What organic fertilizer will make peppers and tomato plants grow like crazy?
Image by NRCS_Oregon
Beth Hoinacki, owner of Goodfoot Farm located about 20 miles northwest of Corvallis, Ore., looks over her chickens and geese that are part of the biodynamic agricultural method she is adopting on her farm. As the young mixed fruit orchard comes into production, Beth hopes to maintain a no-spray management program for insect pests and diseases. Beth is experimenting in this area with establishing habitat for beneficial insects and integrating animals. Four geese and over two dozen chickens help clean up any remaining fruit post harvest which may harbor pests and pathogens, eat bugs and weed seeds, as well as produce fertilizer where it’s needed while cultivating the soil as they scratch. The chickens provide eggs for family and friends and the geese also help manage the grass and weeds. Since introducing the birds, Beth has significantly reduced the need to mow the understory and has not sprayed any materials for insect pests or diseases, even those allowed in organic production systems.
Beth is participating in the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) Organic Initiative. Pest management is one practice covered under the program. For more information on Organic EQIP and other conservation opportunities, see your local NRCS representative.
For the full story on Beth and her farm and other related stories, go to www.or.nrcs.usda.gov/news/showcase/index.html.
Question by Chris B: What organic fertilizer will make peppers and tomato plants grow like crazy?
bone meal
blood meal
fish emulsion
seaweed extract
compost
bat guano
vitamin b-1
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3 Responses to What organic fertilizer will make peppers and tomato plants grow like crazy?
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That is quite a list of organic fertilizers. From that list I would probably pick compost as the best fertilizer for tomatoes if it is made correctly because it not only feed the tomato it improves the soil so the tomato has a better root system. Better roots equal better tomatoes. I’ve grown tomatoes on old compost piles with excellent results.
The thing is all the fertilizers you list offer some benefits. I use seaweed emulsion for micro nutrients and growth hormones. I used the bone meal for calcium.( It helps prevent blossom end rot though uneven watering is probably a bigger factor in blossom end rot)
I’ve used blood meal and fish emulsion for a nitrogen boost if a plant starts to look a little pale. (Be careful with High nitrogen fertilizers . They tend to make tomatoes grow lots of leaves and few fruit). Bat guano is an excellent all around fertilizer but it tends to be a little expensive for my tastes.
The vitamin b1 I tend to use only when the plants are stressed because of drought for example.
I recommend good compost mixed into the top 6 to 8 inches of the soil where the tomato feeder root are or used as a mulch on established plants and a weekly foliar feed with seaweed emulsion in the morning. Spray the leaves top and bottom your plants should have every thing they need to grow quickly. I top dress the soil with bone meal or another calcium source like dolomite which feeds the plant not only calcium but magnesium another nutrient essential to health tomatoes.
By the way keep your tomatoes evenly moist. Water stress will slow the growth of you plants.
John d
February 18, 2012 at 5:44 am
For apple trees I understand that painting the trunks with white wash keeps the cycle of apple worms. Also picking up all the apples that fall around the tree helps.
Joe Kopnitsky
February 23, 2012 at 9:13 am
For apple trees I understand that painting the trunks with white wash stops the cycle of the apple worms. Also picking up all the apples that fall around the tree helps.
Joe Kopnitsky
February 23, 2012 at 9:14 am