I have heard that potassium nitrate is a great fert. for tomatoes.... and also as a foliar spray. if anyone knows what the rate is for it please let me know...

thanks
mark

Hi tammysf,
Favorite story about foliar feeding is that most benefit comes from what drips off leaves, on to the soil below, where absorbed by the roots.
One USA ag school contends if it does not rain then foliar feeding of Phosphorus needs 14 days to be assimilated; Potassium 7 - 15 days.
Evidence for Calcium , as nitrate/chloride is conflicting; most soluble form of Ca
is as gluconate. I was recently advised it is not mobile enough in plant tissue.
Trace minerals seem to be the only foliar feeding worth considering.

I foliar feed all the time. I have a 55 gallon barrel I keep in my backyard just for the purpose . I alternate several times a week what fertilizer I use. Maybe one time I will put half a cup of potasium nitrate in 55 gallons of water and water my plants with a regular watering can I just dip into the barrel to fill it up. Next time I will use just regular water from a hose to water my plants. Then after that I will use something else like zinc chelate. then regular water again. Then I will use half a cup of epsom salts in 55 gallons of water. Then alternate with regular plain water the next watering. Then a half a cup of ammonium phosphate in 55 gallons of water. I will now be switching to mostly urea as my plants already have enough phosphorus and potassium. The California master gardeners handbook says for most California soils the only nutrients you really need to add are nitrogen and zinc. You should see the plants take off when you give them a dose of zinc. I also have a two inch layer of horse manure/wood shavings compost surrounding all my plants and a six inch layer surrounding all my fruit trees, so I suppose when I water them the water filtering through the compost turns into compost tea. I also used to use Cal-Nitro which was a mixture of ammonium nitrate, magnesium nitrate, and dolomite lime in my solutions, but I ran out of it. You can't buy pure ammonium nitrate anymore because they are afraid you will make a bomb out of it. But they still sell potassium nitrate which you can make gun powder out of. Go figure.

thanks everyone...i think i will try compost tea as we have a huge compost pile.

anyone have a good recipe for compost tea? i read the basics but they did not have a recipe.

Hi tammysf,

I started foliar feeding last year, and thought my plants performed a lot better for it, although some dismiss it as "witchcraft." :)

At first, I alternated weekly between vermicompost (worm p**p) tea, and a weak dilution of fish emulsion. For compost tea, I make a "tea bag" out of a section of old pantyhose and put a couple of handfuls of wormcastings in it, tie off, and then soak for couple of days, squishing the bag. You can use it 2-3 three times, and it automatically strains out anything that could clog your sprayer (bad).

When the plants got to the point where I wanted them to start blossoming, I switched to a 2-8-4 liquid fert for that purpose (FoxFarm's Tiger Bloom). All I know is everyone around here had a bad tomato year. . . except for me. So I'm gonna keep doing it. Also, spray early in the morning like Dave says, otherwise you could burn your leaves. I got away with doing it at night because of a dry climate, but some people would not recommend it. Good luck!

Hi Tammy - as pitbull said there isn't a specific recipe for compost tea - it can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it. ;)

Just make a teabag out of something porous - old nylons, old socks, cheesecloth, netting, whatever. Soak it for 24-48 hours in a 5 gallon bucket of water or whatever. Use it full strength right out of the bucket for a root drench but for foliar feeding, first dilute it to the color of weak iced tea and spray or use it in a hose end sprayer that automatically dilute as it sprays.

Dave

PS: and whatever drips onto the ground sure doesn't hurt anything either. ;)

I foliar feed once or twice a month, always after sundown, alternating Neptune's Harvest Fish and Seaweed fertilizer with Grow More Liquid Kelp fertilizer. Kelp does seem to contribute to plant health, especially here in the desert. It's the trace minerals that are important. Foliar feeding does not take the place of feeding the roots. It's supplemental.

Question, is foliar feeding with organic products really effective, seeing how they must first be broken down into chemicals useful to the plant by soil bacteria? Are these bactreria also present on the leaves? On the other hand, urea for example, can be immediately broken down by the leaves into ammonia and carbon dioxide, which can immediately be utilized. Methinks possibly the plant is actually using the organic fertilizer that dripped onto the soil.

Californian, compost teas are brewed for beneficial bacterial and fungal microbial populations that are very much used by the leaves for many beneficial purposes.

Aggies say: Nitrogen foliar feed get N uptake within 24 hours.