fertilizer Fertilizer?

[PcolaHot]

Was wondering what type of fertilizer to use on pepper and tomato plants? And when should I start to use it?

 

[wordwiz]

There's lots of disagreement about fertilizing pepper plants - trust me! Many of the experienced growers here advise avoiding much use of nitrogen. I like to use it, but not once plants start blooming.

Tomatoes - they like nitrogen, but again, not after they start blooming.

I read a study today though it was about sod and not peppers or tomatoes. It said the use of small amounts of nitrogen actually had an adverse effect on chinchbugs, but as the dosage increased, so did the number of varmints.

Mike

 

[willard3]

Best method is to use the fertilizer you purchase at 20-30% of the rate the fertilizer mfg recommends.......remember what they're selling.

Most chiles have not been genetically engineered enough to take advantage of high levels of nutrient and they don't need it.

 

[Pam]

Was wondering what type of fertilizer to use on pepper and tomato plants? And when should I start to use it?

Everybody has a favorite fertilizer and way to use it, and they'll have to tell you what they do. Some of 'em act like it's top secret, too, so good luck getting the information out of them.

What I do is to start my seeds in a fertilizer-less seed starting mix. When they're a couple or three weeks old, I give them fish emulsion at half strength. When I move them outside to harden them off, I give some liquid sea weed or kelp, and again when they go into the ground. I prepare the ground for planting by adding a bit of Epsom Salts and cuprous sulfate, plus I throw a match in the hole with the plant. At the end of the first week or so, they get watered again with fish emulsion and sea weed. During the growing season I use Espoma Tomato-tone. http://www.espoma.com/content.aspx?type=p&id=23&intCategoryID=4


Remember, this is just what I do. There are a lot of good fertilizers on the market, and what works best for you might depend on the soil you have and how you've amended it. Or it might be a matter of what you can get locally. Devil Duck was using some stuff that looked really good to me, but I would have to order it on line to get it, it's not carried locally; and the shipping really jacks the price up.

 

[ABurningMouth]

I always got a yellow precipitant when mixing the green or blue stuff with softened water.
With filtered water now it all dissolves.