[Market-farming] Fertility for Growing Tomatoes

Allan Balliett aballiett at frontiernet.net
Fri Jan 11 08:00:45 EST 2008


>Good fertility - so they grow and produce before our southeastern 
>diseases stop production

Can you folks give me a more concrete idea of what constitutes 
fertility for your tomatoes?

WE follow organic practices.

I used to plant my tomatoes by drilling a 12inch posthole 3 ft deep 
and then backfilling it with straight compost. Although, in theory, 
there is a lot wrong with planting anything like this, we got great 
tomatoes every year.

Now that we plant a lot more tomatoes, that approach is not practical.

I've taken to applying aged cow manure to the land the fall before, 
applying a general organic fertilizer in the spring and then making 
plastic covered beds and planting into that.

I admit: most everyone complains about their tomato crop around here 
the last few years BUT...

I worry because I've heard from some growers that too much N will 
restrict tomato productivity and not just by making plants that are 
too leafy. Some folks have told me that they don't apply any extra N 
to tomatoes.

I used to spray them with fish and sea weed weekly, but didn't do 
that last year.

I think there's a direct relationship between spraying fish on 
peppers and getting foliar diseases. (could be because increased N 
makes leaves softer and more invadeable by fungus) I don't have that 
feeling about tomatoes, which do seem to get early blight regardless 
of how I raise them or bed them.

Thanks

-Allan Balliett
Shepherdstown, WV
Zone 7



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