Feeding Baby Tomato Plants

[Daffy D]

I'm growing some tomatoes from seeds. The little seedlings are a couple of inches high already and look quite healthy. I give them lots of sunshine and water every day.

Gathering general information it seems essential to feed the little plants for them to grow strong and be fruitful.

There isn't a garden store around here so can't get anything till our next visit to town, which could be weeks away. So the question is can I brew up something from kitchen waste, presumably make a liquid mush from leftovers that will be good for little seedlings?

Also when we do eventually get to town will I be able to find "Tomato Food" in bottle or packets? and/or will any "Plant" food do ?

Thanks

[Mosha]

I may be wrong, as it was years ago. My dad used to grow tomatoes under glass (Green House) in the UK. I'm pretty sure he didn't feed until the flowers came.

[SnakeBite]

Look here: http://gardening.about.com/od/growingtips/tp/Tomato_Tips.htm

or here: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=g...oq=growing+toma

[Pakeha]

I don't feed mine. They feed me but I have good soil. You only need to feed them if the soil is not very good.

[Daffy D]

Maybe I'm being over protective but I've read in several places that if you want good fruit tomato's need to be fed, maybe its only necessary later when they start to mature.

"SnakeBite" - I have Googled a lot already but most of the sites, if not all, deal with growing toms in temperate zones, I just wondered if there are special need for growing in the tropics?

"byoung" - trouble is I don't know if I have good soil. Last year the wife threw out some toms over the back fence into the field we have there and some plants started to grow, so I would guess the soil is OK. Trouble is the cows came and ate them so don't know if they would have had any fruit.

Seems the general thinking is not to worry about feeding till they are starting to show flowers.

Thank y'all

[rice555]

Hello D.Duck, you might get more help on the house and garden forum than on the farming forum and I'm surprised that the organic group has not piped up!

I grow my tomatoes using hydroponics, they start getting feed a 1/2 strength nutrients after their second true leafs open.

There are several sites you can google to get more info on dirt grown tomatoes in the 'tropics and subtropics', even from NGO's that work with Thai Ag schools.

I'm about to transplant Black Cherry(TGS from Florida), and Shady Lady (also TGS FL). Shady Lady is grown in the sack-of-tomato-valley from Fresno to Sacramento Calif, it's not listed as a 'heat set' verity, it can take the heat of the Central Valley. The Black Cherry usually don't make very far from the plants, also the wife steals them for her som dum.

Have you read the other tomato threads for info?

rice555

[Daffy D]

I posted on the farming forum as there were some previous posts about tomatoes, difficult sometimes to know exactly where to post

I'll do some more Googling and see what additional info turns up. The little seedlings are just over a couple of inches tall with just two leaves and seem to be doing alright, think I'll just let them get on with growing till they sprout some more leaves before transplanting to a bigger pot.

May sound a bit fussy about these toms as they are just seeds from local market toms but this is just a try out to see if I can grow them before getting some quality seeds and growing some real tasty tomatoes, so want to cover all the bases before stating on the good ones.

The plan is eventually to grow them hanging upside-down in a pot.

Hanging Tomatoes

More Hanging Toms

[Maizefarmer]

I'm growing some tomatoes from seeds. The little seedlings are a couple of inches high already and look quite healthy. I give them lots of sunshine and water every day.

Gathering general information it seems essential to feed the little plants for them to grow strong and be fruitful.

There isn't a garden store around here so can't get anything till our next visit to town, which could be weeks away. So the question is can I brew up something from kitchen waste, presumably make a liquid mush from leftovers that will be good for little seedlings?

Also when we do eventually get to town will I be able to find "Tomato Food" in bottle or packets? and/or will any "Plant" food do ?

Thanks

Theres probably a dozen diffirent "brews" - homemade & commercial - you could use, but with conditions as good as they are in Thailand, there are also a dozen varities of tomatoe that will do very well without any rocket sauce added.

Pests are the big problem (as they are with all veggies and fruit in the tropics) - keep them down and the plant should really well just by its self - so long as you have a decent soil base for them to grow in. You can purchase very good pre-mixed bags of soil/compost mix - just ask for one suited for tomatoes, and you'll be suprized just how fast (and big) the plant grows.

[jandtaa]

well I guess it's time the organic folks piped up then  !!

I have nothing against non-organic methods of market gardening/ farming after all at the end of the day plants can only take up their nutrients as pure chemical elements no matter what the inputs!! I think that while chemical inputs as far as fertiliser go ,it's up to the individual and if it's a quick fix for a commercial gain go for it, pesticides and herbicides that are non organic I don't personally agree with !! I personally am thinking longterm and it's well known  that chemical fertiliser over a period of time will leave your soil sterile i.e."dead" and reliant on further chemical input  so have been investigating alternative methods. Sure it's a much slower approach (sometimes I just wanna crack on and get things really going !!) but in the longterm I feel its a much more natural and healthy way of growing our food. Also I believe that we cannot ignore the "peak Oil crisis" what are we gonna put on our dead soil when no chemical fertilisers are available ?? What legacy are we gonna leave behind for our kids ?? currently the U.k. my home country has only 150'000 farmers average age of 60 and is a net importer of food !! This is simply not sustainable and an alternative must be found !! Unfortunately organics cannot give definitive answers (i.e. precise formulations that mean anyone with a modicum of intelligence can grow his chosen crop by numbers) , it would appear to be be an art as much as a science, I believe it's simply a case of observing nature, working with it as opposed to against it and in the case of permaculture speeding up the natural processes to make it commercially viable. I also believe that both organic and non organic farmers should work together to safeguard livelyhoods as well as the overall integratory of the food we eat !!

None of the above helps the original OP in anyway but like a wily carp I've suddenly fallen for the bait !! sorry rice555 !I've read many of your posts over the last few years and have always found them most informative. Give us a chance and you will find I'm certainly no "Chaowna" who from his posts came across like an organic Jehovas witness constantly banging on your door trying to force his "almighty googleness" down your throat ! I'm also looking into aquaponics and organoponics so I'm no Luddite just a forward thinking bloke !! Hopefully we can all learn from each other !!

Back to the OP you could try looking into bokashi-fermented kitchen waste

and for what its worth ( I learnt it from a non organic commercial grower ) when the seedlings have produced their first true leaves re-pot them burying them in the new potting medium right up to the base of the leaves, tomato can produce roots along their entire stem, if you have started in a 3' pot repeat this a couple of times until final potting or planting out in the ground and you should see a significant gain in yield !!  

cheers all Jandtaa

[jandtaa]

Daffy D

jandtaa's farming related documents

heres some info on growing toms that I've collected over the years hope its of use

good luck Jandtaa

[jandtaa]

Also check out my latest post in the pinned thread-organic farming for links to info and recipes on making the aforementioned bokashi and other EM related info.

cheers Jandtaa

[Pakeha]

Ask Ma. She will know

My gf's Mum just throws veges in the ground and they grow. I've never seen her growing tomatoes though. Her soil looks really good though.

I think it's best to go back 100 years and think how did they do it? They didn't buy fertiliser - that's for sure.

[Daffy D]

Thank y'all for your replies and providing some links to follow.

Think I'll leave the plants to get on with it, just make sure they get enough sun and water them every couple of days. Will see how they are when they are ready for transplanting maybe brew up some organic kitchen stuff then to help them along.

Cheers

Edited February 27, 2009 by Daffy D

[Lickey]

Ive got some red tomatos trying to grow on our farm salad beds now, for all the world they look like [leaves] english toms, do i need to side shoot them or just leave? they have small toms already,

Thanks for any advice, Lickey.

Edited February 27, 2009 by Lickey

[jandtaa]

If the seeds came from your local seed merchant or from a tomato bought from the local market they're most likely to be the Roma variety (plum tomato) grown mainly for processing but sold here in LOS as a salad tomato. This is a bush tom i.e determinate variety and you shouldn't remove the side shoots.I grow mine through a bamboo frame as they can have a bit of a sprawling nature and the grid of bamboo helps support the plants and keep the fruits off the ground.I use mine to make pasta sauce and tomato puree. On the other hand you say they are "trying to grow" does this mean they have self seeded possibly from your compost ( happens to me most years as even the heat of my heap doesn't appear to kill the seeds of the cherry toms my wife likes to put in her somtham !! ) these grow like weeds I never feed them and they are still abundant producers. They have much smaller leaves than the larger toms but also require no removal of the side shoots. Also they're no where near as sweet as commercial cherry toms with a much lower Brix value but will keep your missus happy !!

Happy growing Jandtaa

Edited February 28, 2009 by jandtaa

[Pakeha]

If the seeds came from your local seed merchant or from a tomato bought from the local market they're most likely to be the Roma variety (plum tomato) grown mainly for processing but sold here in LOS as a salad tomato. This is a bush tom i.e determinate variety and you shouldn't remove the side shoots.I grow mine through a bamboo frame as they can have a bit of a sprawling nature and the grid of bamboo helps support the plants and keep the fruits off the ground.I use mine to make pasta sauce and tomato puree. On the other hand you say they are "trying to grow" does this mean they have self seeded possibly from your compost ( happens to me most years as even the heat of my heap doesn't appear to kill the seeds of the cherry toms my wife likes to put in her somtham !! ) these grow like weeds I never feed them and they are still abundant producers. They have much smaller leaves than the larger toms but also require no removal of the side shoots. Also they're no where near as sweet as commercial cherry toms with a much lower Brix value but will keep your missus happy !!

Happy growing Jandtaa

Hi Jandtaa.

That's a funny looking tomato plant in your profile pic.

[jandtaa]

If the seeds came from your local seed merchant or from a tomato bought from the local market they're most likely to be the Roma variety (plum tomato) grown mainly for processing but sold here in LOS as a salad tomato. This is a bush tom i.e determinate variety and you shouldn't remove the side shoots.I grow mine through a bamboo frame as they can have a bit of a sprawling nature and the grid of bamboo helps support the plants and keep the fruits off the ground.I use mine to make pasta sauce and tomato puree. On the other hand you say they are "trying to grow" does this mean they have self seeded possibly from your compost ( happens to me most years as even the heat of my heap doesn't appear to kill the seeds of the cherry toms my wife likes to put in her somtham !! ) these grow like weeds I never feed them and they are still abundant producers. They have much smaller leaves than the larger toms but also require no removal of the side shoots. Also they're no where near as sweet as commercial cherry toms with a much lower Brix value but will keep your missus happy !!

Happy growing Jandtaa

Hi Jandtaa.

That's a funny looking tomato plant in your profile pic.

Ha Ha !! It's been genetically modified to grow like a lettuce !!

I grow 15 varieties of lettuce back in the U.K. (when I'm there for 6 months of the year) both as baby leaf and full head production on a commercial basis' supplying local restaurants and the village farm shop . The beauty in the photo is an Australian giant yellow leaf which I trialled last summer.also grow about 70 other varieties of veg for home consumption toms being one of them. 

all the best Jandtaa

[johnh101]

Goat Sh1t.

A couple of hundred grams tied up in a stocking, place it in a bucket of water. After the plants start flowering use this water once a week, just keep topping the bucket up with fresh water. Try to apply it into the soil around the plant and keep it away from the leaves and stalks as it can sometimes burn the plant.

It worked for me.

[swifty5x5]

I just steal sh-t from the next doors cows.