluable .i like that.
but it has no calcium. I supplement calcim .

[MrsJustice]

This week, we plan to till up all of our farming properties, even with some shown on them, including the coffee gains and leaves from all the trees. That should add the Nutrients I need for the growing season. We tilled before all this snow. Thank God we did not till up all the Collard Green Plants.