OMRI Tomato Nutrients & Fertilizers
Let’s Talk OMRI Tomato Nutrients And Fertilizers
In this blog, we will be listing a few OMRI products we use in my compost teas for early plants before we put them in the ground. When purchasing OMRI products be sure to read very carefully because some companies write organic on their products but reading more on the packaging the product is not. How those companies are getting away with advertising organic it says organic based on them, so they will use say 1 organic product in what they are selling and the rest of the ingredients is not organic. Also look for OMRI on the products, they are organic and were approved by the Organic Material Review Institute this site also provides other organic products too.
PH AND PPM Meter
If you are mixing a lot of nutrients together, you will need a PH and a PPM meter. I use a Blue Lab meter, which are a couple of hundred dollars, but you can get cheaper meters that are good too. I like Blue Lab, they are a very good company and both PH and PPM are in this 1 meter. But as far as a good reliable PH and PPM meters, Hanna is a great company also, and they run from $20-$40 each depending on where you buy them at. These meters can be found on Amazon and Ebay cheaper too. Before using the meters, the meter has to calibrate them. They give you solutions to calibrate each meter, the PH meter will calibrate to 7.0 which is neutral. When growing tomatoes and peppers you want your PH to be on the more acidic side, I like to stay around 6.0. There are also PH up and down you might have to add to achieve the desired PH. Yes they make both organic and non-organic PH up and down General Hydroponics (Gen Hydro) makes an all organic PH up it comes in a blue bag or if buying liquid for it is blue. Now for PH down the cheapest for is going to your local auto part store and buy battery acid it is sulfuric acid, be careful 1 drop goes along way water it down before using. I measure my PPMs which stands for parts per million after I add everything I am using except for I do no have dirt added in my mix it is just my water and nutrients. My PPM reading I like 300-400 PPM for my first feeding of young plants and I do the first feeding around 4-6 weeks after starting the seeds.
OMRI Tomato Nutrients And Fertilizers
How to understand nutrients is the N-P-K on products N is for Nitrogen which helps the plant grow and needs more in the growth stage. P is for Phosphorus that is needed more in the blooming stages. K is for Potassium and is used more during the fruiting stages. But during the life of the plants they require all 3 but just more of one than the other through the plants cycle. When making my growth teas, I add the products below with water, molasses and aerate the mixture in a bucket for 72 hours. Check out the blog about compost teas more for your money added to the bottom of this page.
Neptunes Harvest Fertilizer – This is a great product to use, it consists of a blend of fish and seaweed which plants love especially at the beginning. I have been using this over 10 years now but if you are looking to buy other products from them, they do offer non-organic products also do your research.
Extreme Gardening –We use Mykos to help establish my roots faster and more of them when my plants are still young and tender.
SunLeaves – This is a kit I bought many years back, and we are still using it. We got this kit from HTG Supply. We do not know if they still handle the kits, a lot of stuff changed since COVID-19 since guano come from bats. Furthermore, we have been using guano for about 12 years now, but when using guano you have to be careful you can really screw up your plants if you do not know what you are doing.
General Hydroponics – They make the General Organics Go Box we only use a couple of items from this box when making my growth tea for my young plants since I am using other products. This box is great for people who are just starting out because it is an all-in-one box, just follow the chart. Please note General Hydroponics also offer non-organic products so research if you are buying something else from them.
Espoma Tomato Tone – We do mix a bit of this into my growth tea on my young plants. We use this product more when I put it in my holes when planting my plants and feeding my tomato plants after they have been in the ground for about 3-4 weeks. Check out the blog below about compost teas.
Hybrix – Hybrix is another company that carries organic products as well. I have only used molasses that they made because I could get it in a 1 gallon (3.79 liters) container from them, but they do have other organic products.
Keep In Mind
I put this here because one of the biggest mistakes gardeners make when starting out, think the more you feed a plant, the bigger tomatoes you get. Keep in mind, less is more, you only want to feed plants what they need. So if you feed, wait a 2-3 weeks to feed again because what you just fed the plant will be absorbed by the roots and stored in the plant and will be used by the plant as needed. If you over fertilize, you can get nutrient burn on the plants and kill them. Also, too many nutrients will affect the taste of what you are growing to. That is why you water for a few weeks in between feedings to clean out what was stored and used by your plant before the next feeding.
