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Re: Tomato starts and feedings

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

At 04:30 PM 3/21/00 -0500, Mike wrote:

>My tomatoes are now up about 3" with 4 leaves. Is it time to give them their
>1st feedings? I'm thinking of a VERY diluted Miracle Grow mixture but not
>sure when to do this.

I would say that if you've started them in sand, in perlite, in 
vermiculite, or in peat (all of which have no nutritive value), now is the 
right time for a very diluted solution of *something.*  If you started them 
in potting soil, there is a little built-in nutrition there for them and 
you might be able to wait a bit longer before supplementing it.

In '74 my hort teacher praised the Peters brand of synthetic fertilizers 
because they include a number of trace elements needed by plants but 
overlooked by some other producers.

If you can resist the 'blue stuff' and go organic, diluted seaweed/fish 
emulsion would work very well at this stage.  An added advantage of this 
material over the synthetics is that with seaweed/fish emulsion, it's 
virtually impossible to overdose and burn the tiny hairlike roots of the 
plants.  With synthetics, burning them is very easy to do.  And it's a 
death sentence.

Remember:  plants make their own food.  You are not "feeding" them.  You 
are increasing the amounts of nigrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, all of 
which are used by the plants during photosynthesis.  If your seedlings are 
growing briskly and bright green, they may not need any nutritional 
supplements now.  Lack of growth or yellowish tones in the leaves would 
suggest that a supplement is in order, pronto.

--Janet


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