Well I use a fertilizer product made by a company called Fertile Earth. It's
a liquid fertilizer distributed through a hose end mixing sprayer (or with
an adapter they sell that can tap into your drip hose or sprinkler system).
It can also be mixed into a watering can for your bucket tomatoes. I've read
all the materials I could find from the company prior to using it. It's used
in a number of commercial farms and facilities and has significant case
studies backing it done by a number of universities around the country. It's
considered "Earth-friendly" and has been approved for use on certified
organic farms. It's a naturally derived fertilizer made by bacteria the
company cultivates. Sorta like a manure tea compound by much richer in
concentration. They then add something they call BioNatra which is best
described as "soil food". This additive is designed to increase the natural
biological (bacterial) activity in the soil. It does not contain any live
bacteria but rather contains substances that encourage them to grow and
multiply. These bacteria then increase the natural fertility of the soil by
breaking down organic compounds, helping to balance Ph levels, and making
the minerals already found in your soil more available to your plants. They
go in great detail in the white papers available on thier website describing
what "healthy soil" is and how it can benefit your garden to improve the
overall health of your soil rather than just fertilizing it. It IS a
fertilizer but a rather mild one, since it is meant to improve the soil by
unlocking minerals and nutrients already bound up by unavailable for a
variety of reasons.

For anyone with a large scale garden it could probubly be a bit expensive.
Myself I only have a 21x15 ft garden space I use for vegatables. A bottle of
the vegatable mix runs around 15 dollars and I will probubly need 2 bottles
to get through the entire growing season here (Zone 6B). Still if you would
like to read more you can go to:
http://www.fertileearth.com/Shop/Con...iew_page/learn

Check it out I love this stuff. I am getting some phenominal yields from my
tomato plants with this stuff. You can buy the vegatable formula at:
http://www.fertileearth.com/Shop/Con...0/vpcsid/0/SFV
/28351


"Noydb" wrote in message
...
Stephen Younge wrote:

At the beginning of this season, I purchased some "Sta-Green Tomato &
Vegetable Food", 12-10-5. I was wondering if this would be suitable for
my
tomatoes, some of which are in 20" pots and some of which are in the
ground. I used the recommended amount at planting time (late May), and
I'm
getting ready to add a little more in the next few days.

I've seen some messages on this newsgroup that suggest calcium is
important for tomatoes. The Sta-Green fertilizer has no calcium -- it
has
nitrogen, phosphate, potash, boron, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum,
and zinc. Will this do the trick, or should I use something in addition?
I've heard too much nitrogen can hinder fruit production.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Stephen Younge
Boulder, CO

Lack of calcium and / or uneven watering will cause this problem. I have
handled it for years by pushing food-grade calcium supplement tablets
about
1" into the ground at planting time. (I use 3 per tomato / pepper plant).
They dissolve fairly quickly and leaching takes them into the root zone
over the season. So far, so good for the past several years.

Of course, this does nothing about the water situation. For that I use
Tyvek
tube weep irrigation. One pint per foot per day from the tyvek seems to do
the trick.

BIll
--
Zone 5b (Detroit, MI)
I do not post my address to news groups.