Fertilizer for Growing Tomatoes in Containers

Picking the right fertilizer for growing tomatoes in containers can be a daunting task. Unless you are a professional fertilizer can be a foreign language. Designations such as N-P-K may mean nothing to you but they are important when it comes to selecting the right fertilizer for container tomato plants.

Whether to use organic fertilizers or synthetic chemical compounds is a personal choice, and you do not have to be absolutely loyal to one type. Organic fertilizers are derived from living organisms such as plants and animals, or are mined from naturally occurring mineral deposits. Synthetic fertilizers consist of man-made chemical salts or salt blends and mined minerals. Many gardening experts recommend using a combination of the two fertilizer types, for each type brings special benefits to a tomato container garden. Organic fertilizers often offer a banquet of micro-nutrients, while chemical fertilizers excels when it comes to providing important nutrients quickly and efficiently. Gardeners may choose fertilizer types based on the type of plant being grown.

 For those growing tomatoes in containers organically fertilizer tomatoes may taste better. Annual flowers, in comparison, often perform best when fed a steady diet of a balanced chemical blend. The argument that synthetic are more convenient than organic fertilizers is now obsolete. Both types of fertilizers can be purchased in powder or liquid concentrates that can be quickly mixed with water and fed to plants. Or you can choose pelleted or encapsulated fertilizers, both organic an synthetic, that slowly release their nutrients each time the plants are watered.

Fertilizer for Growing Tomatoes in Containers: Feeding the Leaves

The basic equipment that plants use to take up nutrients is their roots, but they can also take up fertilizer through their leaves. This process, called foliar feeding, is especially beneficial to plants that are seriously deficient in either major or minor nutrients. Any fertilizer that can be mixed with water can be applied to plant leaves, but because they are so rich in micronutrients, the best choices are organic fish emulsion-seaweed blends. Regardless of what type of fertilizer you try as a foliar application, never apply any liquid substance to plant leaves when the temperature is above 90 degrees, or in middle of a bright sunny day. The newly applied fertilizer will burn leaves. Do your spraying and drenching in the morning, instead.

Tomatoe Gardening Tips

Tomato Gardening Tips: Good Container Varieties

Cherry tomatoes such as ‘Sun Gold’, ‘Sweet Chelsea’, and Gardener’s Delight’ are great popular for container gardens. Also try compact varieties such as ‘Better Bush’, the full sized ‘Celebrity’, or ‘Better Boy’.

Tomato Gardening Tips: Protect the Tomatoes

Wrap Tomato cages with spun polyester row cover or clear plastic to protect tender transplants from wind and cold; leave covers on until plants are two or three feet tall. Hang red Christmas tree balls on tomato plants just before they begin to ripen their fruit to fool birds. They will peck at the hard balls, go away and leave the later ripening tomatoes alone.

Tomato Gardening Tips: Prevent Pollination Problems

With the exception of leafy greens and root crops, the majority of vegetables and fruits grow out of fertilized flowers. In a big garden, insects and wind distribute pollen to the appropriate places, but in a container garden you might have to assist the pollination process. With Tomatoes and peppers (who are normally pollinated with assistance from the wind), gently tap open flowers two times every 24 hours to shift pollen to flower anthers. Cucumbers squash, and small melons grow male and female flowers, but only the female flowers (who develop after the male flowers) can set fruit. You can identify female flowers by finding a tiny green fruit located just behind the base of the flower. To assist in pollination, take a small paintbrush or cotton swab and collect the pollen grains from the male flowers. Quickly rub the pollen onto the centers of the female flowers. To ensure the success of your task, move pollen from at least four male flowers to every female flower. Following these tips will make growing tomatoes in containers even easier.

Growing Tomatoes In Containers

Tomatoes are the best vegetables to plant in containers. There are three types of tomato plants: determinates: which grow to about three feet and stop; semi-determinates, which can reach five feet before they stop growing, and indeterminates, which are really vines that grow until disease or frost kills them. All fruit from determinate and semi-determinate plants is harvested within a thirty day period. The harvest goes on all season with indeterminates. Plant the type that suits your needs. Any Tomato will flourish in a container. The ideal size pot is a fourteen inch diameter tub that holds ten gallons of soil, but vining varieties bearing small cherry tomatoes can be grown in ten inch wide hanging baskets. Add a half cup of time-release fertilizer to the soil in each container. Push support stakes or tomato cages into tubs before planting. Indeterminate tomatoes may outgrow cages in warm climates, so position their containers next to a trellis or fence for later support.

Start Tomato seeds indoors about six weeks before the last spring frost, or purchase transplants from garden stores. Strip off all leaves on transplants except the top four leaves, and plant them deep in containers so that only the remaining leaves are above the soil line. Roots will form along the buried stems. Place containers outdoors in full sun after the last frost. Tomatoes cannot tolerate cold or frost for they are tropical plants. Keep soil constantly moist, but avoid wetting the leaves. Dry foliage deters fungal diseases. Fertilize every two weeks. After the first fruits form, scratch two or three tablespoons of blood meal or two teaspoons of ammonium sulfate into soil. The nitrogen boost makes for bigger fruit. Don't forget to check out our tomato gardening tips to help make your container garden even more fruitful.