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Re: organic fertilizers

Lisa-

You don't say where you live.  
has it been cool there? (tomatoes don't like it very cool) 
lots of rain? (they don't like to drown- the lower leaves get yellow)  
do you have rocky soil?  (roots need room to breathe- is your drainage ok?). 
how many plants do you have?  do they do well in groups?  as in, do a few
plants close together look good but this group doesn't?  is there anything
that could be eating at the roots?
have you been growing in this garden for a long time or is it fairly new?
(if it's new, there could be something in the soil- like an herbicide from
a previous owner- I found lots of old trashy stuff in my yard as I dug some
new beds this year- don't know how if will affect the plants, but I'm
adding a good 6 inches of good organic material to the beds)

anyway- it isn't always as simple as needing food.  if you are in the
north, be patient.  in spite of the warm weather, it isn't even June yet.
my experience has been that tomatoes take their time when I first put them
out in May, and then around early to mid-June they explode in growth.

yours in dirt,
Sarah
Medford, MA

At 03:58 AM 5/22/98 -0400, Lisa Holmes wrote:
>I'm having some trouble with my tomatoes and my mind.
>
>The trouble with the tomatoes is that they are not growing very
>well...well, actually some are and some aren't...but there doesn't seem to
>be any rhyme or reason as to which ones are growing and which ones are not.
> I used up ALL of my compost preparing my beds...I have three new piles
>cooking but I'm looking at at least two weeks before the first one will be
>ready. 
>
>The trouble with my mind is that I've read too much. One source says
>tomatoes don't particularly like manure, another says they do, one says the
>best fertilizer for tomatoes is compost made of tomato plants (so would
>"watering" them with tomato juice once act like a fertilizer? since I don't
>have any compost, much less tomato compost). I'd like to stay organic (but
>I'm not fanatical about it) but if I'm going to buy something I want the
>most bang for the buck.
>
>Can anybody help?
>
>Thanks!
>*****************************
>Lisa Holmes
>lisah01@ibm.net
>
>The truth shall set you free.
>But first it will piss you off.
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