Tomato food V standard plant food

Hi everyone,

I have just been clearing out my shed and was looking at dates etc on stuff. I notice that liquid tomato food seems to have more nutrients than bog standard liquid plant food. My question is.......would tomato food be better for plants etc than the normal stuff? Just wondering..........................

 

Hi Oakdale

Tomato food generally means ordinary feed with extra Potassium (K). On the back of the packet it will give the ratio on N-P-K. N (Nitrogen - good for green growth), P (Phosphorous - good for root growth) and K (Potassium - good for fruit and flowers). That obviously a simplistic view. Then there are lots of trace elements that plants need as well.

Many people like myself, will give plants a general fertiliser early on the year, when you want to build up foliage and roots. But when plants start to flower or fruit I would change to a high Potassium feed (like Tomato feed). However you don't need to be that fussy. Really any sort of feed is better than none.

Have a look at this thread. http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/why-tomorite-so-expensivei-t193.html?t=193&highlight=tomorite

But (being mean) I would never buy a liquid feed of any sort - you pay a large amount for the water. I did a survey in the thread above and found that, in terms of cost per amount of solid (ie pure) fertiliser you could pay

Phostrogen - solid - high Potassium - £5.47 per kilo.
Tomorite - liquid - high Potassium - £21.15 per kilo
Evergreen - spray - high Nitrogen - £213.93 per kilo

So my advice is buy solid feed, not liquid and certainly not a spray. :D

 

Tomato food has, as Peters says a higher ratio of potassium against nitrogen and phosphate.

Its used mainly for plants that have reached the flowering and fruiting stage.
Its not exclusively used on tomatoes as any fruiting or flowering plant will benefit from higher potassium.

A more balanced feed is normally used earlier in the season with equal amounts of all three nutrients.

Must admit I've never actually looked at it in that way Peter, when calculating the cost of liquid feeds against solid.
The one thing that really gets me going is the amount of specific feeds that are now available, one for fuchsias, one for begonias, one for roses etc.
The general public are being taken for a ride, and thats for sure.

 

Pete - its the accountant in me that makes me look at the cost. :D

You are quite right about the public being taken for a ride at times. They rely on the fact that most people don't know, and often don't care.

 

I agree with Pete - the accountant, I have grown tomatoes for years at first using liquid fertalizer, Then I started prepaing the soil in raised beds in the greenhouse with home made compost with a lot of horse manure, Also filling hession sacks with horse maure and putting them in water butts collecting rainwater, Best method ever for growing tomatoes,