Abrignac wrote:Iāve got some tomatoes planted. They look healthy in that the leaves are not wilted and the color seems ok but not as dark a green as Iād like. They also donāt seem to be growing as vigorously as Iād expect. They get sun all day and I water them every 2-3 days depending on relative dampness of the soil. When I planed them I scratched in about a tablespoon of organic tomato fertilizer around each plant.
Iām concerned that I might need to add some lime. They are in a raised bed which I made from āgarden soilā purchased in bulk from a nursery. It seems to be mostly compost and small wood chips. Itās very dark colored. Not black but close. Anyone have any ideas?
The trick with dry organic fertilizer is to not scratch it in, but to incorporate it deeply in the soil before planting. All organics depend on microbial action to break them down to feed the plants so it's like a time delay. Depending on the dry organic fertilizer you are using, some have hotter components than others and have nutrients that are more readily available, those that include aged poultry manure which is high in Nitrogen (N) and is faster acting. Fresh poultry manure is so hot in nitrogen that it can burn plant roots just as using too much high N synthetic fertilizer would do.
There is no way of telling what nutrients are readily available in the garden soil you purchased without a soil test. Compost is good because it will have a wide variety of nutrients and microbial activity, Aged partially composted wood chips take a long time to break down and are mostly beneficial for aeration. Fresh wood chips should only be used as top mulch since incorporating them into the soil will bind up nitrogen.
Don't add lime unless you know your soil needs it or use very little. Agricultural lime is ground-up limestone that contains Calcium carbonate and Magnesium carbonate. It is mostly used to increase the PH of soils that are too acidic but also slowly releases the nutrients calcium and magnesium into the soil. Fruiting plants like tomatoes use calcium more heavily than nonfruiting plants.
Leaf color can indicate nutrient deficiencies or excesses. You want a nice heathy green leaf color but there is such a thing as too green which would indicate nitrogen overload which could lead to leaf burn and that ain't good. A purple color on the bottom of a tomato leaf would indicate a phosphorous (P) deficiency, but that wouldn't necessarily indicate that your soil is deficient in P, cold soil has the same effect since tomato roots can't take up P efficiently if the soil is too cold.
I've been using mostly organics for years, I use organic dry fertilizers (mostly Espoma, but others too) in the soil at the beginning, but also use
a liquid organic to feed seedlings and as a supplement feed every 2 weeks or so as plants mature. (I've been using AgroThrive the last 3 years or so but I've also used fish hydrolysate)
