Many thanks...you weren't all wrong. I'm a newbie at this. West LA is in zone 10, but the rest is correct. Tomato plants are just arriving at local nurseries. The 1/2 barrel is a genuine wine barrel from a California winery. The nursery recommended a new Japanese variety called a Momotaro and two local container gardeners (both Brandywine types) said they planted this new variety last year and had fabulous yield and taste fruit! I just lucked into the plants, they are hard to come by. They both suggest two plants per 1/2 barrel. Many thanks for your help as I begin my grand adventure.

2) I grow my tomatoes in 18 gal containers and usually end up fertilizing at full strength every weekend when they have put on some mass & are growing robustly. The increases in either strength or frequency would/should be most closely tied to temperatures, planting mass, and your watering habits, so it's difficult to offer a one-size-fits-all answer to the question. Your plants will tell you if you make it a point to observe them closely. Soon, it will be second nature to 'know' when to fertilize after only a glance or based on experience. You actually want to be able to anticipate your plants needs and fertilize just before they experience the effects of any deficiencies. 3) I'm familiar with the product, and know that it forms insoluble precipitates when mixed with some fertilizers, but I can't tell you which ones. I know that the FP fertilizer when mixed with ProTeKt does form a precipitate, but I'm unsure if the same occurs with the LL. I've never had a need for it. 5) No, by reducing the dosage of your fertilizer you limit N - to prevent a K deficiency, you increase the K supply. You didn't ask about using a different fertilizer - you asked how to make 9-3-6 work. ;o) By all means - use another fertilizer with lower N if you wish. A 2:1:2 ratio is what I would suggest. 6-2-4 is the same fertilizer as 24-8-16, it's just that the amount of 6-4-2 you would be instructed to mix into a given volume of water to reach a recommended dosage would be 4x that of 24-8-16. You can make 6-2-4 by diluting 24-8-16 5:1, water:fertilizer. Al Here is a link that might be useful: This might help more

1. Contact your local office of the Pennsylvania State University USDA Cooperative Extension Service about having a good, reliable soil test done. 2. If your soil is compacted, core aerate. 3. If needed, according to the soil test, spread lime. 4. Right now do not worry about the crabgrass which is an annual and will be dying soon anyway. 5. Do not worry about the White Dutch Clover which is adding needed Nitrogen to your soil. WDC is a good thing to have in an organic lawn. 6. Rototilling is a lot of hard work and may not be necessary. Spread Compost over the lawn, not too thickly, now and let the soil bacteria work it in for you. Those "weeds" that concern you will by dying for the winter soon anyway and this will give you, and your grass, a chance to fill in where those "weeds" grew. 7. Keep your lawn mowed. High, to a point, is better since that gives more leaf blade a chance to utilize more sunlight to manufacture necessary nutrients to feed the grass crown which will then send out more grass blades to absorb more sunlight. 8. Water, as needed. Every where you go people will tell you that your lawn will need 1 inch of water per week. that depends on the weather. Hot, dry, and windy weather will mean a lawn needs more water than that and cool, cloudy, calm weather can mean a lawn needs less water. 9. Overseeding is most often not necessary since a lawn properly cared for will grow and fill in faster than new seeds can germinate and grow. About the only people that will tell you that you do need to overseed are those with grass seed to sell. Mulch mow. The grass clippings can be a source of nutrients for your lawn, up to 1/2 the annual nutrient requirments of your lawn. Lawn clippings do not contribute to thatch buildup in the lawn, that is from improper fertilizing, applying too much weed killer, and applying poisons that kill the Soil Food Web so there is nothing to digest the dead plant matter. Here is a link that might be useful: PSUCES

midorit, did you look at those threads I linked to in your other posts? They will answer ALL your questions that have not been answered previously. Just read them carefully and all the above will be answered in detail without repeating it all again for yet a third time!! The more you research yourself and understand what you are reading the better you will learn and remember rather than us hand-feeding you that same information. I don't mean to be critical or harsh, but this has all been explained to you several times already!!