MANURE FOR TOMATOES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20792, 7 February 1931, Page 20

MANURE FOR TOMATOES.

Tomatoes, while responding admirably to the use of fertilisers, need very careful treatment to obtain the best results. The effect of lack of care in the employment of fertilisers for tomatoes is that, while the plants will make very vigorous growth, the quality of the fruit does not benefit. If proper care in the selection of fertilisers is exercised, however, this problem does not arise, as not only is the health of the plants ensured, but the quality of the fruit improves and there is a definite increase in the quantity produced.

Usually it is found that the best time ♦ o apply fertilisers for this crop is at planting time, although a good deal will depend upon the conditions under which the plants are grown, as well as upon the kind of soil. It is also a matter of importance whether the soil has been previously cropped with tomatoes. Where this is the case, a heavier dressing will be needed than where the soil has not been previously planted with this crop. In addition to farmyard manure, which may be applied at tho rate of half a barrow-load to every five of soil, it will usually be found that bone meal is the most suitable fertiliser. The amount to be mixed with each bushel of soil will be about a sin. polful.

If the plants are grown in greenhouse borders, a top-dressing of superphosphate and sulphate of potash may be applied at planting time. This should be mixed at the rate of two pounds of the former to one of the latter, and applied to the soil at the rate of a quarter of a pound per square yard, Liquid manure should not be applied until the first trusses of young tomatoes are set, when it may be used with advantage at regular intervals. If it is more convenient, suitable fertilisers may be applied in the dry state. For this .purposo it is best to mix the fertiliser with soil before making the application. It should be remembered that tomatoes need a great deal of potash if they are to thrive. Unless, therefore, it can be supplied in suitable form when the plants are grown in borders, it will be necessary every other year or so to remove the soil in the border to a depth of about 18in. and replace this with entirely new soil. A useful mixture which will do away with the need for a change of so: except at much larger intervals than thamentioned, will consist of two parts of sulphate of ammonia, half the amount of sulphate of potash, and six parts of dissolved bones. A quarter of a pound of this mixed with soil will be sufficient for about 30 pots or, used as a liquid manure, will make about six gallons. Although this ii> an excellent fertiliser and will usually do all that is needed, it is not wise in the case of tomatoes to use continuously one mixture only. A suitable change will benefit the plants ..very markedly. One pound of fish guano, mixed with about half a stone of soil, will bo found very useful for this purpose, applied at the rate of about six ounces to every 30 pots or, where tho tomatoes arc not grown in pots, to tho same number of plants. After plants planted in tho open have been stopped, the same mixture as that used when they are grown in pots may be used at Jurtnightly intervals at tho rate of from two to two and a-half ounces per square yard, according to tho condition of the soil.