John,

Al may not be able to respond for awhile as he is currently dealing with a technical snafu similar to what he dealt with last year.

For the 2009 season I used FP exclusively on tomatos the entire season and was satisfied with the performance of those plants.

It is neither necessary nor beneficial to elevate the amount of phosphorus at any point in the growing cycle as the plants can't use more P than they do N or K.

For some veggies you may get slightly better yields if you elevate K above N, but you won't improve anything by elevating P above N.

The only sense in which elevating P above N can help is due to reducing N. There are those who believe reducing N 'encourages' the plant to slow it's vegetative phase and focus more on reproduction. Elevating K above N would accomplish the same thing and it would be providing a nutrient the plants will actually use much of instead of it all just running out the drainage hole.

I concur with JustaGuy... what he says is in direct correlation to what I've learned. I'm using Foliage Pro for everything in containers.

I am too..And never a problem with me either..:-)

Then would schultz's 17-19-29 tomato food do a decent job of slowing foilage growth and redirecting energy toward fruit production?
Larry

It's questionable if reducing N actually does anything to induce flowering. There are those who believe it does, but there are others who say it's other environmental factors that do most of the influencing.

I don't think the 17-19-29 is a bad choice in the sense any harm will come to your plants. I have a personal beef with fertilizers using that much P when no plant on earth will use it, but then again I live in a state where it's illegal to use phosphorus without a soil test showing it's need.

Nevertheless, the fertilizer ratio should work fine. As a potentially interesting experiment, give some plants a 3:1:2 ratio fertilizer and some others the 17-19-29 and see if you notice any difference.

Thanks guys, but doesn't this approach fly in the face of all the conventional wisdom about using fertilizers? I'm buying into it, but I'm an old man who has been doing things the old way for a lot of years. All I know is the results I have been getting from container growing have been disapointing, so I need to try something different. So I will go with the FP using 1/4tsp/gal every watering. Which in FL will be everyday in mid season. I appreciate your advice and if you have more to offer I will listen.

thanks john

Foliage pro's list of macro / micro aregood too, I like that.

latyrus, I saw that post too, and if I recall it was the CEO of Dynagro and it got me thinking. I've used dynagro for years on Orchids, a lot of the orchid growers use the 7-9-6 and swear by it. That's what I've used on my seedlings, but I switched to MG tomato formular after I put them in the ground or a few in pots. In the ground in FL means you have to battle nematodes, but they did better than the ones in pots. So, I'm trying to find a potting mix fert combo that will work for toms and peppers and let me plant other things in the ground. Thanks for your input. john

Conventional wisdom must be looked into quite deeply at times, and if there's a profit to be made at all from that wisdom, then I always question it.

Like that CEO said, "It's easier to just give people what they think they need than to try to re-educate them."

I am amazed at how hard so many people cling to the fallacies and misinformation they hold as truth. It truly is easier, and a lot less aggravating, to just nod and agree with some... I applaud those with open minds, eager to at least learn the simple science behind much of what we all do as gardeners.

I suppose it all boils down to whether or not a person is striving for optimal... or if good enough is good enough. To me, good enough is not good enough... I want optimal. Give me the science!

One more query for now. The DG product, Proteck, anyone have experience with that? I've used it on my orchids and I think I can see the benefit in stronger growth, but that could be the result of other factors. DG wants us to add it to everything, but is that the chemist or the sales dept talking. ;>)

john

I have been using it...On my citrus most of all..For some reason I am noticing stronger, harder new growth and more resistance to pests...:-)

I use the Pro Tekt as well, but discontinued using it last year (temporarily) as I wanted to see with my own eyes if a 3:1:2 ratio fert alone was enough for fruiting plants such as tomatos and peppers.

The product has at least 2 potential uses. The first is the silicon. For the most parts monocots (grass, corn) don't have the ability to accumulate it so they see little to no benefit from it, but most dicots can and so they typically end up with some degree of increased pest/disease resistance as the leaf surfaces are more difficult to penetrate and they also seem to be better able to regulate water loss via the leaves making them a bit less prone to wilting mid day.

The other benefit is the potassium. By using PT with FP (or another 3:1:2 ratio fertilizer) one can fairly conveniently elevate K above N. Some fruiting plants may perform slightly better with a 3:1:3 or even 3:1:4 ratio fert so in cases where one wishes to try this adding PT is an easy way to do it. A warning though, the PT and FP should not be mixed together or insoluble elements will form. Either use them separately or add them to the water so they dilute immediately.

I just went back to read some older post on this forum and found that my questions had all been answered a month ago. Thanks for your patience. DUH!

john