On Sat, 14 Jul 2007 23:20:23 GMT, "Peter Sutton"
wrote:


I always feed my tomatoes and invariably buy Tomorite - which always
appears to be more expensive than alternatives.

The exact same question came up on another forum. So I posted the following
:- I have just visited my local Homebase and recorded the figures from all
their fertilisers for sale. the columns below are, manufacturer, product,
NPK ratio, and cost in £ per kilo of active ingredient. I have added the N,
P and K together to give a total of active ingredients. The results are :=

Plant feed
JAB --------- Sulphate of Potash 1.3kg --- 0,0,48 ------ 3.67
JAB ----------Growmore - 4kg ------------ 7,7,7 ------- 4.75
Bayer --------Phostrogen - 1.25kg ------- 14,10,27 ---- 5.47
Bayer ------- Phostrogen - 2kg ---------- 14,10,27 ----- 5.87
Miraclegrow - all purpose - 2kg ----------- 24,8,16 ------ 6.24
Miraclegrow - all purpose - 1kg ----------- 24,8,16 ------ 7.27
JAB --------- Blood, fish and bone - 4kg -- 5,5,6.5 ------ 7.56
JAB --------- Sulphate of ammonia - 1kg -- 21,0,0 ----- 10.90
Westland ---- liquid - 2 litre -------------- 5,2.5,10 ---- 11.40
JAB ----------Bone meal - 4kg ------------ 3.5,7,0 ----- 11.88
Bio --------- Top rose - liquid - 1 litre ---- 5,6,12 ------ 13.00
Miraclegrow - slow release - 1 kg ----------18,9,11 ----- 13.13
Homebase --- tomato feed - liquid - 2 litre -3.9,2.6,7.7 -- 17.57
Levington --- Tomorite - liquid - l litre ----- 4,4.5,8 ------ 21.15
Miraclegrow - slow release tablets 165 g ---10,11,18 ----- 62.00
Miraclegrow - liquid feed - 0.57 litre ------ 12,4,8 -------- 73.03

Lawn feed - virtually all nitrogen.
Miraclegrow - lawn feed - liquid - 2 litre - 36,6,6 --- 8.32
Miraclegrow - lawn feed - liquid - 1 litre - 36,6,6 --- 10.40
Evergreen --- lawn feed - liquid - 1 litre - 24,0,0 --- 24.96
Evergreen --- lawn feed - spray - 100 cc 27,0,1 --- 213.93

You can pay anything from about £5 per kilo to over £200 per kilo. The
choice is yours. Be aware that the NPK values differ. Some like the Sulphate
of Potash are very specialised being pure potassium. You need to get the
balance right for your purpose. The absolute NPK figures tell you how much
the active ingredients cost you. But the balance between them tells you in
what way they will help your plants to grow. There is probably no difference
in cost betweeb N,P and K as chemicals, so the difference in price will be
due to marketing.

The answer to your question as why Tomerite (mine was £3.49) is so
expensive, is that it is a liquid. You are mostly paying for water.
Phostrogen is a quarter of the price, and just as good.




That is excellent - well done sir - just what I wanted