09-09-2014, 05:06 AM
[quote Old_Coot][[#0000bf]Do you use fertilizer in your tomatoes? I'm trying to figure out how you get them so darn tall. Typically, tomatoes that grow tall have been fertilized heavily. Also, typically, tall tomato plants produce less fruit than shorter plants.[/#0000bf][/quote][/quote]
You're spot on about adding organic nutrients to the soil, Coot. (If I add it in the Fall, leaves for example, I sprinkle with 20-0-0 to help break it down.) I fertilize the around the base of the plant with a balanced blend of 16-16-8 at the time of planting and then not again during the growing season. Otherwise, you are exactly right again, you get tall plants and less tomatoes.
I gave up using the wimpy "tomato cages." Some folks use what is used for cement reinforcement that comes in large rolls that are 5 ish feet high. But, I bought "cattle guards" at IFA and support them with fence posts that I stick in the ground. (I take them down for Winter.) I've been using the same ones for over a decade. Hard to argue with that efficiency! [
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If I know you Coot, you have a recipe for everything you do! [cool]
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You're spot on about adding organic nutrients to the soil, Coot. (If I add it in the Fall, leaves for example, I sprinkle with 20-0-0 to help break it down.) I fertilize the around the base of the plant with a balanced blend of 16-16-8 at the time of planting and then not again during the growing season. Otherwise, you are exactly right again, you get tall plants and less tomatoes.
I gave up using the wimpy "tomato cages." Some folks use what is used for cement reinforcement that comes in large rolls that are 5 ish feet high. But, I bought "cattle guards" at IFA and support them with fence posts that I stick in the ground. (I take them down for Winter.) I've been using the same ones for over a decade. Hard to argue with that efficiency! [
] If I know you Coot, you have a recipe for everything you do! [cool]
[signature]