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ettaterrell

Tomatos in large pots

ettaterrell
9 years ago

Very newbie here, I have these 25 gal pots that I planted brandy boys and some cherry tomato's in. The cherries have been doing good but the 3 large pots with brandy boys in them started turning yellow at the bottom (studied up and learned it was prob. low on N so I put some 10-10-10 on it and they started doing good. Now 3 weeks later they are doing it again, I went and got some tomato feed that is 2-7-4 they are starting to look better but after the hours of reading I've done I was under the impression you don't fert. that often. So my question is, should I use the 2-7-4 or the 10-10-10 and how often? (these plants are about 4' tall and already producing tomato's, though the tomatoes have stopped growing now) I just need someone to tell me which one and how often. Thanks so much.
Also I might should add these pots are black and I do water every day.

This post was edited by ettaterrell on Tue, Jun 24, 14 at 18:24

Comments (11)

  • sharonrossy
    9 years ago

    Try to find a ratio like 9-3-6 or 24-8-16. Container growing requires frequent fertilizing, but in weaker doses. Also a slow released fertilizer should've been worked into the medium you are using. You can still scratch that into the surface with some dolomitic lime. Hopefully you have one plant per container. What is your growing mixture.
    Sharon

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    9 years ago

    It could be a wilt or blight, Cut off any foliage touching the ground, try not to spash dirt on leaves when watering. Remove yellow foliage.
    Fertilization depends on potting soil, and what you started with. Use the tomato food{{gwi:807}}, and follow label directions for how frequent. You really don't want to stop feeding them, but you want to decrease nitrogen. The tomato food{{gwi:807}} you listed does have low nitrogen, perfect! Again this idea that their is some magical ratio is silly. Sure on average they are right, but I myself do not like growing "average" plants. Each species has different, soil, watering, and nutrient needs.
    Using a slow release with tomatoes well osmocote, is not the best approach, if you must use a slow release use dynamite product that is made for tomatoes.
    This mantra repeated time and again for every plant species is getting extremely annoying.
    An excellent fertilizer for tomatoes is Texas Tomato Food. It's expensive! It works extremely well! NPK ratio is
    3.8-3.1-7.0

    This post was edited by Drew51 on Wed, Jun 25, 14 at 9:32

  • ettaterrell
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I got the soil from a local co op, it has lots of sand and bark chips?? in it, it drains great but I don't think it has any nutrients in it because nothing was growing for the longest time then I put the 10-10-10 on the whole garden and everything started doing great! But after 3 weeks it's starting to go down again. I was scared to put more on it thinking I would over fert it, do you think if I put 10-10-10 on the whole garden every 2 weeks it will hurt anything? (I'm only doing around the plants) I'm scared of killing everything and my husband killing me from all the $ I've spent on it. ha ha ha

  • greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a
    9 years ago

    A 10-10-10 is supplying much more Phosphorous and Potassium than the plant needs. Sharonie is quite right in that your plants will use the three main nutrients in approximately a 3:1:2 ratio. If you can supply these nutrients close to that ratio, your plants will have the nutrients they need and there will be less waste/leaching.

    A liquid fertilizer like Fish/Kelp Emulsion would be great to apply every two weeks.

    Josh

  • ricman
    9 years ago

    I grow in containers and mix my soil up in 30 gallon batches. I add 1 cup of 10-10-10 when I mix up my soil. This will usually feed the plants for the first 6-8 weeks. I then feed them weekly with a water soluble fertilizer at 1/2 strength such as miracle grow or liquid fish. This works well for me.

    Rick

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    9 years ago

    Nice Rick! Yeah if it's not broke, don't fix it. i also like using 1/2 and 1/4 doses of soluble fertilizer. I prefer soluble with tomatoes as it's hard to get to the pot as they are such huge plants. It's just easier. You are giving them low doses, which is what i suggested.
    I mix in some organic when i start, and usually give them one more dose of an organic, but at this point I use soluble. A friend of mine sells a soluable and I'm pretty happy with production. Nice product!!
    I use 1/4 dose myself.
    http://www.plantsthatproduce.com/gm-16-8-24-ff-5lb.html
    I still want to try Texas Tomato food as many friends report excellent results.

  • ettaterrell
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks so much everyone ! Another question after I mix up the MG 1/2 strength (directions say 1 Tbs per gal so 1/2 Tbs per gal) how much do I. Pour on each plant, the whole gal??? Again these are large buckets with 1 plant in each

  • Ohiofem 6a/5b Southwest Ohio
    9 years ago

    When I fertigate -- or water with dilluted fertilizer -- I make sure to cover the whole surface of the potting mix and slowly add the water until some comes out the drainage holes. If your pot is especially dry before you want to add fertilizer water, you should water with plain water first, wait 15 minutes and then water with the fertilizer water.

  • ettaterrell
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Also I water daily should I water before , after or not at all the day I put Mg on?

  • edweather USDA 9a, HZ 9, Sunset 28
    9 years ago

    A popular method some of us use is 1/4 strength every time we water. Some times I skip a day, and it's wise to back off later in the season. But right now when the plants are at maximum growth push, especially with tomatoes, it's ok to give them as much food as thay can take. You will notice your plants responding to what you do, and you can adjust from there. The nice thing about containers is that you can always flush the pot with water if you think you applied too much.

  • ettaterrell
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    thanks so much everyone for the great advice!

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