2013 Tomato Growing

There have been threads here in previous years, which you might locate with a Search, where Price & NPK has been compared.

Cheapest Tomato food is Chempak (recently bought by T&M). Its a powder rather than a liquid feed, so you have to dissolve it - although that's not hard, but its also not quite as easy as just chucking a cap-ful into a watering can. Makes LOADS more dilute-ate than the liquid ones do.

Failing that have a look for a Generic brand - again, much cheaper than Tomarite. Doff came out as one of the cheapest I think.

And grow some Comfrey (make sure it is the sterile "Bocking 14" variety). You'' have free Tomato fertilizer then I reckon pretty much every allotment in the land will ahve Bocking 14 patches growing on it, so you ought to be able to scrounge some roots - they grow very easily from root snippets.

 

I will be looking out for Lidyl's own brand again this year. Seemed OK to me,
Jenny

 

For this earlier thread:
http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/organic-tomato-feed.48599/#post-623608

(prices as of Dec 2012)
Chempak Potash £8.99 makes 1,600 Litres
Tomorite 2.5 litres £9.97 (Tescos) Makes 563 litres

Aug 2012
http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/tomato-plants-feed-how-often.45625/#post-580228

0.47p/L : Chempak Tomato Food 1.2kg makes 1200 Litres (??) for £5.59 (2010 Which? winner)

0.56p/L : Doff 1L Tomato Feed makes 466 Litres for £2.62 (RRP £5.00) (@ RRP = 1.1p/L)

2.2p/L : Maxicrop Tomato Fertiliser 1Litre for £7.28. Nothing online that I could find with dilution rate! only thing hinted at 30ml / 10L, so that would be 333 Litres

2.38p : Tomorite 2.5L Litres makes 562 Litres for £13.40 (smaller packs are relatively more expensive)

4p/L : New Horizon Tomato Food 1 Litres makes 110 Litres for £4.40 (2010 Which? winner)

"The Which? test in 2010 did side-by-side (one grow bag per fertilizer type) and found that there were differences in yield between the various brands (although Chempak was both highest yielding and cheapest)"

Which? Tomato Report from 2010:
http://www.tomatogrowing.co.uk/TomatoWhichReport.pdf

T&M (who have recently bought Chempak) site now shows "Chempak® Soluble Tomato Food" at £9.99 a packet although 50% discount for bulk purcahse, so may be available cheaper in garden centres / eBay

 

Don't get the wrong type of Doff,

http://www.stonehealth.com/

 

Hmmn I didn't use any "Tomato Feed" last year and look where it got me?

The biggest "red balloon" for 2012.

I used a comfrey soup (probably not a bocking 14) but it worked so maybe it was?

Get your beds right before you plant out and results will come, it may take a year or two but that's part of the game.

 

FC - don't forget you can 'treble up' clubcard points to buy from T&M (£5 in points buys £15 in products), and as these codes go in the lower code box when ordering online you can normally use them in conjunction with free P&P offers/codes (upper code box).

If you are/use a Gardeners World link to T&M http://www.thompson-morgan.com/gws , it's only £25 spend to get free P&P.

If you order from them regulary, you should have. been sent a catalogue with a £5 no minimum spend voucher in it.

Ordering via Quidco gets 12% cashback, or via TopCashBack 12.12% cashback.

So there's loads of ways to get that Chempack stuff cheaper.

 

i sowed my tomato seeds the other day

question how long does commercial liquid tomato feed last do you think? i bought a couple of bottle a few year ago and they've been sitting lying idle in the greenhouse ever since, popped out to have a read of the label this morning only to find the slugs & snails have eaten it off...not a trace of the labeling left

 

Any Comfrey will do for "Comfrey Tea" (I guess "Comfrey Soup" is a bit thicker? ) but the reason for growing Bocking 14 is that it is sterile and thus won't self-seed all over your garden which, sadly, the bog-standard variety will do :(

 

Same with Borage

 

Have you sown any Toms seeds yet? I haven't but I just MIGHT tomorrow Freddy,
Jenny

 

I've sown 10 varieties in 10 rows, of 5 seeds each row, in a 1/4 size seed tray ... I hope I'll be able to prick them out without mixing them up!

No room for labels for each row, so they are in "alphabetical order" ...

... what could possibly go wrong? !!!

 

Hiya Jenny

No, not sown any yet. I'll probably hold off for another two weeks, as I'm away for Easter, and I wouldn't want to be away when they germinate. I know there's a great temptation to get on with it, but there's still plenty of time, and in some ways, it pays to wait. Trying to keep them growing when temperatures are still low, along with relatively low light levels, just makes it more difficult, imo. Any check to growth should be avoided, if possible

 

Thanks Freddy , it's just that I can't get Scrungee's piccie out of my mind. He'll be eating Toms before I've even planted mine....
Jenny