You will get 100 opinions on people's favorites. They are all good...some are better. Research past pots...this has been covered pretty thoroughly in the past. goodluck

None of those are bad choices. It depends on whether you want to be organic, synthetic or a hybrid. It also depends on whether you are growing in containers or the ground. The two Tomato Tone products are probably the same but with slightly different descriptions from different sellers.

I personally love Neptune's Harvest. Another one you can get on Amazon is called Texas Tomato Food and it is my new favorite. I grow mostly in containers so soluble foods are good in my case. But I also mix a bit of Tomato Tone type stuff into the pot.

Let us know more about your situation and we can help more.

Because tomato is the number one garden vegetable in America grown by gardeners, there is a lot of competition trying to sell "Tomato Fertilizers". The ones with the word "Tomato" part of them clearly are targeting tomato grower. I personally think that tomato does not have unique specific fertilizing needs. So most of those called "All Purpose" fertilizer will do. Organic is another trend. I find it to costly for no or very little advantage. I find organically growing a more of an environmental issue than anything else. That is a noble cause for humanity but tomatoes won't know the difference, where those, N, P, K, Ca, Mg ... atoms are coming from. . JMO... YMMV

Sey

BTW: I am experimenting a couple of different ones this season: HIGH PHOSPHORUS...Even before starting this experiment, most of my plants have had a decent amount of buds and flowers but not explosively.

the water soluble ferts like miracle grow are SALTS and you know what salt does to the soil. Salts dissolve quick in water. they provide ions to the plants immediately but they must be washed away. that means the salts go into the ground water for a few million years. NO THANKS.

Spain for example has had so much growing that most of the country soil now is salty.

Kansas our beloved state of USA the ground water is not suitable for drinking because of salty fertilizers in the garden belt of america. So all the home owners have to purchase water. most homes have large water reserviors in the back yard that delivers clean water to the house. this water is purchased by trucks that come in to deliver clean water. Imagine every house has to do the same.

California ocean is dying in the new this summer. the oceans are being killed by chemicals in the ocean. The entire world is in collapse because there are too many people. the world can not sustain the population but no one will talk about it because it is not nice. so we are headed toward an immense die off or killing field in a super war or something is going to happen because the road we are on is falling apart.

Anyway I prefer Natural fertilizers and they are usually called organic. they are not salts. My favorite is a big bag of alfalfa pellets. which I can think of as plant material being used to grow plants all natural and sort of organic. Rabbit pellets have salt added. I do not use rabbit pellets. but alfalfa pellets are probably close to rabbit pellets. I like to think of alfalfa pellets as rabbit manure before much of the fertilizer was removed by an animal eating it first. I do not bend to the official label of organic. but I like the idea of natural in what I do. now I can mix the pellets into the soil or I can throw some pellets into a pot of water like a 5 gallon bucket and throw in some pellets into the water and let that sit for awhile and use that to water my plants. No need to worry about too much or too strong. and I can use it often or seldom. it does not matter so much. it does not have to be washed out of the soil in fact it becomes soil.

Fertilizer salts are not table salt. They have nothing to do with each other, and most certainly miracle gro does not contaminate the ground water for millions of years. The nitrogen in MG comes from urea... i.e. urine.

Well, salts a certain category of compounds. Some are water soluble some are not. It is true that Nitrogen leaches ( goes down dissolved in water). So really it does not build up in the garden soil. How can it build up and go down and contaminate the ground waters at the same time ?
But fertilizer is not the only source.of ground water contamination. Ground waters are also affected by cattle grazing in the pastures , among other things..
As I have said before, Organic, when it comes to gardening is mostly an environmental concern. Not so much the synthetic fertilizer but pesticides and herbicides and fungicides are bigger issues.
All said an done, I believe in science and technology. It might hurt us some but overall it helps us tremendously. I do not believe in doom and glooms. Mankind today is living a much better life than ever before This is true where they have science and technology.and this will continue.
Those who are purely organic in Africa and parts of Asia do not have enough to eat and they live and lead organic life.
JUST MY OPINIONS>

Sey

If the entire World went all organic, there would be billions more starving people. There are simply too many people on this planet. The people who scream all organic is the only way to eat or grow crops, fail to acknowledge the basic realities of humanity in the modern age. (Of course, do whatever you like in your home garden.... that's one of the great benefits of a home garden.)

My point was that chemical fertilizers are not bad because they are "salt"... the excessive application of anything can have an effect on the environment, including organic fertilizers. But yes, herbicides pesticides etc have a much greater effect on the environment (including organic ones like copper), especially on aquatic life.

Of course, I am not an environmental engineer.

All the other arguments aside, Jimmy first tell us how you are growing your plants - ground or containers. That makes a big difference in the nutrient supplements you pick as containers need different forms and application rates than ground plants do.

Second, most all of these are available locally as well and don't require online ordering.

Third, all of them are commonly used and there are already lots of discussions about each the search will pull up if you search the forum by individual name. The crucial point is not the brand but using whichever brand you choose correctly.

The only one of the ones you listed that I have ever heard anything really bad about (aside from the organic/non-organic debate stuff) is the spikes - slow to dissolve, lots of fillers with no benefit, inconsistent feeding, etc.

Dave

Thank you Dave for reminding us of the topic. I think you make a great point: it's not so much the one you choose, but using it correctly that matters most in terms of plant growth. I also agree the spikes would be my last choice.

And yes, I can get all of those products, including Neptune's Harvest locally (I used to have to order it, but found it at a grow store locally this year). The Texas Tomato Food I had to order, but it came very quickly. I do love researching on Amazon, because of the reviews. Hopefully jimmy comes back with more info, if we haven't scared him off :)

No I don't scare easy, Ha! Guess I should have made it more clear, I don't use any of these products and I don't do container gardening, In the 30 plus years of gardening all I ever do is put manure on and plow in the fall, I was just curious of all the different tomato fertilizers, So I picked 5 popular ones to get peoples opinions on them to see if they really work, The Neptune product I can't get local, After checking their site for dealers and making a few phone calls I was informed they stopped selling it because nobody was buying it, Actually the spikes had the most and best reviews.

Urban Hydroponics (on Amazon) make some good stuff for tomatoes. I've bought both their versions ( 20-18-38 and 4-18-38), using the 1st one to get growth on my plants, then will switch to the 2nd one for flowering and fruit. Just use it once a week.

I guess I'm old fashioned! I use general 10-10-10 garden fert. The caution is to use it sparingly and not get it directly on the plant. I put it in the ground about 2 weeks after planting and again in about a month - that's enough.

John A

John, I think for most established gardens 10-10-10,, 13-13-13-, 16-16-16 .. are just enough. and the cost is reasonable. Then you have to be able to read your plants lips. Do they flower/ set fruits,? Wow does the foliage look like ? how is the growth rate ? Plants mirror the condition of the soil.

Sey