That question Depends on several factors. Do you want to use organic nutrients Only? Do you want a single part or a multi-part nutrient (ie. General Hydroponics three part is an old standard but requires mixing three different nutrient solutions into one reservoir, where as their Flora Nova Series is a one part for Vegetive growth and a seperate for Flowering). Otherwise personally I prefer American Agritechs "Botanicare" products Pure Blend Pro. As for ecogrow I have never used it but it is available at local some hydrostores, you'll have to call around. Hope thatt helped. I tend to ramble.

I have been using stuff from here http://www.hydro-gardens.com/ Vary happy with there product and price.

Stan

Thanks for all the information it was very helpfull.

I've been growing tomatoes for a few years now in an organic only soil garden.I love tomatoes for everyday eating and cooking so I want to get more. I love those Euro-Fresh tomatoes but they are soo expensive. In my research for different nutrients, I keep seeing lots of info on Advanced Nutrients. Anyone ever use them? Good? Bad? Apparently Euro-Fresh uses their nutrients so i'm thinking there must be something to them....yes? no? Can anyone help with some advice before I buy?

www.southernag.com Best to call them. They have several commercial hydro products.

I've used EcoGrow. I bought the dry stuff (Grow formula) to use in my first DWC system. It worked fine for me and seemed reasonably pH stable. Honestly, not a bad little nutrient.

I didn't use the Bloom formula as I was just growing lettuce, collards, and spinach.

So I don't know about the Bloom, but the Grow isn't bad. I wouldn't consider it a good long-term thing, but if you've already got some it's worth using. I'd either go with the stuff Chuck recommends, or something fancier like a premium nutrient you can find at a hydroponics shop. At some point I'm wanting to do a side-by-side with something like Advanced Nutrient's three part nutrient or the Sensi 2-part.

I'd have to say that AN makes the best nutrients for tomatoes. Their stuff is ideal for acid-loving plants like that. I'd go with either their Sensi 2-part or their 3-part, Grow Micro & Bloom.

If you want to go organic it's hard to beat their Iguana Juice.

i've been using the dyna-gro products.

http://www.dyna-gro.com/

I havent tried tomatoes yet, but these nuts are working wonderfully on my cayenne peppers and sunflower. I used their dyna-gro for about 1 1/2 months then switched to their dyna-bloom which showed remarkable results the moment i switched.

I've been using the Flora Series from GH (General Hydroponics) and have had great luck with my tomatoes. You can see some of my pics on my website but overall they have been working for me. I also have used the products from FutureGarden (liquid earth) but only on my lettuce rafts and other smaller herbs. I've had great results from both

I think it depends on price, 3 part - 2 part, and how your plants do. I don't mind the 3 part mixing, it's fairly simple.

There's definitely plenty of options, so it's pretty easy to find something that fits both your needs and budget. I have a hell of a time trying to decide between Sensi 2 part and AN Grow, Micro, and Bloom because I just like them both for different reasons.

Last time I had to decide I literally flipped a coin.

I can offer a good opinion on three part nutrients. I recently tried out the Grow Micro Bloom that Advanced Nutrients makes and it was easily the best stuff I've ever used.

I wasn't growing tomatoes with it, but I've got some seeds germinating (hopefully) for indoor winter tomatoes that I pla to grow with that 3 part nutrient and I don't expect any trouble. I'll probably get a Cal/Mag supplement for them shortly, since tomatoes never seem to get enough of those.

That's my 2 cents worth - that Advanced Nutrients stuff that hooked is talking about definitely works well for me.

I'm glad to hear the 3 Part is working out for you Gary. I had a feeling youd like those nutrients.

Hey Kirk, let us know how that pvc setup works for you. Im doing outdoor flood tables for tomatoes and peppers right now, but I am considering a similiar system like yours.

Hey hooked on ponics, I gotta agree with you about Advanced Nutrients. I think they're probably the best nutrients in the world for growing hydroponic tomatoes.

I guess not everyone wants to necessarily have the worlds best when it comes to hydroponic nutrients but I definitely appreciate the edge it gives my garden.

My family gets really competitive in our gardening - we show up to family gatherings with fresh vegetables try to out-do each other in size, quality and so on. So I can say without a doubt that adding Advanced Nutrients to my hydroponics garden has made a world's difference in being able to bring the best produce to the table.

I know that the question was about "the best COMMERCIAL nutrients" for tomatos, yet here are data from the University of Florida, which I have used to create this graphic. They show nutrient requirements for tomato in NFT and dripping systems. The upper denomination is in French language, but the original was seedling to 1st cluster, second cluster, etc.

As for the simplified NPK data I added myself , as in 7-5-12 (+4), it is only approximately what is shown above.

So, any commercial nutrient that comes close to these- respectively enables you to mix your nutrients according to these values, is just fine. As for the fellas who are composing their own nutrients, it's possible to weather exactly use these data, or simplify them into less mixes, let's say 3 stages.

Please note that tomatoes generally need less N than peppers or other plants of the night shade family. It's frequently said that peppers and Tomatoes have the same- or similar nutritional requirements, but this is only true for bell peppers and huge annuum species. Tomatoes need lots of sulfur and especially calcium. Always consider a lack of calcium with your tap water and (or worse in combination with) the lack of calcium in most 1 component nutrients (compatibility of calcium nitrate).

jean-luc,
What does the "+4" mean when you write 7-5-12(+4)?
you've written forumlasa like that in several posts and I'm just curious what it means.
Thanks.

What does that +4 mean?

Not sure if Jean-Luc is still active in this forum ;-)

Anyway: I don't know about US conventions, but in other parts of the world it always stands for the Mg part as in Magnesium +4 means 4% or 40 ppm. But what Jean-Luc didn't mention here was that his NPK data is expressed in elemental NPK instead of conventional NPK. And this could in fact be misunderstood.

Transferred to conventional NPK as we know it and how it is used for most fertilizer or even nutrient formulations, the "conventional" NPK would actually express as follows:

7-11-14(+4)
8-11-14(+4)
10-11-18(+4)
12-11-18(+4.8)
15-11-24(+4.8)

What's interesting here, is the unchanged Phosphorus content in all formulas.
PS: Attention, if Magnesium content is expressed in Mg0 (oxide form) it has to be transferred as well: Mg = MgO x 0.60

"Not sure if Jean-Luc is still active in this forum ;-)"

Nope, just reincarnated.

I am also planning to grow my own garden tomato soon and been checking on what quality nutrients I can use for it...AN's 3 part nutrients seems to be a good choice since there are indeed a lot of good reviews about it. You may want to try it with your tomatoes, too. Best of luck!

WOW...great reading!! Where can I get the cal/mag suppliments?

(I LOVE the 'clip this post' feature!!)