Homemade Tomato Plant Fertiliser ‘Perfected Over 30 Years’ to Grow More and Better Fruit
Tomatoes require a significant amount of nutrients to produce healthy produce. Gardeners have often discovered that even nutrient-rich potting soil isn’t enough for tomato plants. Tomato plants would benefit from the application of fertiliser at several different points in their growth. Applying the right product supports healthy growth, flowering and fruit development, fruit quality, and disease resistance.
Undernourished tomato plants will start showing signs of nutrient deficiency, either immediately or when the tomatoes begin to form.
Tomato plants thrive on fertilisers rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. For those looking to avoid spending on commercial organic fertiliser, creating a homemade version can be much more cost-effective and equally beneficial.
For gardeners unsure where to start, gardening expert Susan Patterson at Rural Sprout has shared her homemade tomato plant fertiliser that she’s “perfected for over 30 years” to improve the grit and get a “bumper crop”.
Sharing her recipe, she said: “Over the years of trial and error, I have discovered a formulation for tomato fertiliser that seems to work best.
“Although there are many options for homemade fertiliser, this one has worked best for me.”
For the base, Susan likes to use “high-quality compost” which is made from food and garden waste. Combine a half-gallon of compost and place it into a bucket. Break all the clumps up and make sure it is well combined.
The expert then recommends adding two cups of vermicompost (worm manure) to your compost blend to “help provide beneficial microbes in the soil”. In addition, add two cups of powdered eggshells and two cups of rabbit or hamster droppings.
Then it’s time to increase the potassium and phosphorus levels by adding in a cup of wood ashes. Wood ashes have a number of brilliant uses in the garden – one of which is to aid with hydrangeas.
To add nitrogen to the homemade fertiliser, Susan recommends using one cup of coffee grounds. Although it sounds bizarre, the gardening pro claimed that gardeners can also add finely cut pet hair or human hair to the mix.
She said: “Hair breaks down and adds nitrogen and also keratin – a protein which tomatoes will use well for strong growth.”
After, it is then essential to let the fertiliser “cure for about a month” or so before using and be sure that it is in a sealed bucket.
