Tomatoes from your own garden are particularly aromatic. However, your tomatoes need sufficient nutrients for a bountiful harvest.
Whether tomato soup, tomato juice or the popular tomato sauce - tomatoes are among the most popular types of vegetables for young and old. The preparation is irrelevant. They are also a real taste experience raw straight from the bush.
Tomatoes are heavy consumers and therefore need a lot of nutrients. So if you want to harvest plenty of tomatoes, you should fertilize your plants from time to time. The fertilizer not only ensures a better harvest, but also strengthens the plants and makes them more resilient. You also don't have to worry about an unwanted pest infestation ruining your entire crop.
What is important when fertilizing tomatoes?
Adding fertilizer is not everything. If you want to eat the delicious tomatoes in summer, you should start preparing the soil optimally in autumn. The bed or the pot should be provided with sufficient compost. Tomatoes also thrive particularly well on humus, which you work into the soil.
» Necessary nutrients for tomatoes
Tomatoes have a high need for nutrients, which is why they should be fertilized regularly.
Potassium is particularly important for tomatoes. Potassium ensures an intense colour, delicious taste and rapid growth. The defenses against pests are also strengthened in this way.
Tip: You can recognize a potassium deficiency by the pale leaf edges and fruits that ripen at different rates.
The administration of nitrogen, phosphate and magnesium oxide is just as important. All important nutrients are contained in special tomato fertilizers. You can get this in the garden center or, for example, at Amazon.
Note: This fertilizer is also good for cucumbers or courgettes.
Fertilize tomatoes organically
Many gardeners don't think much of chemical clubs and prefer to fertilize organically. Of course that also works. Here you even have different options. If you want to do something good for your tomatoes, you should go to
- Horse manure
- Compost
- Horn shavings/horn meal
- cow manure or
- Stinging nettle manure
grab. You can find horse manure or cow dung, for example, at the farmer next door. There is a decisive difference between horn meal and horn shavings - namely in the speed of action. Horn meal is finer and releases the nitrogen quickly. The horn shavings require a little more time. So you have long-term fertilization with the chips, which lasts for up to several months.
Stinging nettle manure can also be used as fertilizer, which you can also easily make yourself.
» Make nettle manure yourself
In order to be able to produce a nettle decoction, you need one kilogram of nettles, 10 liters of water and a bucket of the appropriate size.
Put the nettles in the bucket and pour the water over them. Place the bucket in a sunny spot in the garden and stir the brew once a day.
The brew is ready when no more bubbles form on the surface. This can take several weeks. When the brew is ready, pour the liquid manure through a sieve. Fertilizer is only with the liquid. So you can safely remove the stinging nettles.
» Fertilize tomatoes with nettle manure
In order to get an optimal fertilizer, you have to mix the brew with water in a ratio of 1:1. Then you can put the liquid manure on the tomatoes.
Use chemical fertilizers wisely!
Especially with chemical fertilizers, you should never overdo it with fertilization. Sometimes less is more. Be sure to follow the dosage advice on the back of the pack. It is better to fertilize once more with a small dosage than too infrequently with a large portion of fertilizer.
If you have fertilized too much, the tomato plant will develop many strong leaves, but the fruit will not grow.
When should you fertilize tomatoes?
Fertilizing is actually the same as watering. It is best to fertilize in the early morning hours when the sun is not yet shining that strongly. If it is already too hot, not only the leaves will burn, but also the roots if the soil is dry. That would be the end of the tomato season.
» Extra tip for a rich tomato harvest «
Real tomato fans can't get enough of this delicious vegetable. In order to significantly increase the yield, it is advisable to graft the tomatoes. This will give you a stronger plant with increased fruit production.