Have you used the organic stuff by itself yet? Also, what is the NPK of your organic?

You may over fertilize them and burn the leaves or worse .

Using non-organic fertilzer with organic fertilizer doesn't work (well it works as fertilizer but not for 'organic' growing), once you use a non-organic fertilizer you're back to scratch in starting over with using organics. You basically blow it for being 'organic'. If you want to stay organic then only buy organic products to use in your garden.

Use either one, but not both. All you need do is follow the instructions on the packaging.

plants are flowering and i just want to give them a little boost.they are in raised beds.

Agree with Trudi on mixing types. And if your plants are blooming but haven't set fruit yet then wait until they do set fruit before feeding.

Timing of feeding is just as important as the type of fertilizer used, maybe more important. Feeding plants that haven't set fruit yet just kicks them back into growth mode.

Dave

Wow, every time I read these forum posts I learn something new.

I have container plants, and I have been giving them pretty consistent doses of dilute fish emulsion once a week, as well as a tablespoon of balanced organic fertilizer every two weeks. They seem to be doing well.

However, it would seem from some of your advice that I am over-fertilizing. Should I wait for fruit to set on all my plants before I fertilize again?

Also, how do you know if a fertilizer is organic? I bought a 5-10-10 tomato fertilizer the other day that I think is organic, but I really don't know how to tell for sure.

Thanks,
Nate

thank you all,
i'm gonna stick with organics, my option is to give
them a little fertilizer now. and in two weeks when
fruit apears another dose. my reason being organic fertilizers are released very slowly. i think this makes
sense. this is the first year i'm trying to go all organic.
today i'm gonna mulch with straw. any more advice would be apreciated.

I learned a lot from this post.

"Timing of feeding is just as important as the type of fertilizer used, maybe more important. Feeding plants that haven't set fruit yet just kicks them back into growth mode. "

I think I may have sent some of mine back into growth mode :)

However, since I just put them in the ground not long ago it might be ok. It also keeps raining here (heavy rain) and I wonder how much of my liquid fish fertlizer actually gets used before getting washed away.

I wonder should I stop feeding completly? or just make the solution weaker? I was making it weak to begin with since I also add my worm compost to the plants as the compost is ready.

Karen

Nate - you can't compare growing plants in the ground like the OP and Karen with those growing in containers when it comes to feeding - or anything else for that matter. Container growing is a whole different ballgame.

Container plants have to be fed much more often and with totally different timing than is used with in-ground plants. Dilute fish emulsion once a week is fine except it usually lacks micronutrients. You'd do better to use a broad spectrum liquid organic that includes micros.

And using dry organic fertilizers in containers has several other drawbacks as well that is often discussed here and on the Container gardening forum. There is little if any soil bacteria - no micro herd - in potting mix used in containers unless you add them. So there is nothing to convert the organic fertilizers into useful nutrients for the plants.

And you know something is "organic" because it will be labeled as such and the listed ingredients will be organic compounds only, no synthetics.

Karen - in-ground plants are normally fed full strength on approximately 6 week schedules (again with a broad spectrum fert) timed with bloom and fruit set. There is usually no need to feed them weekly unless there is a stress problem of some kind.

Dave

Thanks Dave!!

I will change my fertlizing schedule. I have some fruit set now.
Karen

Dave,

Your other posts have been so informative here I wanted to run by you what I am doing and see if I'm ruining the process or over fertilizing.

I am growing my tomatoes in semi-hydroponic containers and I use Fox Farms Grow Big Fertilizer (6-4-4) at it's recommended rate of 2 tsp per gallon that I pour down the water spout. I do this at a rate of 2 waterings to one where I don't use any fertilizer.

Also the soil that I used had a soil amendment that I added that has chicken manure, bat guano and earth worm castings.

Is this a good method or do you recommend some other rate of fertilizing?

Thanks,

Anne

All of my tomatoes are big and 4 of the 6 plants have started to set fruit.

I see nothing wrong with mixing organic and chemical fertilizers. Best of both worlds. I do it all the time and have the showcase garden in my area.