Hi Dave, what would you suggest I use as a liquid fertilizer instead of fish emulsion? What about a good fertilizer to use for both inground and container toms?

Just to clarify, I should stay away from the granular/powder form of fertilizer for my container tomatoes, but it is ok to use for my inground tomatoes?

I just planted my seedlings from the local nursery, would you say to give it a boost of fertilization right now or wait till initial tomatos start to set ?

Dave, I plant basil almost every year, and I've been under the impression that because they were greens, they liked nitrogen. The more the better. But you're saying no? I've thrown some lawn fertilizer over them and they grew strongly.

Basil and many other herbs with aromatic oils in them will have more concentrated aroma and flavor in poorer soil. If you fertilize, they will grow very vigorously but will have a blander flavor.

I as a practice use DynaGrow Foliage pro. It is not organic, but as I understand it is low tox. For seedlings until harden off I use one quarter teaspoon per gallon of water. After plant out one half teaspoon per gallon every time I water for containers. One half Tablespoon per gallon a week for in ground. It has worked just fine.

Dan - as gorbelly said herbs generally prefer so-called "poor" soil. They are basically weeds. Weeds with flavor or some medicinal properties that people have adapted for use. So babying them in the garden will result in rapid growth but noticeably dilutes the flavor intensity, encourages the faster blooming we hope to avoid, and forces a higher percentage of sterile seed production. Try it with a couple of different plants for comparison.

Allie - as to liquid fertilizers, synthetics like Miracle Grow Water Soluble, DynaGrow, etc. are much more balanced and contain the needed micro-nutrients as well. So using them insures the best success for gardeners who don't have a good working understanding of how organics work and what they need and how they are used for success. Successful organic gardening has a learning curve and that takes time. It isn't something one can just jump into without lots of homework and hope for any success. Especially so when you already have 2 strikes against you with the poor soil and the overly small containers. So I encourage you to go that route.

But if you are determined to use only organics then I suggest using a combination of Earth Juice products - Earth Juice Grow and Earth Juice Microblast (my personal favorites) or Neptune's Harvest Organic Fish & Seaweed and General Organics Biomarine and use them per label instructions.

Dave

That's fascinating about basil. Thanks!

Yes, and most herbs like well drained alkaline soil. That is why mixing and planting all different things together is not a good Idea. It is better to have a separate raised mini bed for perennial herbs . Never plant onions/chives in there. The latter is heavy feeder.

Sey

The point about the organic granular fertilizer in containers is interesting. But it makes me wonder how the organic version of an Earthbox works, then? What would you folks recommend be used to supplement in an Earthbox, and how often… if one wanted to stay organic?

I don't know what the make-up of their fertilizer supplement is. It may be a water soluble one although it is hard to believe it would supply season long. Using organic liquid supplements is the easiest and most dependable. Or you can buy one of the many soil activators to mix in periodically since the heat build-up in the container kills them off in time. If you actively compost or vermicompost you can use the active compost as an additive weekly, compost teas or vermicompost tea or worm castings. There are also live mycorrhiza supplements available.

Those who live near the coast report that fresh harvested seaweed/kelp, rinsed before applying, as a mulch on the containers works well. As it decomposes it feeds the bacteria count in the soil. In part it depends on what potting mix you are using.

Dave

i'd go with Plant tone or preferable Tomato tone or Garden tone. one thing that separates Espoma from the rest are the addition of bacterial inoculants. stick with organics if you can because they are the only fertilizers that generally add value to your soil over time.. they will bring all sorts of beneficial microbs to your soil.
i used a combination of Fish emulsion and Tomatoe/Garden tone.. the fish provides a little more nitrogen than Espoma for more rapid vegetative/root growth in the beginning.

So I decided to give away the tomatoe plants I was going to grow in containers to our grandparents. My husband talked me into it since I just started my nursing program on Monday, & of course he's right, it would be hard for me to manage everyone in our garden. So as of now, I have 5 tomatoe plants in the ground. We have a new house and the new thing around here is "no backyard". Our backyard is TINY!! There all doing great so far, we amended the holes with master nursery bumper crop (should have done the whole area as a whole, but will do it next year), I put in 3 celebrity, 1 Brandywine & a better boy. We added tomatoe tone around the tomato plants 4-6 inches around the stem & topped it with earthworm castings & straw bought from tractor supply (10.99 a compressed bale) and left about a 1 inch of empty around the stem. As for my strawberry plant and basil and cilantro which are in containers, I just threw on some earthworm casting and topped with straw. The banana pepper is in a whisky barrel container and I threw 8 stakes in of Jobes organic vegetable slow release fertilizer in the soil (what packaging said).
So as for the tomatoe tone - it says add more in 14 days after the first fertilization. What do you guys recommend? We planted the plants on March 28, added the fertilizer and earthworm castings April 1.
Should I get any other kind of fertilizer for my tomatoe plants or is the tomatoe tone good enough to last me all season (remember they are all in the ground).
What about my strawberry or herbs? Should i just forsure leave them alone or just keep adding worm castings once a month?

I think I'm leaving the fish emulsion alone, too confusing for me, unless someone advises me to use some on my plants - do give details lol

Last year, I applied some fish emulsion when I planted out to give the tomatoes a boost when they're starting out, but then I didn't fertilize until they started blooming, at which point I occasionally fertilized with a tomato fertilizer (lower N, higher K and P). I didn't want to end up with the dreaded 12 foot tomato plants that won't fruit that I keep hearing horror stories about as a warning against using too much nitrogen! But I don't fertilize very aggressively because the beds get a goodly layer of compost, which seems to keep everyone fairly happy. This year, I have some vermicompost that I'll water in instead of the fish emulsion. I don't really feel a need to get anything with fancy bacterial or mycorrhizal ingredients because of all the compost, but the popular tomato fertilizers usually have them anyway.

if you already added a fertilizer then wait at least until the plants have some more growth (about 3 weeks, or when they're about 6-8 inches taller) before adding more. stick with no more than 2 types of fertilizer.. one that has a bit more nitrogen to start them (ie fish emulsion) and another one that has lower N and more PK (such as tomato/garden tone) which can be added at about 3 tbps, raked around each plant (about 6-8 inches away from stem) then mulch over and water.

Depends on how you water. Normally the water source is placed under the mulch ie: soaker hose, root drench or drip irrigation. If you water from above not only can it create disease problems on wet leaves but it will take more water to reach the root level as the mulch will soak up quite a bit of it. Mold in the straw isn't a problem. That is normal as it decomposes.

Dave

yeah straw is fine for top watering because water easily passes through it, including air/oxygen.
i often use shredded oak leaves which mold is beneficial (leaf mold) as the leaves decompose underneath.. but to much shredded leaves (more than an inch or so) can become a problem because it will tend to hold water from reaching the soil. best bet is to keep any kind of mulch about 6 inches away from the stem.