Universal fertilizer for tomatoes. When and how to fertilize tomatoes. How to feed tomatoes with mullein

Last years gardeners prefer organic top dressing, trying to add less chemical fertilizers to the soil.

Homemade cheap, but very effective is very popular. green manure". But about him, a little lower. So, two weeks have passed since you planted tomato seedlings in a greenhouse or open ground. It's time to feed the plants.

Types of dressings

There are two types of dressings: root and foliar.

Root top dressing used by most gardeners. This is plant nutrition root system, that is, watering with a nutrient solution under the root.

Many people know about foliar, but they use it less often, but in vain.

Foliar- this is when we apply the nutrient solution directly to the leaves of plants. This type of feeding has a number of advantages. Firstly, this top dressing allows you to save fertilizer. Because when we apply fertilizers for plants to the soil, a significant part of the nutrients is washed out with irrigation, during rain, not all nutrients get to the plant.

And when we bring the solution to the surface of the leaf, then all the nutrients pass into the leaf. And it happens very quickly. Therefore, foliar dressing acts much faster than root dressing. Secondly, such top dressing is used to quickly help a plant suffering from a lack of one or another trace element. I try to use more outside root dressing for seedlings, for plants recently planted in open ground or greenhouse, that is, for younger seedlings.

For foliar top dressing, lower concentrations of the solution are used than for root top dressing, so as not to cause leaf burn. For it, fertilizers are used that completely dissolve without sediment in water and which do not contain chlorine. Usually these are liquid forms of fertilizer mixtures. Try to use non-chlorinated water for the preparation of nutrient solutions - rain or at least settled tap water.

When to Feed Tomatoes

Highly important point: if you are doing foliar or root dressing, then this should be done in the morning or in the evening. Why is that? If we are talking about foliar top dressing, then the nutrient solution should be on the surface of the leaves as long as possible so that it can be absorbed. And in sunny weather, spraying the leaves can cause a burn. This is first. And secondly, the sun will quickly dry up the droplets of the nutrient solution and it will not have time to be completely absorbed into the leaves. When foliar top dressing, you should ensure that the solution gets not only on the outside of the leaf, but also on the inside.

Plants should also be watered under the root with a nutrient solution early in the morning or in the evening. I prefer evening watering, and my dacha neighbor only waters his tomatoes or cucumbers early in the morning. The reasons also seem to be clear: water or a nutrient solution that gets on the leaves during the day in sunny weather can cause foliage burns. You should not force the plant to spend energy on repairing or healing wounds.

How often should you fertilize

Usually they ask the question, how often should I fertilize tomatoes? The short answer is not very often. And, to be more precise, I spend top dressing, both root and foliar in 10-15 days. That is, approximately 2-3 times a month. I alternate them. Once - foliar top dressing, the next time - I feed my tomatoes under the root.

I do foliar top dressing (spraying) in the first half of the growing season, that is, as soon as I noticed that the first fruits were poured, began to turn white, I stop top dressing. And I continue to do root throughout the entire growing season (development) of tomatoes.

The first time you should feed the tomatoes 10-12 days after planting seedlings in a greenhouse or open ground. When the flowering of tomatoes begins, do not miss the feeding time - the number of ovaries and the harvest will depend on them.

In a greenhouse or open field top dressing is carried out as follows.

Each plant needs to be fed individually. If the soil under the plants is dry, then before feeding it is necessary to slightly moisten the soil. Watering the tomatoes clean water, the temperature of which is not lower than 20-22ºС. When watering in a greenhouse, try not to get water on the leaves - excess moisture is useless there. Water in the morning - after that, be sure to ventilate the greenhouse. And after watering, pour half a liter of nutrient solution under each tomato bush.

I try to do foliar top dressing of tomatoes in the greenhouse in the morning so that by the evening the nutrient solution is absorbed into the leaves. Plants should be dry at night.
How to feed tomatoes

For the first top dressing after transplanting seedlings into a greenhouse or open ground, I use liquid fertilizer based on humates -This is GUMI Kuznetsova (natural fertility elixir). For 10 liters of water - 2 tablespoons of the elixir.

But you can start from the assortment of your stores for gardeners and gardeners. Not bad to use Gumat-80, Gumat+7, Gumat-Universal, Emerald, Ideal. For 10 liters of water, 1-2 tablespoons of fertilizer is enough. Here, add 1 tablespoon of instant mineral fertilizer (for example, Fertika Universal).

For each plant, 0.5 liters of solution is enough.

Tomatoes are better to underfeed than overfeed. Therefore, when planting seedlings in open ground or a greenhouse from mineral fertilizers, I use only ash and compost. After planting - fertilizer based on humates with Fertika Universal. And that's all. The following top dressings are only organic.

How to make your own organic "green manure"

I really like the positive reaction of my tomatoes to the "green manure". How do I prepare it? Very simple. There are a lot of recipes for such a "green manure". Its basis is mowed green weed grass.

I have an old metal 200 liter barrel. But it is not advised to harvest this fertilizer in a metal barrel, apparently, the process of metal oxidation negatively affects the quality. I don't have a plastic barrel. You know, there are almost no hopeless situations. I bought huge 200-liter plastic bags. I put one bag in another (for strength) and placed them in a barrel. I filled them 1/3 full with water so that the water straightened them. The polyethylene warmed up a little in the sun, became elastic, stretched and the bags were tightly dressed on the outside on the edge of the barrel. I got it metal barrel with plastic insert.

So, I already had a little water in the barrel, I add mowed grass there. Experienced gardeners it is advised to fill the barrel with cut nettles. But I didn’t have so many nettles, so I sketched an almost full (2/3) barrel of various weeds, including nettles.
I threw about 1 kg from above wood ash, half a bucket of chicken manure, added 2 liters of milk "store" whey (natural, they say, 1 liter is enough) and a pack of baker's yeast (100 g). I added water almost to the top.

I read this recipe a long time ago in the book “Smart Farming” by Yu.I. Sweetie. He calls this solution an infusion of microbial organisms. The author recommends adding mash instead of yeast - 3 liters of non-chlorinated water, 150 g of sugar, leave for 2-3 days.

The solution in the barrel ferments very actively and the stench, sorry for the details, is not the most pleasant. And you need to mix the fertilizer at least once a day. All this is infused for 1.5-2 weeks. Then I take out the fermented grass. It dries up in the sun and I put it under the zucchini. Why under the zucchini - I do not know. It's been like that from the very beginning. The zucchini are very grateful. You can try using this mulch on other plants.

A little more than half of the nutritious infusion in a barrel is obtained. I top up the barrel. I take a ready-made infusion (500 ml), add it to a watering can with water (6 liters), pour tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, pumpkins - half a liter of solution per bush. Yes, I almost forgot. The effect will be better if the soil under the plants is moist. That is, before root dressing, be sure to water the tomatoes.

I really like the result of such feeding - the plants are always green, they look healthy, they tolerate bad weather well, they grow very quickly, a lot of fruits are tied and, it seems to me, they began to get sick less, that is, their immunity has increased.

This solution can be carried out root and foliar top dressing. I usually spend foliar on young plants planted in open ground or in a greenhouse. Watering under the root - every 10-12 days.

I have enough of this solution for a long time. But everything, of course, depends on the number of plants planted. If I feel that there is not enough “green fertilizer”, then after less than half of it remains in the barrel, I fill the barrel with new grass. I don't add anything else but water. I wait 10-15 days - a new nutrient solution is ready.

Late blight on tomatoes

This "green manure" works well against late blight. At least, it seems to me that after I started using it, there were almost no cases of phytophthora on leaves and fruits (in 2015, only a few tomato fruits - 5 pieces growing in open ground, were thrown out from one bush). On the rest of the bushes, I did not notice any signs of phytophthora.

If the humidity (in the greenhouse, in the garden) is high, then I, in order to prevent the appearance of late blight on tomatoes, mealy or false powdery mildew on cucumbers, zucchini, I additionally treat the plants with a solution of whey (1 liter per 10 liters of water), to which I add 10 drops of iodine. This solution is especially beneficial for tomatoes. Iodine helps to increase the number of ovaries, and whey has a depressing effect on pathogenic fungi.

For the prevention of late blight on tomatoes, I alternate treatments. Once with a solution of whey, and the other with a solution of Fitosporin. This drug not only protects tomatoes from the development of late blight, it also nourishes the plants with bioactivated microelements, especially its new modification - Fitosporin-M. Sometimes I skip the lactic acid treatment, but I definitely replace it with a Fitosporin solution, which well suppresses the development of fungal and bacterial diseases on plants.

Don't forget that moisture high humidity in greenhouses or in the garden during the rainy season - they have a beneficial effect on the development of phytophthora, other fungal, bacterial diseases. Be sure to treat your seedlings, do not wait for the first signs of the disease to appear. If the disease began to manifest itself, then it is too late to fight it and it is practically useless.

When growing tomatoes, it is advisable to choose one complex mineral fertilizer and use it together with organic top dressing. It does not make sense to look for some of the best, since the composition of such fertilizers is almost the same, the only difference is percentage the elements they contain. Therefore, the use of any mineral additives should be carried out taking into account the characteristics of the soil in your area.

For fast fruit ripening you can apply the following tincture: dilute 1 tablespoon of superphosphate in a glass of water and let it brew for 48 hours, then pour it into a bucket of water and spray the plants. As a result, the leaves of the tomatoes will darken, photosynthesis will increase, and the berries will ripen earlier than usual.

Feeding tomatoes with iodine- another way to increase your yield. To do this, dissolve 5 drops of iodine in 15 liters of water (one bucket) and mix, you should water under each bush in the amount of two liters.

Tomatoes are among those plants that are quite demanding on proper and conscientious feeding, but will thank gardeners. bountiful harvest juicy fruits in case of proper attention to the topic of fertilizers.

There are some differences in the rules for caring for tomatoes grown in greenhouses and open ground. Accordingly, each of these methods requires different top dressing. Let's take a closer look at both options.

Top dressing of tomatoes in the case of growing in a greenhouse

First feed. Tomato seeds for subsequent cultivation in a greenhouse are sown in boxes with a special soil mixture.

Fertilizers are also added to this mixture. It can be called the most first dressing a tomato that has not yet begun to grow.

Second mixture. The basis of the mixture includes two ingredients in equal proportions: peat and humus. For one bucket of such a mixture is added: coarse-grained river sand - 1 liter, sawdust - 1 liter, dolomite flour or wood ash - 1 tables. spoon, superphosphate - 1 table. a spoon.

After preparation, the mixture must be thoroughly mixed and left for about a week. It is recommended to periodically wetting the mixture. In the box, the mixture should have a layer of about 10 cm.

Before sowing, it is necessary to prepare a special nutrient solution, it is heated to a temperature of about 40 degrees and the soil is moistened. The composition of the solution:

water - 10 l;
liquid mullein - 2 tables. spoons;

Second feed. After the appearance of several first true leaves seedlings can dive into small pots. The composition of the mixture is similar to the mixtures in the boxes. Next, top dressing is carried out with the following solution:

warm water - 10 l;
liquid mullein - 3 tables. spoons;
copper sulfate - 0.5 teaspoon.

Top dressing after picking tomato seedlings

After 15 days from the moment of picking, it is necessary to make another top dressing of tomatoes. To do this, prepare a solution with the following composition:

water - 10 l;
nitrophoska or nitroammophoska - 1 tables. a spoon;
liquid mullein - 1 cup.

Fourth feed. After approximately 20 days from picking, the tomatoes needs to be transplanted into larger pots. Ten days after transplantation, another top dressing follows. The solution for it has the following composition:

water - 10 l;
superphosphate double granular - 1 tables. a spoon;
wood ash - 2 tables. spoons.

It is necessary to fertilize each pot with one glass of this solution.

The fifth top dressing depends on the characteristics of seedling development. If a seedlings stretched out and has a pale shade, one tablespoon of urea is diluted in ten liters of water. Next, each plant is fertilized with half a glass of solution and placed for several days in a place with a constant temperature of about 10 degrees. The tomato will stop growing and pick up the brightness of the color. Then the plant is transferred to normal conditions.

If seedlings are excessive booming, for 10 liters of water you need to add 3 tables. spoons of superphosphate. Each tomato is fed with one glass of solution. After a day, it is recommended to place the plants in a room with a temperature of about 25 degrees during the day and not lower than 20 degrees at night. In such conditions, seedlings should stay for a week.

The sixth stage of feeding tomatoes refers to the preparation of beds for planting. If the beds are located on clay or su clay soil, for each sq. meter added:

peat - 1 bucket;
sawdust - 1 bucket;
humus - 1 bucket.

If the beds are on peat soils, for each square. meter is made the following composition:

sod land - 1 bucket;
sawdust or small shavings - one bucket;
humus - 1 bucket;
coarse sand - 0.5 buckets.

For each square meter beds, you must make the following components:

superphosphate double granular - 3 tables. spoons;
potassium sulfate - 1 table. a spoon;
potassium magnesia - 1 table. a spoon;
urea or sodium nitrate - 1 teaspoon.

If you want to reduce acidity soil, must be additionally applied for each square. meter one of the following components wood ash - 3 cups or dolomite flour - 2 cups.

This is followed by watering with a solution of mullein, having a temperature of up to 40 degrees. For 10 liters of water, 1 liter of mullein is used.

Seventh and subsequent top dressing. Performed during the growing season of tomatoes as root dressing. They are carried out in several stages:

Top dressing of tomatoes in the open field

First feed. Sowing seeds is carried out in cups with a soil mixture, the composition of which is similar to the mixture for greenhouse tomatoes. The prepared mixture must be spilled with the following solution:

water - 10 l;
copper sulfate - 0.5 teaspoon;
mushy mullein - 3 tables. spoons.

The solution must be warm enough.

Second feed. It is carried out in three stages:

Third feed. This top dressing of tomatoes is already to prepare the beds. The same fertilizers are recommended as for beds in greenhouses.

The fourth dressing is the first root dressing of tomatoes in the garden. It is carried out after 3 weeks from the date of planting. The composition of the solution:

water - 10 l;
mullein - 0.5 kg;
nitrophoska - 1 tables. a spoon.

About 0.5 l of solution is consumed for each plant.

Fifth supplement. Performed at the start of blooming on the second flower brush. The solution has the following composition:

water - 10 l;
chicken manure - 0.5 l;
superphosphate double granular - 1 teaspoon;
simple superphosphate - 2 teaspoons;
potassium sulfate - 1 teaspoon.

Potassium sulfate can also be replaced with potassium chloride. For one tomato, it is recommended to spend up to 1 liter of solution.

Sixth supplement. Produced during flowering the third flower brush. To prepare the solution, 1.5 liters of mullein are used, it is dissolved in 10 liters of water. In this case, the recommended consumption is 5 liters per 1 sq. m.

Seventh feed. Produced after 12 days. The solution consists of 1 tablespoon of nitrophoska, which is added to 10 liters of water. The recommended consumption is about 10 liters per 1 sq. m.

So, two weeks have passed since you planted tomato seedlings in a greenhouse or open ground. It's time to feed. Top dressing of tomatoes in open ground or greenhouse - is there a difference? What types of top dressings are there? In recent years, gardeners (those I know) prefer organic, trying to use less mineral fertilizers, but they are not completely abandoned. Home-made cheap, but very effective "green manure" is very popular. But about him, a little lower.

Variety Evpator

Types of dressings

There are two types of supplements. Root and non-root.

Root is used by most gardeners. It nourishes plants through the root system, that is, it is watering with a nutritious mineral or organic solution under the root.

Many people know about foliar, but they use it less often, but in vain.

Foliar - this is when we apply the same nutrient solution directly on top of the leaves, branches of plants. This type of fertilizing with mineral or organic fertilizers has a number of advantages. First, it allows you to save fertilizer. Because when we bring them under tomatoes, a significant part of the nutrients is washed out with irrigation, during rain, not all nutrients get to the plant.

And when we apply the solution on top of the leaf, then all the nutrients pass through the leaf into the plant. And it happens very quickly. Therefore, foliar acts much faster than root. Secondly, it is used to quickly help a plant suffering from a lack of one or another trace element. I try to use foliar feeding more often for seedlings, for plants recently planted, that is, for younger seedlings.

For foliar, lower concentrations of the solution are used than for root, so as not to cause leaf burn. For it, fertilizers are used that completely dissolve without sediment, which do not contain chlorine. Usually these are liquid forms of fertilizer mixtures, whether they are mineral or organic. Try to use non-chlorinated water for the preparation of nutrient solutions - rain or at least settled tap water.

Both root and foliar are equally useful for open ground tomatoes, for greenhouse ones. During the first half of the growing season, it is better to alternate them. In the second - go to the root. at high humidity, air more often, especially after spraying. In order for the plant to get the maximum benefit from any fertilizer, you need to know when - in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening - it is better to carry them out.

Foliar top dressing

One reader of our blog - Anna Nepetrovskaya from Novokubansk - shared her experience with foliar and root dressings. The experience, as far as I can appreciate, is invaluable.

Look at Anna's tomato alleys! Isn't this proof that her fertilization strategy is right!

Tomato alley of Anna Nepetrovskaya (Novokubansk) - variety Cio-Cio-San

Start feeding tomatoes should be a week after planting.

Here are the compositions of foliar top dressing she uses:

One liter of milk or whey + 10 drops of iodine + 9 liters of water.
Microfertilizer Zdraven + Fitosporin - dosage according to the instructions.
Milk whey (2 liters) + 0.5 cups of sugar + 15 drops of iodine + 8 liters of water.
Bifungin (birch mushroom (chaga) - dilute with water to a dark color.
One teaspoon boric acid, blue vitriol, magnesia, (boric acid, magnesia) + manganese at the tip of a knife + coarsely grated laundry soap or 3 tablespoons liquid soap dilute with 10 liters of water.
Trichopolum (10 tablets) + 1 small vial of brilliant green + 10 liters of water.
1 teaspoon of boric acid, copper sulfate, urea (kabamide) per 10 liters of water.
Weak solution of manganese.
Lactic acid solutions (whey) with the addition of 0.5 cups of sugar (10 liters).

All these solutions for foliar feeding are very effective for nutrition, protection of tomatoes from diseases, especially from phytophthora, other fungal diseases.

You need to apply them not at the same time, but, either in turn, as it is written, or choose those that, in your opinion, will bring the greatest benefit harvest. With the accumulation of experience, you yourself will determine "what is yours."

Alternate foliar top dressing with root. Below is again the experience of our reader from Novokubansk.

Root top dressing

Anna advises that before each fertilizer, pour the tomatoes under the root with clean water - settled tap or rain water.

The first root - not earlier than 10 days after planting seedlings.

The second - 15 days (two weeks) after the first.

The third top dressing will be most effective during the beginning of flowering, namely during the flowering of the second brush. On the first flowering brush, many gardeners advise cutting off the first double flower, since the fruit is most often tied up ugly, different from the others. (But I would not call this recommendation mandatory - I very rarely saw such a flower in my house).

One tablespoon of ammonium nitrate + 10 liters of water. Ammonium nitrate can be replaced with infusions of chicken or cow manure. The proportions are as follows: 0.5 liters of chicken infusion or 1 liter of cow manure + 10 liters of water.
Composition - 0.5 liters of chicken manure infusion + 2 tablespoons of superphosphate + 1 tablespoon of potassium sulfate + 10 liters of water. Please note that superphosphate is very poorly soluble in water. Therefore, it is necessary to start preparing this solution at least a day before use. First, dissolve the superphosphate - let it stand for at least 24 hours, and only then add other components. By the way, superphosphate can be replaced with monophosphate (phosphorus fertilizer).
Ingredients: 0.5 liters of infusion of chicken manure or cow dung + 1 tablespoon of potassium sulfate + 7 grams of boric acid + 10 liters of water. Pour 1.5 liters of solution under each bush, not forgetting to water the plants with clean, settled water before that.
Once a month, Anna advises root dressing with organic fertilizer. She calls it "Kurdyumov's compote", and I have this "green manure". The process of its preparation is described in detail below.
Every 2 weeks, it does not hurt to fertilize the tomatoes with an ash solution - pour 1 glass of ash with a bucket of water, let it brew for several hours. The ash solution contains potassium, calcium, phosphorus, many different trace elements necessary for the development of plants.

When to Feed Your Tomatoes

A very important point: if you are doing or root, then this should be done in the morning or in the evening. Why is that? If we are talking about foliar, then the nutrient solution should be on top of the leaves for as long as possible so that it can be absorbed. And in bright sunshine, spraying the leaves can cause a burn. This is first. And secondly, the sun will quickly dry up the droplets of the nutrient solution, it will not have time to be completely absorbed by the leaves. When foliar, it should be ensured that the solution gets not only from the top of the sheet, but from the bottom too.

Under the root, watering the plants with a mineral or organic solution is also necessary early in the morning or in the evening. I prefer the evening, and my dacha neighbor waters his cucumbers, tomatoes in a greenhouse or open field only early in the morning. The reasons also seem to be clear: water or a nutrient solution that has fallen on the leaves during the day can cause sunburn of the foliage. Tomatoes should not be forced to spend energy repairing or healing wounds.

How often should you fertilize

Usually they ask the question, how often should I fertilize tomatoes with mineral or organic? The short answer is not very often. And, to be more precise, I spend them as root, also foliar in 10-15 days. That is, about 2-3 times a month. I alternate them. Once - foliar, the next time - I feed the tomatoes under the root.

People often ask: is it permissible to fertilize tomatoes during fruiting? I answer: after the ovaries have appeared, top dressing is only under the root, that is, root.

I do foliar spraying during the first half of the growing season. That is, as soon as I noticed that the first fruits were tied up, I stop feeding by spraying. And I continue to do the root throughout the entire growing season (development).

The second popular question: feeding seedlings after picking - how, when. The first time you should fertilize tomatoes 10-12 days after planting seedlings. And than when read above.

Desirable, I would even say, obligatory foliar, when the flowering of tomatoes begins. Do not miss the deadlines - the number of ovaries, the harvest will depend on this.

In the greenhouse or top dressing is carried out as follows. Each plant needs to be fertilized individually. If the soil under the tomatoes is dry, then before feeding it is necessary to slightly moisten the soil. We pour clean water, the temperature of which is not lower than 20-22ºС. When watering greenhouse plants, try not to get water on the leaves - excess moisture is useless there. Water in the morning - after that, be sure to ventilate the greenhouse. And after watering, pour half a liter of nutrient solution under each bush.

I try to do foliar spraying of tomatoes in the greenhouse in the morning so that the nutrient solution is absorbed by the evening. At night, leaves, stems, fruits should be dry.

How to feed tomatoes in a greenhouse or open field

If you have little time for care or it is difficult to find all the components of top dressing that Anna Nepetrovskaya advises, then you can use humate-based fertilizers.

I used GUMI Kuznetsova (natural fertility elixir) - tomatoes acquired a good appearance, rejoiced in the harvest. 10 liters of water + 2 tablespoons of elixir.

But you can start from the range of your gardening stores. Not bad to use Gumat-80, Gumat+7, Gumat-Universal, Emerald, Ideal. For 10 liters of water, 1-2 tablespoons of fertilizer is enough. Here, add 1 tablespoon of instant mineral fertilizer (for example, Fertika Universal).

For each plant, 0.5 liters of solution is enough.

Outdoor or greenhouse tomatoes are better underfed than overfed. Therefore, when planting seedlings from mineral fertilizers, I use only ash and compost. After planting - fertilizer based on humates with Fertika Universal. All. The following top dressings are only organic.

How to make your own organic "green manure"

I really like the positive reaction of my tomatoes to the "green manure". How do I prepare it? Very simple. There are a lot of recipes for such a "green manure". Its basis is mowed green weed grass.

I have an old metal 200 liter barrel. But it is not advised to use a metal barrel for the preparation of this fertilizer, apparently, the process of metal oxidation adversely affects the quality. I don't have a plastic barrel. You know, there are almost no hopeless situations. I bought huge 300-liter plastic bags. I put one bag into another (for strength), placed them inside the barrel. Filled 1/3 with water to straighten them. The polyethylene warmed up a little by the sun, became elastic, stretched, the bags were tightly dressed outside on the edge of the barrel. I got a metal barrel with a plastic liner.

So, I already had a little water in the barrel, I add mowed grass there. Experienced gardeners advise filling the barrel with cut nettles. But I didn’t have so many nettles, so I sketched an almost full (2/3) barrel of various weeds, nettles were also there.

From above I threw about 1 kg, half a bucket of chicken manure, added 2 liters of milk "store" whey (natural, they say, 1 liter is enough), a pack of baker's yeast (100 g). I added water almost to the top.

This recipe was taken long ago from the book “Smart Farming” by Yu.I. Sweetie. He calls this solution an infusion of microbial organisms. The author recommends adding mash instead of yeast - 3 liters of non-chlorinated water, 150 g of sugar, leave for 2-3 days.

The solution ferments very actively, the stench, sorry for the details, is not the most pleasant. And you need to mix the fertilizer at least once a day. All this is infused for 1.5-2 weeks. Then I take out the fermented grass. When it dries up, I put it under the zucchini. Why under the zucchini - I do not know. It's been like that from the very beginning. The zucchini are very grateful.

You can try using this mulch on other plants.

A little more than half of the nutritious infusion in a barrel is obtained. I top up the barrel. I take a ready-made infusion (500 ml), add it to a watering can with water (6 liters), water tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, pumpkins - half a liter of solution for each bush. Yes, I almost forgot. The effect will be better, and top dressing will not bring harm (there will be no root burn) if the soil under the plants is wet. That is, before fertilizing under the root, be sure to water the tomatoes in the open field or greenhouse with settled water, if you use tap water or rain water.

I really like this result organic feeding- the plants are always green, they look healthy, they tolerate bad weather well, they grow very quickly, a lot of fruits are tied and, it seems to me, they began to get sick less, that is, their immunity has increased.

This solution can be carried out root and foliar top dressing. I usually spend foliar for young plants planted in open ground or a greenhouse. Watering under the root - every 10-12 days.

This "green manure" works well against late blight. At least, it seems to me that after I started using it, there were almost no cases of phytophthora on leaves, fruits. In 2013, only a few fruits (5 pieces) growing in open ground were thrown out from one bush. On the rest of the bushes, I did not notice any signs of phytophthora. And the next two years there were no phytophthora either. Although I suspect that the reason for this is not only top dressing, but also dry hot summers.

But, for example, the 2014 garden year began with rainy weather. Humidity, both in the greenhouse and in the garden, is high. To prevent the appearance of late blight on tomatoes, powdery or downy mildew on cucumbers, zucchini, I additionally treat the plants with a solution of whey (1 liter + 10 liters of water) with 10 drops of iodine. This solution is especially beneficial for tomatoes. promotes an increase in the number of ovaries, and whey inhibits the growth and development of pathogenic fungi.

For the prevention of late blight, I alternate treatments. Once with a solution of whey, and the other with a solution of Fitosporin. This drug not only protects tomatoes from the development of late blight, it also nourishes the plants with bioactivated microelements, especially its new modification - Fitosporin-M. Sometimes I skip lactic acid treatment, but I always replace it with Fitosporin solution, which well suppresses the development of fungal, bacterial diseases on plants.

Do not forget that moisture, high humidity in greenhouses or gardens during the rainy period is beneficial for the development of phytophthora, other fungal, bacterial diseases. Be sure to treat your seedlings, do not wait for the first signs of the disease to appear. If the disease began to manifest itself, then it is too late to fight it, it is almost useless.

So the answer to main question. What fertilizers, what top dressings are the best for tomatoes? Mineral or organic?

I would answer like this. For young seedlings - foliar, complex. For tomatoes during the second half of the growing season, it is best to use natural mineral fertilizers (ash, compost), also organic (based on humates, "green fertilizer"). In order not to overfeed the plants, fertilizing is carried out infrequently - 2-3 times a month - more often in the first half of the growing season, and less often in the second.

Happy harvest!

Not every gardener knows what fertilizers are best for tomatoes. Tomatoes grow in almost every garden. This is a favorite agricultural crop of all summer residents and gardeners. In order for the harvest to be large, tomatoes need to be fertilized for a month. This is especially important if the land on the site is sandy and infertile.

How and what fertilize tomatoes

Those who have been growing tomatoes in a greenhouse, in the open field or in a greenhouse for years, know how to fertilize tomatoes. These plants do not like excess fertilizer. It is better to use fertilizer in a small amount than to overdo it. Fertilization should be phased, starting from the moment of preparation land plot under seedlings of tomatoes.

Tomatoes need to be fertilized from the very beginning of their growth. If tomatoes are grown from seeds, then apply special means, stimulating their germination ("Kornevin", "Zircon"). When planting germinated seeds in a pot, ash and potash fertilizers should not be used, as they negatively affect the growth of young tomatoes. All fertilizers for tomatoes in a greenhouse or in open ground are divided into organic and mineral.

Available for sale complex fertilizers containing all the necessary substances. Tomatoes in the greenhouse and in the garden cannot grow normally without the following compounds:

potassium;
magnesium;
phosphorus;
nitrogen;
copper;
manganese;
boron;
iodine.

Phosphorus is especially important for seedlings. This element affects the development of the root system of plants. With a lack of phosphorus, plants acquire purple hue. Phosphorus-based fertilizers include "Superphosphate". It is available in the form of granules and powder. Another valuable substance is nitrogen. Nitrogen-based fertilizers are required at the stage of adaptation of tomatoes to the ground after they are transplanted.

With a large amount of such fertilizers, the process of flowering and ripening of fruits is disrupted, therefore, nitrogenous fertilizers should be used in small quantities. These fertilizers include carbamide, ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate.

Potassium is needed for fruit ripening. potash fertilizers increase the number of ties. Potash fertilizers are applied in advance.

Currently in use the following fertilizers for tomato seedlings planted in the ground:

ammonium nitrate;
"Superphosphate";
urea;
ammonium sulfate;
manure;
slurry;
bird droppings;
iodine solution;
a weak solution of boric acid;
complex fertilizers ("Nitrophoska", "Nitroammophos", "Ammophos").

With optimal fertilizer, tomatoes will grow quickly and give a high yield.

How to fertilize tomatoes (video)

When is feeding

When growing tomatoes in a greenhouse, the soil must be prepared in the fall. Deposit Required organic fertilizers(mullein solution or humus). Instead, mulch left from last year can be used. Mulch can be straw, rotted grass. Sawdust is often used. During the period from autumn to spring, the mulch will overripe and improve the quality of the soil.

With high acidity of the soil, dolomite flour or lime can be applied. Additionally, organic fertilizers (compost, bird droppings, manure) are applied.

When growing tomatoes in a greenhouse in spring, you need to dig the ground and add humus, sawdust or manure. Such fertilizer is organized if the soil is enriched with mineral and organic substances. For 1 m² you need 3 kg of organic fertilizers.

If the soil is poor, then you need 7 kg of humus and a glass of ash per 1 m² of land. If in previous years others grew in place of tomatoes vegetable crops, which are sufficiently fertilized, then humus is not applied. Before planting young plants in a greenhouse, it is recommended to irrigate the soil with a solution of potassium permanganate or potassium permanganate. With clay soil, a mixture of potassium sulfate is suitable, nitrogen fertilizers and ash (flour).

After the seedlings take root (20 days after planting in the ground), the first feeding is carried out.

Used "Nitrophoska". For 10 liters of water, 1 tbsp. l. The second feeding is carried out after 10 days. A solution of potassium sulfate is used. After another 12 days, a solution of ash and "Superphosphate" is used as a fertilizer. For 1 plant, a liter of solution is required.

Mineral fertilizers for tomatoes can be replaced with organic ones. In this situation, a manure-based solution is used. The ratio of manure and water is 1:10. Alternative way- usage bird droppings. During the fruiting of tomatoes, it is better to use "Superphosphate". Along with traditional methods fertilizers are used non-traditional.

Other ways to enrich the soil for tomatoes

Green plants are used to improve the quality of the land in the garden. They are otherwise called siderates. The following siderates for tomatoes are most often planted:

mustard;
radish;
phacelia;
alfalfa;
lupine;
buckwheat.

It is preferable to use cold-resistant green manure. Plant seeds are sown in early spring. Often plants are covered with a film. Green manure must be removed and buried in the ground before they begin to bloom and produce seeds. Siderata contribute to the enrichment of the soil with nitrogen, increase the yield of tomatoes, and suppress the growth of weeds.

A plant like phacelia changes the pH of the soil. It makes the soil neutral, which is the most favorable. Radish loosens the soil and protects tomato seedlings from pests. Mustard increases the content in the soil organic matter, prevents soil erosion and disease.