ProfessorPangloss
Amateur Kentuckian
I've used other Espoma products with great success over the years, but this year I've got a huge garden, so I bought TomatoTone (3-4-6) for the tomatoes and GardenTone for the rest. Here's a comparison data sheet for the various Espoma fertilizers, excluding TT which is at the bottom of this post.
My reasoning for asking about this on the tobacco forum is that since tobacco is a nightshade, it makes sense to treat it similarly to the tomato in some respects. In fact, I met an old farmer at the hardware store who commented (we were looking at the same flat of Rutgers tomatoes) that on his farm they used to plant a perimeter strip of tomatoes with the tobacco because they'd already broadcast tobacco fertilizer. I was already there to buy the TomatoTone, so I took it as an omen.
Anyway, apparently Espoma has modified the formula. I have the new one (right side in pic). I want to know if I can maybe use it to brew a fertilizer tea to feed my tobacco seedlings. The survivors were transplanted up into 3" peat pots after the damping off debacle of a few weeks ago. The Perique was done a few days before the Catterton, and it seems correspondingly ahead like it just caught a growth spurt. However, the color is not as bright as other members' seedlings and I suspect nutrients are at fault. I have the seedlings on my back porch where they get some morning sun, and I've been rotating them in and out so they don't get sunburned (I have noticed a little greying and leaf die off). So far so good.
anyway, what do you guys think? Can I use this stuff sparingly to get some action? My tomatoes have only been in the ground a few days and some of them have already greened right up and put on some serious height.
My reasoning for asking about this on the tobacco forum is that since tobacco is a nightshade, it makes sense to treat it similarly to the tomato in some respects. In fact, I met an old farmer at the hardware store who commented (we were looking at the same flat of Rutgers tomatoes) that on his farm they used to plant a perimeter strip of tomatoes with the tobacco because they'd already broadcast tobacco fertilizer. I was already there to buy the TomatoTone, so I took it as an omen.
Anyway, apparently Espoma has modified the formula. I have the new one (right side in pic). I want to know if I can maybe use it to brew a fertilizer tea to feed my tobacco seedlings. The survivors were transplanted up into 3" peat pots after the damping off debacle of a few weeks ago. The Perique was done a few days before the Catterton, and it seems correspondingly ahead like it just caught a growth spurt. However, the color is not as bright as other members' seedlings and I suspect nutrients are at fault. I have the seedlings on my back porch where they get some morning sun, and I've been rotating them in and out so they don't get sunburned (I have noticed a little greying and leaf die off). So far so good.
anyway, what do you guys think? Can I use this stuff sparingly to get some action? My tomatoes have only been in the ground a few days and some of them have already greened right up and put on some serious height.