Top dressing of tomatoes during flowering

The flowering period is one of the most important and responsible during the cultivation of tomatoes. If before that it was extremely important for tomatoes to observe a suitable temperature regime and provide the plants with the maximum possible illumination, then after the appearance of the first buds, the correct and timely feeding of tomato bushes comes to the fore. Of course, it was possible to feed tomatoes up to this point, but it is the feeding of tomatoes during flowering that is decisive for obtaining a plentiful, tasty and healthy harvest.

What do tomatoes need during this period

By the time the first flower cluster is formed, tomatoes, as a rule, already acquire 6-8 pairs of true leaves and nitrogen as a nutrient recedes into the background.

This may be the case if the seedlings were bought on the market and were looked after in bad faith. But in a normal situation, at the flowering stage, tomatoes most of all need phosphorus and potassium, as well as numerous meso- and microelements, such as calcium, magnesium, iron, boron, sulfur and others.

Mineral Fertilizers

Currently, the choice of drugs in order to feed tomatoes during the flowering period is so diverse that it is not surprising for experienced gardeners to get confused in it. What mineral fertilizers makes sense to use for tomatoes at the flowering stage?

Since tomatoes are most afraid of the lack of phosphorus and potassium, you can use special fertilizers containing these elements. These include:

• simple or granular superphosphate (15 – 19% phosphorus);
• double superphosphate (46 – 50% phosphorus);
• potassium salt (30 – 40% potassium);
• potassium chloride (52 – 60% potassium);
• potassium sulfate (45-50% potassium).

To combine two elements in one fertilizer, you can use potassium monophosphate. This water-soluble fertilizer contains about 50% phosphorus and 33% potassium. For 10 liters of water, you need to use 8-15 grams of the drug. This amount is enough to spill one square meter of tomato beds.

If there is no excess nitrogen on your tomato bushes, then it is quite possible to use various complex fertilizers during the flowering period. They are convenient in that all the elements are in them in a proportion and form specially selected for tomatoes. It is enough just to dilute the amount of fertilizer required according to the instructions in water and spill the tomatoes on them. In addition, top dressing of tomatoes during flowering should take into account the introduction of a variety of microelements, so the more of them there are in the selected complex fertilizer, the better.

Listed below are the main most suitable complex fertilizers that can be used for flowering tomatoes with their characteristics.

• • Kemira Lux – a completely water-soluble fertilizer that contains: nitrogen-16%, phosphorus-20%, potassium-27%, iron-0,1%, as well as boron, copper, manganese, molybdenum and zinc. Additional fertilizing with preparations containing calcium, for example, wood ash, is necessary.

• Universal – chlorine-free granular fertilizer with a high content of humic substances. Humic substances are able to improve the composition of the soil under plants and increase the absorption of essential nutrients. The composition of the fertilizer: nitrogen-7%, phosphorus-7%, potassium-8%, humic compounds-3,2%, magnesium-1,5%, sulfur-3,8%, as well as iron, zinc, boron, copper, manganese, molybdenum. It is also necessary to add calcium fertilizers. Not suitable for foliar applications.

  

• Mortar – a water-soluble fertilizer, very similar in action and composition to Kemira-Lux.
• Effecton – complex fertilizer of organic origin, obtained by active composting of peat, with the addition of oil shale ash and phosphate rock. If you do not have the opportunity to prepare such a fertilizer on your site with your own hands, then this will be a great alternative to homemade green infusion. Contains all the necessary nutrients for feeding tomatoes, including in the greenhouse.
• Senior Tomato – a fertilizer specially designed for top dressing of tomatoes and other nightshade. Includes nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in a ratio of 1:4:2. There are no trace elements, but it also contains humic substances and Azotbacter bacteria. The latter enrich the soil with useful microorganisms and, in cooperation with humic acids, improve its nutritional characteristics. Not suitable for foliar applications.

  

You can use any other complex fertilizers that you can find on sale in your area.

It is only important to remember that for top dressing of tomatoes during the flowering period:

• The content of phosphorus and potassium should significantly exceed the content of nitrogen;
• In fertilizers, the presence of trace elements such as calcium, magnesium, boron, iron and sulfur is highly desirable. The rest of the elements are of lesser importance;
• It is desirable that the fertilizer contains humates or humic acids;
• It is undesirable that the fertilizer contains chlorine and its components.

Organic supplements and folk remedies

Of course, mineral fertilizers are quite convenient to use and are traditional for feeding tomatoes, but recently more and more attention has been paid to environmentally friendly food. And tomatoes grown using mineral fertilizers can not always be called environmentally friendly. More and more gardeners are focusing on the use of natural dressings when growing tomatoes. In addition, they have an additional advantage – many of them can be used not only to feed tomatoes, but also to protect them from diseases, in particular, from phytophthora. This disease is a real disaster for tomatoes, especially in cool and rainy summers, so the use of natural remedies to help keep tomatoes from late blight is very relevant.

Humates

These fertilizers of organic origin appeared relatively recently, but have already managed to conquer many. They improve the soil structure and promote the development of beneficial microflora. By preserving and increasing humus, they allow you to get a tomato crop even on the poorest soils. You can use GUMI Kuznetsov (2 tablespoons diluted in 10 liters of water). Also, to fertilize flowering tomatoes, you can use Humat + 7, Humat-80, Gumat-Universal, Lignohumate.

Yeast

Feeding tomatoes with yeast can work wonders. Even those plants that, for one reason or another, lag behind in growth, acquire a healthy appearance and begin to actively set fruits after using yeast top dressing. It is the flowering period that is most favorable for this top dressing, since you should not abuse it either – yeast is more of a powerful stimulator of growth and development for tomatoes than a nutrient solution. Their action usually lasts for a long time – from two to four weeks, depending on the presence of organic matter in the soil.

The easiest way to prepare a yeast solution for feeding tomatoes is as follows: dissolve 100 grams of fresh yeast in one liter of warm water, let it brew for several hours and bring the solution to a volume of 10 liters. The amount obtained is enough to process about 10 – 20 tomato bushes by watering under the root. Such a large discrepancy in numbers is caused by the difference in watering tomato bushes at the beginning of flowering and during fruit set. At the beginning of flowering, 0,5 liters of yeast solution per tomato bush is enough, and during the second feeding, it is advisable to pour about one liter of top dressing under each bush.

Ash

Not only wood ash, but also straw and peat ash is a rich source of elements necessary for tomato plants, primarily calcium, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium and others. Therefore, its use at the flowering stage of tomatoes is absolutely necessary. Moreover, it is almost impossible to overfeed it, and you can feed it in different ways:

• sprinkle it on the ground near tomato bushes in an amount of about a tablespoon under a bush every two weeks.
• prepare a solution for root dressing and water them with tomatoes twice a month.
• make foliar top dressing for tomatoes from ash. It will also serve as additional protection against insect pests.

The solution for root dressing is prepared quite simply – you need to stir 10 g of ash in 100 liters of water. When top dressing, the solution must be constantly mixed, since the ash will tend to settle to the bottom all the time. For watering one tomato bush, half a liter of ash solution is enough.

Infusion for foliar feeding is prepared a little more complicated. First, 300 g of well-sifted ash is dissolved in three liters of water, and the mixture is boiled for 30 minutes. Then it is dissolved in 10 liters of water, a little laundry soap is added for sticking and infused for about 24 hours.

Iodine and dairy products

The use of ordinary iodine as a top dressing during the flowering period of tomatoes can increase the number of ovaries, accelerate their ripening, and get sweeter and tastier fruits.

The simplest top dressing is to dilute 3 drops in 10 liters of water and water the resulting solution of flowering tomatoes under the root.

If you dissolve 30 drops of iodine in one liter of milk or whey, add one tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide there and dilute it all in 9 liters of water, you get a wonderful solution for foliar treatment, which will not only provide additional nutrition to tomato bushes, but also protect them from late blight.

Boric acid

When growing tomatoes indoors, many gardeners are faced with the fact that in the greenhouse during the flowering of tomatoes there is a very high temperature. Under these conditions, tomatoes bloom, but do not set fruit. A similar problem is faced by gardeners in the southern regions of Our Country, where the temperature in May can rise above + 30 ° C. In order to help tomatoes during this period, spraying plants with boric acid has long been used.

To prepare the required composition, 10 grams of boric acid powder is first dissolved in a small amount of hot water, then the volume is adjusted to 10 liters. This solution can be used to process greenhouse tomato bushes from the very beginning of budding until the formation of ovaries every week. In open ground, the processing scheme is similar if the weather is hot.

Herbal infusion

If you are faced with the choice of what fertilizer is best used to feed a tomato during flowering, then making herbal infusion is a good choice. There are many recipes for its preparation. Here is the most complete complex recipe, which includes the maximum number of ingredients and due to this can be used both for nutrition and protection of tomatoes.

A barrel of 200 liters is filled with:

• 5 buckets of any herb, it is desirable that nettles be present;
• 1 bucket of mullein or 0,5 buckets of bird droppings;
• 1 kg of fresh yeast;
• 1 kg of wood ash;
• 3 liters of whey.

It is topped up with water and infused for 1-2 weeks. Then 1 liter of this infusion is used to water one tomato bush. This fertilizer has almost everything that tomatoes need and in the most easily digestible form.

Conclusion

Thus, the choice of dressings for flowering tomatoes is almost inexhaustible, everyone can choose something that he will like. Indeed, almost all dressings can be mixed with each other in different proportions, depending on what is more available on the farm.