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

On Tue, 08 Jul 2003 04:23:28 GMT, "Stephen Younge"
wrote in rec.gardens.edible:

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.

Calcium helps to prevent Blossom End Rot. You can buy some bone meal or else
just sprinkle some crushed egg shells around.

Too much Nitrogen leads to lots of foliage, but very little fruit. Too little
Nitrogen leads to the leaves turning yellow.
--
Gardening Zones
Canada Zone 5a
United States Zone 3a
Near Ottawa, Ontario

On Tue, 08 Jul 2003 10:08:13 -0400, Jim Carter
wrote:

Calcium helps to prevent Blossom End Rot. You can buy some bone meal or else
just sprinkle some crushed egg shells around.
------
I recently heard Ralph Snodsmith of the Gardening Hotline show
say you should crush up the egg shells and boil them, then water
the plants with that water. I suspect that it would take many months
for the shells to decay and amend the soil but the calcium water
would be absorbed immediately.

or..

Mix 1 tablespoon calcium cloride (road salt) with 1 pint water
and pout that around the base of the plant. Good for preventing
blossom end rot in tomatoes.

---pete---

On Tue, 08 Jul 2003 04:23:28 GMT, "Stephen Younge"
wrote:

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.
------
Last year I added Ironite to my garden which is a fertilizer with all
those micro nutrients and minerals. I can't prove it but I suspect
that the Ironite was responsible for such great tasting tomatoes I
had last year.

I'm in New Jersey and we had a drought last year so maybe the
lack of water also contributed to the taste of my tomatoes. I
guess I'll find out this year because I used the Ironite and we
have plenty of rain this year.

--pete--

---Pete--- wrote:

On Tue, 08 Jul 2003 10:08:13 -0400, Jim Carter
wrote:

Calcium helps to prevent Blossom End Rot. You can buy some bone meal or
else just sprinkle some crushed egg shells around.
------
I recently heard Ralph Snodsmith of the Gardening Hotline show
say you should crush up the egg shells and boil them, then water
the plants with that water. I suspect that it would take many months
for the shells to decay and amend the soil but the calcium water
would be absorbed immediately.

or..

Mix 1 tablespoon calcium cloride (road salt) with 1 pint water
and pout that around the base of the plant. Good for preventing
blossom end rot in tomatoes.

---pete---

Are you certain you didn't have Epsom Salts in mind?
--
Zone 5b (Detroit, MI)
I do not post my address to news groups.

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.

In article , ---Pete--- wrote:
On Tue, 08 Jul 2003 04:23:28 GMT, "Stephen Younge"
wrote:

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.
------
Last year I added Ironite to my garden which is a fertilizer with all
those micro nutrients and minerals. I can't prove it but I suspect
that the Ironite was responsible for such great tasting tomatoes I
had last year.

I'm in New Jersey and we had a drought last year so maybe the
lack of water also contributed to the taste of my tomatoes. I
guess I'll find out this year because I used the Ironite and we
have plenty of rain this year.

I'd be cautious about using Ironite on vegies. It has been discovered that
at least one of their products contains high levels of arsenic and lead.
The state of Washington has now passed a few weak laws on proper labeling
on fertilizers, but most don't have to say what those "inert ingredients"
are, nor where they come from (Ironite was using mining wastes IIRC).

Some farmers have lost use of their lands because the heavy metal toxicities
have become too great.

You can look up some articles on it from the Seattle Times, or perhaps:
http://www.envirolaw.org/poison.html

Sorry for the bad news.

-frank
--

On 9 Jul 2003 17:05:01 GMT, (Frank Miles) wrote:
I'd be cautious about using Ironite on vegies. It has been discovered that
at least one of their products contains high levels of arsenic and lead.
The state of Washington has now passed a few weak laws on proper labeling
on fertilizers, but most don't have to say what those "inert ingredients"
are, nor where they come from (Ironite was using mining wastes IIRC).

Some farmers have lost use of their lands because the heavy metal toxicities
have become too great.

You can look up some articles on it from the Seattle Times, or perhaps:
http://www.envirolaw.org/poison.html

Sorry for the bad news.
-------
Frank, thanks for the heads up.

I went to the Ironite site and found their answer to these
allegations.... http://www.ironite.com/toxicological.htm
What's not clear to me is if the Ironite company has done
anything different to reduce the levels of lead & arsenic .

The article you sited above is dated July 2002 so I'm wondering
what was the final outcome of that case. Needs more research.

Question.. If the Ironite company continues to distribute their
product with high levels of lead and arsenic, then I'd want to
find another product that contains micro nutrients we can
feel safe adding to our vegi gardens. Any other products
available?

---pete---

In article , (---Pete---)
writes:

Question.. If the Ironite company continues to distribute their
product with high levels of lead and arsenic, then I'd want to
find another product that contains micro nutrients we can
feel safe adding to our vegi gardens. Any other products
available?

---pete---




fish emulsion and kelp meal
Emilie
NorCal

---Pete--- said:
Question.. If the Ironite company continues to distribute their
product with high levels of lead and arsenic, then I'd want to
find another product that contains micro nutrients we can
feel safe adding to our vegi gardens. Any other products
available?


Jersey greensand is usually recommended as a trace mineral source
(plus, bonus, for sandy soils, a very slow release K source).

Seaweed sprays (I use Maxicrop brand, dry powder, mix with water for
foliar feeds or transplant drench) is a trace element source.


--
Pat in Plymouth MI

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

In article ,
---Pete--- wrote:
On 9 Jul 2003 17:05:01 GMT, (Frank Miles) wrote:
I'd be cautious about using Ironite on vegies. It has been discovered that
at least one of their products contains high levels of arsenic and lead.
The state of Washington has now passed a few weak laws on proper labeling
on fertilizers, but most don't have to say what those "inert ingredients"
are, nor where they come from (Ironite was using mining wastes IIRC).

Some farmers have lost use of their lands because the heavy metal toxicities
have become too great.

You can look up some articles on it from the Seattle Times, or perhaps:
http://www.envirolaw.org/poison.html

Sorry for the bad news.
-------
Frank, thanks for the heads up.

I went to the Ironite site and found their answer to these
allegations.... http://www.ironite.com/toxicological.htm
What's not clear to me is if the Ironite company has done
anything different to reduce the levels of lead & arsenic .

The article you sited above is dated July 2002 so I'm wondering
what was the final outcome of that case. Needs more research.

Question.. If the Ironite company continues to distribute their
product with high levels of lead and arsenic, then I'd want to
find another product that contains micro nutrients we can
feel safe adding to our vegi gardens. Any other products
available?

Yes, it did seem old.

The Seattle Times (which is clearly not a radical paper -- far from it)
commissioned an independent laboratory to evaluate the heavy metal content
of a variety of commercial fertilizers. The lab found numerous cases
(including some major brand-name products) where heavy metal content was
substantial. IIRC Duff Wilson, the reporter who uncovered this, wrote a book
about it.

What happened when this became more widely known was, in retrospect at least,
fairly predictable. Bills were introduced into the Wa state legislature,
where they drew intense lobbying by the affected industries. Here in the west,
at least, mining industries are big business. They were _legally_ dumping
toxic waste into the open arms of the fertilizer companies, who were selling
it as part of their fertilizer products. At the national (US) level, this
regulatory loophole in EPA regulations has been closed, but only after a
6-month delay after regulations are published in the Federal Register.
Don't know if they've been published yet, though the law was passed/amended
in mid-2002.

Ironite claims that the arsenic and lead are in forms that are not
"biologically available". Maybe that is true -- now. But with unknown
chemical reactions over decades, personally I'm not willing to gamble my
family's health that these won't be converted by some microorganism to some
form that would be absorbed by some vegetable. In most states, there is
no requirement to publish heavy metal content on fertilizers. Their assertion
is not necessarily true, given that at least some farmers who have used
some of these products over a period of years have suffered substantial losses
as their fields -- now far less productive -- now test very high for heavy
metals.

Until/unless fertilizer companies list source materials, or provide chemical
content assays, my personal choice is to avoid them, even on my lawn. I
encourage others to do the same, hoping that some day more fertilizer
companies will see the wisdom in behaving in an honorable fashion.

-frank
--

In article ,
(Frank Miles) wrote:

In article ,
---Pete--- wrote:
On 9 Jul 2003 17:05:01 GMT, (Frank Miles) wrote:
I'd be cautious about using Ironite on vegies. It has been discovered that
at least one of their products contains high levels of arsenic and lead.
The state of Washington has now passed a few weak laws on proper labeling
on fertilizers, but most don't have to say what those "inert ingredients"
are, nor where they come from (Ironite was using mining wastes IIRC).

Some farmers have lost use of their lands because the heavy metal
toxicities
have become too great.

You can look up some articles on it from the Seattle Times, or perhaps:
http://www.envirolaw.org/poison.html

Sorry for the bad news.
-------
Frank, thanks for the heads up.

I went to the Ironite site and found their answer to these
allegations.... http://www.ironite.com/toxicological.htm
What's not clear to me is if the Ironite company has done
anything different to reduce the levels of lead & arsenic .

The article you sited above is dated July 2002 so I'm wondering
what was the final outcome of that case. Needs more research.

Question.. If the Ironite company continues to distribute their
product with high levels of lead and arsenic, then I'd want to
find another product that contains micro nutrients we can
feel safe adding to our vegi gardens. Any other products
available?

Yes, it did seem old.

The Seattle Times (which is clearly not a radical paper -- far from it)
commissioned an independent laboratory to evaluate the heavy metal content
of a variety of commercial fertilizers. The lab found numerous cases
(including some major brand-name products) where heavy metal content was
substantial. IIRC Duff Wilson, the reporter who uncovered this, wrote a book
about it.

What happened when this became more widely known was, in retrospect at least,
fairly predictable. Bills were introduced into the Wa state legislature,
where they drew intense lobbying by the affected industries. Here in the
west,
at least, mining industries are big business. They were _legally_ dumping
toxic waste into the open arms of the fertilizer companies, who were selling
it as part of their fertilizer products. At the national (US) level, this
regulatory loophole in EPA regulations has been closed, but only after a
6-month delay after regulations are published in the Federal Register.
Don't know if they've been published yet, though the law was passed/amended
in mid-2002.

Ironite claims that the arsenic and lead are in forms that are not
"biologically available". Maybe that is true -- now. But with unknown
chemical reactions over decades, personally I'm not willing to gamble my
family's health that these won't be converted by some microorganism to some
form that would be absorbed by some vegetable. In most states, there is
no requirement to publish heavy metal content on fertilizers. Their
assertion
is not necessarily true, given that at least some farmers who have used
some of these products over a period of years have suffered substantial
losses
as their fields -- now far less productive -- now test very high for heavy
metals.

Until/unless fertilizer companies list source materials, or provide chemical
content assays, my personal choice is to avoid them, even on my lawn. I
encourage others to do the same, hoping that some day more fertilizer
companies will see the wisdom in behaving in an honorable fashion.

-frank
--


Valuable information, thank you!

"Stephen Younge" wrote in message
news:4HrOa.2327$OZ2.943@rwcrnsc54...
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.

12-10-5 is wrong for maters. 5-20-20 is more like it. Miracle Grow is fine
at first to get the plants started. After that, they need very little
nitrogen. Vigaro would be fine if it is not heavy on nitrogen. It has a lot
of trace minerals.
--
73 de Bob NS9G

"NS9G" wrote in message news:ymzPa.34891$Ph3.2981@sccrnsc04...
"Stephen Younge" wrote in message
news:4HrOa.2327$OZ2.943@rwcrnsc54...
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.

12-10-5 is wrong for maters. 5-20-20 is more like it. Miracle Grow is fine
at first to get the plants started. After that, they need very little
nitrogen. Vigaro would be fine if it is not heavy on nitrogen. It has a lot
of trace minerals.

Correct. You get that profile with wood chips, with some wood ash
(which will contribute Ca and K in much higher doses than Tums) thrown
in in for pH balancing and some manure or kitchen scraps for N.
Basically, what I do. I don't know what BER is.

On Tue, 08 Jul 2003 04:23:28 GMT, "Stephen Younge"
wrote:

"Sta-Green Tomato &
Vegetable Food", 12-10-5.
Abstract: A market exists for organically grown, fresh- and
processing-market tomatoes. Although information
on conventional tomato practices is available from many sources,
comprehensive information on organic
cultivation practices is difficult to find. Organic tomato production
differs from conventional production
primarily in soil fertility, weed, insect, and disease management.
These are the focus of this publication, with
special emphasis on fresh market tomatoes.
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/tomato.pdf
In Nigeria, tomatoes yielded 44
and 42 T/A when swine manure
or poultry manure was applied at
9 T/A. Tomatoes yielded 37 and
42 T/A on fields treated with
sewage sludge or rabbit manure
applied at 18 T/A. Organic
manures performed better than
NPK treatments, which yielded
only 31 T/A (15).