Organic Gardening can be a little bit difficult to get used to. Especially when you gardened for nearly 20 years the traditional way.

Having converted over 12 years ago, I am a definite believer.

I like to experiment from time to time just to see what will happen.

From my experiences, here are some secrets to tomato plant success:

1) Plant deep. Pinch or cut off all of the leaves except for the uppermost pair and the growth tip. Dig your hole deep enough to get the entire plant in there. All of those little hairs on the stem will become roots. When planted deeply, the root system will be much more extensive.

2) Amend your planting hole. To each planting hole add the shells from 4 eggs (crushed), one double handfull of used coffee grounds, and one banana peel. You can also add compost and/or composted manure mixed evenly with the soil you dug out of the hole.

3) Top dress. Dress off the top of your planting holes with mulch or hay in order to conserve moisture, add nutrients, and prevent water splashing on the leaves which can lead to foliar diseases.

4) Water deeply. Tomatoes are relatively heavy feeders. Water them deeply with manure tea, compost tea, or another type of organic liquid fertilizer. Deep watering encourages deep roots which will make the plant more hardy and able to support itself. I take empty gallon size milk jugs and cut the bottoms off. I bury the spout end into the ground next to the tomato plants deeply enough for them to stand up. I then fill that empty jug with a manure/compost/coffee ground mix leaving some room at the rim. Once or twice per week I pour water in there until it is saturated. The water will flow through and feed the tomato plants.

5) Give them some support. Tomato plants can grow a whole lot larger than you think they will. In Spring when those plants are so cute you don't really think about what they will be like when Summer is in full swing. Having experienced tomatoes that were upwards of 10 feet tall I know that a big trellis or wire cage or some sort of heavy support can be a very necessary thing. My new neighbor said to me last year "those cages sure are awfully big." I just smiled and replied "In July you'll see why."

Good Gardening!

Pretty normal for low N in an organic garden using wood products (they tie up N as they decompose). Then again, I am skeptical of soil tests that report N anyway since the level's fluctuate so quickly.

Nevertheless it's common for organic matter to not have enough N for veggies. You can compensate by adding organic matter known to have lots of N.

Fish emulsion is a good organic fertilizer and soybean meal is a terrific grain. By weight it is 7% nitrogen so if your soil test calls for 1lb N per 1,000 sq ft you would want 10lbs soybean meal per 700 square feet or 1lb soybean meal per 70 sq ft. I use soybean meal exclusively to feed my lawn and it works terrific.

Hey justaguy....

Im assuming you're talking about soybean meal
in bulk. Where are you finding it and how
much is it co$ting you?

Most feed stores will have cottonseed meal, as well as alfalfa meal. They are mostly sold as livestock feeds, except when organic gardeners use them. A 50 lb. bag can run around $9-12. I don't know if prices have gone up this year, along with all the other prices, including shipping.

I have to special order the alfalfa meal at my local feed store. They always carry the pellets but not the meal. He charged roughly $15 for a 50 lb bag.

I didn't even check out cottonseed meal. Is it supposed to be higher in Nitrogen than the alfalfa?

Justaguy>I was wondering about how accurate those nitrogen numbers would be. I took the soil samples back in January when we were on the cool side of things. We didn't get down right cold until the last week of January.

I thought temperature might have an impact on the results. Does anyone know if my line of thinking is correct?

Michelle

Alfalfa pellets are jut compressed alfalfa meal. They turn to the same mush as soon as water hits them. There's no reason to order alfalfa meal special, unless you have a seriously wimpy spreader that won't handle pellets.

I get bunny food for $10 for 50#.

Yes, temp has an affect on soil nutrients although I don't understand it well enough to know how it would affect test results, if at all.

The N content of soybean meal I am fairly confident in for a few reasons. I have seen the number in a number of credible places. Also, the math I was taught is to take the protein percentage and divide it by either 6.25 or 6.75 (I forget which) to figure the percent nitrogen. Soybean meal is 48.5% protein (usually) so 48.5/6.25=7.76 and 48.5/6.75=7.18.

My apologies as I researched this a few years ago and once I knew the N content forgot the links and math.

I find soybean meal at a local grain coop where they process grains into different feeds. I pay $22.00 for 150 lbs so that works out to 14.6 cents per pound. I buy 150lbs because I use it as a lawn fertilizer applied 10-20 pounds per 1,000 sq ft. The lighter amount where the grass is perfect and the heavier amount where the grass appears to need some more 'oooph' ;-) (thin spots and such). I use the left overs as a light dusting on gardens to supply some additional N which often isn't adequate in any soil no matter how organic for N heavy plants like veggies or annual flowers.

I use the alfalfa meal because we have a lot of wild rabbits. Since it takes a rain or two to turn the pellets into a mush, I figured the meal might be less attractive for the local rabbit population.

Just a theory.

Michelle

Could be right there. The meal will sit out and bleach- losing N if there's no rain anyway. Apply just before a rain and there's no issue either way I guess.

Looks good by the way. I remember your thread- we were all telling you that your neighbor would likely meet with more frustration than success. maybe we were right there. Long term thinking... my employers could stand a lesson from this.

Shellva, your tomato plants look great! Good going!!

So how are the neighbors doing???

The neighbors are doing fine but she has pretty much given up on veggie gardening and is sticking with only growing some flowers up around the house while he goes after the ever elusive carpet of green perfection.

They are still chem nuts and probably always will be. They've already sprayed some kind of herbicide then turned around and fertilized the lawn with some kind of spray stuff. They want to spray something on the lawn to kill "EVERY bug that creeps and crawls!" His words, not mine. I just bite my tongue and hope it doesn't drift my way but realistically understand it probably will. I know the herbicide was drifting as I could taste it in the back of my throat when I went outside for a few moments.

They are really nice people but we definitely have different views on our land stewardship responsibilities.

Oh, and 2 weeks after originally posting, my tomatoes are still looking fantastic!