What is the best fertilizer to use for tomatoes and how often should it be applied?
Of all the things a grower can do to get a crop of tomatoes, providing supplemental nutrients is probably the most often misused and abused so this is a not an easy question to answer. A tomatos nutrient requirements change as the plant grows. Also, the soil the plant is growing in may have excess amounts of some nutrients and too little of others. The first recommendation is to get a soil test to know its current status. A general fertilizer recommendation is that the Phosphorus content should be higher than the nitrate content and the Potassium content should be between the N and P values. For example, 8-16-12 would be a good general mix to use. Many growers do fine with 13-13-13 though it is not well balanced for tomatoes. I strongly recommend using organic fertilizers if available. Taste and growth are both better than with commercial fertilizers. Various animal manures such as cow, horse, rabbit, etc. are all acceptable if they are free of contaminants and weed seed. Composting ma
