Even experienced gardeners will not be able to say for sure which fertilizer is best to feed tomatoes. There are quite a lot of recipes for dressing and how to use them. Someone uses only organic fertilizers, someone prefers mineral fertilizers, and some use them, alternating one with the other.
Beginners have many questions about how many times and at what period of plant development it needs to be fed. Which method is more effective - spraying or watering at the root. And what is the most suitable and beneficial fertilizer composition. Let's try to help in solving all these issues.
So that fertilizers do not harm the plants, they must be applied strictly at a certain stage of crop growth. The correct composition of feeding is also of great importance. It should contain only the nutrients that tomatoes need at the moment.
Most fertilizers are applied at two important stages - planting tomato seedlings in open ground and the beginning of flowering and ovary formation. It happens that two dressings are enough for the entire summer season, but you can fertilize the plants regularly (2 times a month).
The fertilization schedule depends on several factors: weather conditions and temperature indicators, soil composition, "health" of seedlings and much more. The main thing is to give the plants the missing substances and elements in time.
The first feeding of tomatoes after planting the soil
Approximately 15-20 days after the seedlings have appeared in open beds, you can carry out the first top dressing of tomatoes. During this short time, young plants managed to take root and began to gain strength. At the moment, tomato bushes need nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus.
Among the proposed fertilizer options, the basis is 10 liters of water, to which the necessary components are added:
- 500 milliliters of mullein infusion and 20-25 grams of nitrofask.
- 2 liter cans of nettle or comfrey infusion.
- 25 grams of nitrofask.
- 500 milliliters of bird droppings, 25 grams of superphosphate, 10 grams of potassium sulfate.
- 1 tablespoon of nitrofask, 500 milliliters of mullein, 3 grams of boric acid and manganese sulfate.
- 1 liter of liquid mullein, 30 grams of superphosphate, 50 grams of wood ash, 2-3 grams of boric acid and potassium permanganate.
- 500 milliliters of liquid mullein, about 100 grams of ash, 100 grams of yeast, about 150 milliliters of whey, 2-3 liter can of nettles. The infusion is prepared within 7 days.
Each tomato bush will need about 500 milliliters of liquid fertilizer.
Top dressing of tomatoes during budding, flowering and fruit setting
This group includes recipes containing phosphorus and potassium. At the heart of every recipe is a large 10 liter bucket of water:
- Wood ash in the volume of a half-liter can.
- 25 grams of superphosphate, ash - 2 tablespoons.
- 25 grams of superphosphate, 10 grams of potassium sulfate.
- 1 tablespoon of magnesium sulfate, 1 teaspoon of potassium nitrate.
- 1 teaspoon potassium monophosphate.
- potassium humate - 1 teaspoon of powder, nitrofask - 20 grams.
- 1 glass of yeast mixture (100 grams of yeast and sugar, 2.5 water) + water + 0.5 liters of wood ash. The yeast mixture should "ferment" for 7 days in a warm place.
Each tomato plant requires from 500 milliliters to 1 liter of ready-to-use fertilizing. The nutrient mixture is poured over the root of the plant.
Along with the application of fertilizers by the irrigation method, you can also use special useful spraying.
For example, a sweet sprinkling based on sugar and boric acid is necessary for tomato bushes during the period of active flowering. This mixture will attract a large number of insects, which will pollinate flowering plants and contribute to better ovary formation. A solution is prepared from 4 grams of boric acid, 200 grams of sugar and 2 liters of hot water. It is necessary to spray vegetables with a cooled solution with a temperature of about 20 degrees.
In hot and dry weather, flowers on tomato bushes may crumble. You can save them from mass fall by spraying. Add 5 grams of boric acid to a large bucket of water.
The active ripening of tomato fruits begins around the second half of July. It is from this moment that watering and feeding stop, so that the green mass does not build up on the plants, and all the forces went to the ripening of the tomatoes.
