Mountain Magic Hybrid tomatoes are a versatile and disease-resistant variety suitable for both indoor and outdoor cultivation. They can be grown in a sunny location with well-drained soil, and should be kept moist and watered freely in dry weather. The tomato can withstand the big three threats besetting tomatoes: late blight, early blight, and fruit cracking. The Mountain Magic tomato produces sweet, great-tasting, 2 oz. fruits on the vine.
To grow this tomato, save healthy and viable seeds from previous harvests, buy them from local agric shops, or online, and choose a sunny location away from trees and close to a water source if possible. Prepare the garden by breaking up existing soil using a hoe, spade, or power tool.
Mountain Magic is a “Blight Resistant” F1 hybrid developed by North Carolina State University, which has resistance to both Early and Late Blight. It is a “large cherry” (about 1 – 1.5 inches) and crops well. To ensure optimal growth, plant the tomato in a warm, bright, well-ventilated area six to eight weeks before planting.
Start seed indoors 6-8 weeks before transplanting in spring, sowing seed 1/2″ deep in sterile starting soil. The minimum germination soil temperature is 60°, with an optimal range of 75-90°. Transplant after frost danger has passed, and avoid using fresh manure as it causes lush foliage.
This late-blight resistant tomato is the best tasting slicer with this resistance, and it will hang in there long after the others have slimed down. To ensure successful growth, start seed indoors 6-8 weeks before transplanting in spring and sow seed 1/2″ deep in sterile starting soil.
📹 Mountain Magic Tomato Taste Test – A Small Disease Resistant Tomato
I grew Mountain Magic Tomatoes mainly to test out their disease resistance. They are resistant to both late blight, and early blight, …
Is mountain magic determinate or indeterminate?
The indeterminate Mountain Magic tomato is a high-yielding variety with a bright red, round shape and a sweet flavor. It can be harvested in a truss and is ideal for incorporation into salads or for consumption directly off the vine. The package contains 40 seeds, with the plants reaching an average length of approximately 60 feet. Johnny’s is dedicated to ensuring customer satisfaction with all of its seeds, tools, and supplies.
Is Mountain Fresh tomato determinate or indeterminate?
The text offers insight into the processes of determining growing zones, spacing, hybrid/open-pollinated varieties, and disease resistance in hybrid and open-pollinated plants.
How do you care for mountain fresh tomatoes?
To reduce Blossom End Rot, maintain evenly moist soil and mulch, avoid excessive nitrogen, and lime acidic soil for calcium. Foliar feeding with seaweed or compost tea can provide additional calcium. Indeterminate varieties are less affected, and affected fruit should be removed immediately to avoid energy waste. Limeing acidic soil can also add calcium. Foliar feeding with seaweed or compost tea is a quick solution.
How big do Mountain Magic tomatoes get?
Tomatoes, a popular summer fruit, are a staple for gardeners due to their flavorful and nutritious properties. Over 250 tomato varieties are tested and evaluated annually to provide the best selections for various uses. Tomatoes contain lycopene, a potent antioxidant, which supports healthy eyesight, cardiovascular health, and cancer-fighting capacity. The days to maturity are calculated from the date of transplant. Tomatoes can be classified into two types: determinate tomatoes, which grow compactly and ripen quickly, and indeterminate tomatoes, which grow on long vines and require pruning.
Fertile, well-drained raised beds with plastic mulch promote early growth and better yields. Regular fertilization with Age Old Bloom is recommended to prevent blossom end rot. Overwatering can cause fruit cracking.
How tall do mountain fresh tomatoes get?
The Mountain Fresh Tomato can attain a height of 4 feet and a spread of 24 inches at the point of maturity.
What is the trick to growing tomatoes?
It is recommended that juicy jumbo tomatoes be irrigated with approximately one inch of water per week. The application of a layer of mulch, such as shredded pine bark, grass clippings, and composted leaves, is also advised to prevent water evaporation during the summer months.
What is a good fertilizer for tomato plants?
To ensure optimal growth, growers often use high-phosphorus fertilizers or a formulated tomato fertilizer with a 3-4-6 or 4-7-10 ratio. It’s crucial not to over-fertilize, as too little is always better than too much. To start plants, dig a hole, place the recommended amount of fertilizer in the bottom, cover it with clean dirt, and side-dress them with fertilizer every three to four weeks throughout the season. Avoid over-fertilization and amend the soil with manure at planting time.
What do I put in the hole when planting tomatoes?
The text underscores the advantages of utilizing this substance in fruit production, suggesting the incorporation of the substance into planting holes and its continuous addition to the base of tomatoes throughout the growing season.
Can you save Mountain Magic tomato seeds?
To save tomato seed, crush the fully ripe fruit, ferment uncovered for a few days, rinse, and dry seeds on a coffee filter. Grow open-pollinated varieties and separate by 50 feet to ensure true-to-type seed. Tomatoes can be affected by various diseases such as Alternaria Stem Canker, Early Blight, Fusarium, Grey Leaf Spot, Late Blight, Nematodes, Septoria Leaf Spot, TSWV, TMV, and Verticillium. Early Blight can be managed culturally, but composting affected plants is not recommended. Cultural controls include rotation, avoiding stressing plants, staking, minimizing leaf wetness, mulching, and disinfecting stakes and cages. Material controls include Regalia and Cease.
Is Mountain Fresh a good tomato?
The big red tomato is a highly adaptable and disease-resistant variety, cultivated extensively in the eastern and midwestern United States. It boasts excellent flavor and a generous leaf canopy, making it an ideal choice for slicing and highly resilient to adverse weather conditions.
📹 This Magic White Powder Will DOUBLE Your Tomato Harvest!
Did you know there is a magic white powder that will double your tomato harvest? I’m talking about bone meal! Bone meal …
Hello. Can you do a article on what to do with your empty garden. To get it ready for spring. I do have so me fall greens now. I’ve been creating compost when I get the plants down. I guess it’s called chop and drop. My first garden I really battled weeds. Something I don’t want to battle next year. As always thank you and have an awesome day
It’s articles like this and Kiddo that keep us growing cherry or smaller type tomatoes. He doesn’t like tomatoes at all, but really likes handing them to people that do. A strong and high producing tomato that tastes good is a keeper for sure. It looked a little meaty on the inside too so would probably make a decent stewing tomato or salad tomato. Good stuff for sure. Thanks for the share!
This is a Campati type tomato. Considered a super sweet, and is a heavy producer,of 2 oz., round fruits, and is a indeterminate plant, resistant to early and late blight, which we had extreme trouble with. We now grow these every year as the taste a great tomato taste, and a good all purpose tomato, for fresh eating, canning, freezing. Try it you won’t be disappointed.
If you enjoyed this article, please “Like” and share to help increase its reach! Thanks for perusal 😊TIMESTAMPS for convenience: 0:00 Introducing Bone Meal Fertilizer 1:21 Why Bone Meal Boosts Blooming 3:24 Phosphorous Supplementation Myths 5:52 How To Apply Bone Meal Fertilizer 9:16 Bone Meal Application Schedule 12:02 Adventures With Dale
I put bone meal in the dirt of 8 bell pepper plants after perusal this article. I was out of state and when I returned, one of little plants was laying down. I picked it up and one side was covered in little peppers. 26 peppers on a 12 inch plant. I checked my other ones, and all had a combination of peppers and flowers exceeding 25. It was one week from the time I fed til I returned. I wished I could attach photos. I texted them to all my veggie buddies and they’ve already ordered the bone meal.
0:35 I enjoyed your article on bone meal. I already had some on hand from planting my fall bulbs. I’m looking forward to having Olympic size thriving tomatoes this year. (Bone meal “lines”…😂 too funny) Also very thorough explantions of the N-P-K numbers and how plants use each one. Thanks for the “reasons to use bone meal crash course.” Very informative and useful!! 🍅🌿🌼
You can tell by listening to you that you are WELL versed in gardening! I enjoyed it! My father passed away in 2006 and for many years prior, he had a tomato garden every single year that I think he grew just so he could share them with all of our neighbors, friends and church members. The first year after he passed, my mother and I wanted to honor him by growing his crop of tomatoes, so we went to our nursery and asked how we should prepare the soil and we were told to begin 3 months prior to planting. We followed their directions of digging up the garden well and loosening up the soil, removing old roots etc. and put down bone meal along with fertilizer and something else that I cant remember, mixing it well and deep into the soil. When planting time arrived we added a bit more and holy cow the garden was HUGE! The plants were giant and strong and the tomatoes were huge, beautiful and tasted wonderful! We had never seen a more beautiful sight and honestly wondered what in the world we were going to do with so many tomatoes!! I finally bought white bags and with the help of my computer printed off a picture of my father and nephew in the garden holding some of his prize tomatoes from the previous years and printed “With Love from John’s tomato garden” on the tags. We loaded up the bags with tomatoes, stapled them closed and added the tags and delivered them to all the neighbors, friends and church members. This was a wonderful way for us to remember our father/husband and taught us about the use of bone meal, which we had not previously used but is now used regularly.
Totally unrelated but I love how you put your rain barrels. We were wondering how to raise them up high so gravity could be used to water our outdoor plants and that’s a great cheap way to do it and still looks nice. We are installing 2 rain barrels this year. Our water bill is insane where we live! This will help. Just ordered some bone meal, thanks for the article!
I’ve been using bone meal for years. I mix1/3 cup into the planting hole along with 1/4 cup of organic veggie fertilizer and 1/8 cup of Azomite, but after perusal your brilliant article I’m going to start dusting bone meal on the root ball as well when planting. Thanks for including fish emulsion in your article I’m a big believer in it as well. And with that one you can use a straw. 😅
Well done man.. Ive used the stuff for my tomatoes and dahlias, late fall and again around the first weeks of June. I have been slowly patterning myself into the calendar. Using the 23rds as reference points. I also add at planting, but only the one other time over the season, thanks for sharing your seasonal feedings schedule.
A great article. I always use bone meal even if I can’t afford to buy any other type of fertilizer. I don’t usually side dress my tomatoes but always side dress my peppers. One problem I have had is when adding bone meal to a planting hole is racoons will dig the seedlings up, therefore I have taken to broadcasting it and raking in a few days before planting.
Yup! Good call! I’ve been using bone meal for decades for great crops. The one impediment was when my Cairn Terrier started eating the bone meal imbued dirt (Willy-Gilly! What are yo doing? — But it tastes so good!😂) and I had to bury it all very early in the spring before planting. Still worked, but not as well as continuous top-dressing. But why does Dale’s food bowl look like the something out of the Hunger Games?
I used bone meal for the first time in my garden last year and WOW. It was the most successful garden I’ve ever grown. I wondered about repeat applications, which I didn’t do, but now I will. I’m also zone 8a living in coastal VA. Off topic but….I’m hoping to order my orange and lemon trees this week. You convinced me to invest it those, so I’m going to try it. Give Dale a skritch behind the ears for me! He’s such a good boy!
I’ve planted some of my tomatoes, can I go back and work some into the soil in my containers? Also my micro determinate tomato plant..6″ already has blooms, should I take those off to let the plant grow a little more? The tomato is from seed from The Tomato Growers in Florida you recommend. I r also planted my cucumbers in my raised beds can I go back and add it? BTW..I learned a lot from this article I’ll use when I plant my next round of determinate tomatoes! Thank you so much!!
I almost fell for that line. However closer to the 70s for me. We used to hang red Christmas tree bulbs on our leafy green plants that we Bone mealed.. using the line under the tomato starter tip next year… Right now using the clothes line method, with bricks as anchor system…. I lollipop the plants ad far as 2 1/2-3 feet up the main stock, pile some mulch mound around the base, spread it out and plant low growers around it, like onions or carrots or even a ground crawler. Like watermelon. Cucumber, or pumpkins. Me? Oh I’m doing watermelon, and pumpkins for the grandkids…. Thanks for asking and thank you for the great idea. Two thumbs up liked, Shared and Subscibed!
Thanks MG for another informative article. I didn’t know this is how you apply bone meal, down around the roots and above layer. Learning more about how the bone meal needs to get mixed in and slowly broken down first before the plant can take them up great advice. I also learned to optimally, fertilize several weeks before planting during the break down period, if possible so the soil is ready. All good stuff to know.🌱 From CA🏖️take care.
I’m in the DIY camp also. We raise our own grass-fed beef and lamb (and venison). We also have chickens. I pressure cook the bones. The chicken bones turn to mush pretty quickly. The beef bones take longer but also do eventually get brittle enough to break into small pieces. I use the first cooking for broth/stock, then use the bone broth for other purposes. Mostly I just toss the bone pieces into the compost, but now I’m thinking of being more purposeful with it’s use 🙂
Almost fell off my chair with your bone meal/straw demo. Just about snorted out my tea, lmao. Thanks for the information. I’ve put bone meal in my potato pots, per your instructions. Now I’ll add it to all of my other seedlings that fit the criteria. Thought they’d all be in their pots by now, but today is raining with mid 40’s daytime temp and low of low 30’s tonight. It was 86 two days ago. Sigh… crazy spring in north GA.
While I agree with your point about soil testing for phosphorus being unnecessary, one thing that should be tested before using bone meal is the PH. Bone meal will increase the soil’s PH, and if your soil already has a very high PH, increasing it further could make other nutrients unavailable to the plant. If you have a high PH soil, you may want to also use a soil acidifier in addition to the bone meal.
Just found your website and absolutely LOVE it! ❤️ I saw you mentioned in another comment thread that bone meal is good for fig trees. We have a HUGE fig tree at th home we recently bought. Do I have to mix the bone meal into the soil or… How should I apply it? The tree is well established and we’ve harvested 2 very productive years.
My grandpa was a commercial fisherman here in ARKANSAS.. He told me many years ago to throw a fish carcass into the hole before putting the plant in… I can attest that it works like crazy! I’m guessing the bones and micro nutrients are the key? A natural fertilizer that breaks down over time… love your website. Thanks.
I have grown over 150 varieties over 20 years. My best tip is to plant your tomatoes in the ground and do not feed nor water them. Only water if they start to drop fruits or flowers. Remove all sideshoots from indeterminate varieties and remove all leaves below any fruits. If you have never grown tomatoes before and want an easy variety, I can highly recommend a determinate dwarf variety called Balconi Red. There is no need to remove any sideshoots and you can get three in a window box as the plant will get no bigger than your head. The fruits are small and tasty. If you grow them in a container, you will need to feed them.
alot of ppl tend to forget how important iron and magnesium are to the soil! I add a small amount of epsom salt( magnesium), and I rust iron nails in a bowl to get iron water, put small amounts of those in a watering container, fill and add to each plant, just a little soaking around the plant stem in the ground! It makes the shiniest, healthiest bearing of tomatoes and bell peppers for sure! Thanks for talking about the phosphorus… i may add some this year, because our rain has shit off. We got the first rain in over two weeks yesterday! The plants were growing but needed watering, and as soon as I watered them…. an hour later it rained!!!! A good soaking… mich needed! I tend to not add anything and ise Diatenaciois earth to protect plants from aphids and potato bugs as well as japanese beetles ( especially for my dads 100+ year old family grapevine! ) they destroy leaves on anything green!
There is a gardening show here in Australia called Gardening Australia. In the early 2000 one of the presenters, Colin Blundell, always swore by and used blood and bone for the vegies and fruit. As I am new to vegie gardening and have been thinking about it and you have now confirmed it for me. Thank you for the way you present and share your knowledge.
That credit card sketch would have made a great April 1st short! lol We generally use Blood, Fish and bone as an all rounder, tomato feed and i am making jadam with sea weed and some other plants. Pretty sure my neighbours think we are up to something dodgy as we have uv lights in the windowsill for our tomatoes and a light box made out of foil! They don’t know about the mushrooms we grow in our bathroom! lol All legal Pearl Oyster mushrooms though. Overall, people are more accepting of using UV lights and growing mushrooms indoors but we sometimes get raised eye brows. It is usually people who can tell the difference between a tomato plant and the other type. Even my hubby was a bit wary about us growing oyster mushrooms at first until he tried them.
Is it too late to add bone meal to my peppers if they are already blooming? They are in containers. Only a couple have any peppers – the others just have blooms. I am in Central Florida and it’s plenty hot here. I was told that since Jacks 20-20-20 doesn’t have calcium that I should add calcium (cal-mag or gypsum). Does bone meal take care of this too?
Good article, the credit card lines had me lol! Here’s a cautionary tale about bone meal for ya. Keep out of reach of dogs… may of 2019 my dog got hold of a bag of bone meal and ate about half of it. It pretty much solidified in her intestines so she was completely blocked. $5000 worth of surgery and treatment saved her life.
the calcium in bone meal is also super important for yield and growth. while phosphorous is great its very easy to deliver enough to the soil for a plant to get enough. a good supply of calcium + micronutrients will unlock the genetic potential of your tomato much more than phosphorous. i use oystershell flour, fish bone meal gypsum and fish hydrolysate so that I always have a good supply of calcium for my maters.
I would not advise utilizing it as a standalone solution, but rather as a component within a blended organic mixture, such as those offered by DrEarth, Espoma, and Down to Earth. Following its application, my gardenias, lonicera, and vitex plants experienced significant growth, although subsequently ceased to produce flowers and exhibited a minimal leaf count. I suspect that the substance contains an excessive amount of calcium, which is impacting the soil’s pH levels. I am currently endeavoring to rectify this issue for my plants.
For clarification, it’s not 17% phosphorus. As the package says, it’s 17% P2O5 by weight, of which 43.6% is elemental phosphorus. Hence it is 7.4% elemental phosphorus. Only “N” of the NPK refers to the element (nitrogen). (The K refers to K2O.) This distinction doesn’t matter when comparing two fertilizers with labeled NPK percentages. The only time this matters is if comparing a fertilizer, like bone meal, to another fertilizer, like egg shells, for which NPK numbers are not given, but elemental phosphorus weight percent is known. (In that example, divide the percent elemental phosphorus by 43.6% to calculate P2O5 equivalency.)
Love your articles, but stating that “soil tests are mostly useless for the backyard gardener” is very inaccurate. I test every year and I have illustrated 5:28 documentation throughout the years to prove otherwise. It’s easy to do, very cheap and provides great insight on how the soil macro and micronutrients are trending. I turned around a terrible soil into prime soil in a few years. I posted these illustrative results on several forums including GrowingFruit and OurFigs. Great articles though. Keep us the great work!
Interesting comments here. I don’t like the word “magic” used in this context. I’m a Forestry major. “It’s magic” was not a multiple choice answer that I ever saw. To the topic, double seems to be a stretch in one saeson. Improved sounds good. You would have to document the before conditions of soil, exposure and other items.
Is bone meal a different form of calcium like gypsum? Sheetrock is gypsum and you can go to any Lumber Company and they will give you the spacers that came between the bundles of sheetrock because they’re just throwing them in the dumpster and they’re going in the landfill. The way I understood it bone Mill was a synthetic and Gibson is natural or organic? Don’t know but get all your free Gyptian calcium at your local lumber company you may have to dumpster dive?
My tomato yield in Sacramento CA last year was poor, plants had very vigorous foliage, (don’t think nitrogen was deficient). Just planted the new ones about 10 days ago and didn’t prep w/ bone meal. A few minutes ago after perusal this article, ten to twelve 3/8″ diameter holes got poked into each tomato mound (within a 14″ radius of each plant) next sprinkled in 2/3 cup of bone meal per plant. Probably not as good as the method shown here, but got the fingers crossed and will follow up w/ how things went in September.
Very good job with this article! I am a UF graduate in IPM (Integrated Pest Management) and apply fertilizer for a living. You put together a nice cohesive guide for beginners to understand. We all have out tricks to what works in our given environment. Phosphorus is a missing link for most soils and a few more products would jump start your garden even further. Keep up the good work! I enjoy your website. P.S Leelanau Sweetglo is an amazing watermelon, that is how I found your website !
Calcium is inportant for tomatoee. Bone meal is not the only source you can use. Dolomite lime or gypsum work wonders as well. Free drywall scraps work well if you dont want to buy an amendment . Eggshells, chalk, azomite, and ground oyster/clam shells work too. Give less broken down less available forms such as shells longer to compost before planting. Water and nutrient uptake depend on calcium in tomato plants. Blossom end rot is due to calcium deficiencies and watering issues.
I use bone meal. However, I can’t add any phosphorus to my beds at all for awhile. Two years ago I used so much bone meal and when I sent my soil to Auburn for testing, I had extremely high levels of phosphorus. They said don’t add any phosphorus for a long time, some said for three years. You have to be careful using this. Phosphorus doesn’t leach out of your soil like nitrogen does. In fact, if you have too much phosphorus, it will likely leach zinc out of your soil. I listened a little and what you said was interesting about two years the soil level has probably changed. I didn’t plan on testing my soil this year. I’m wondering if I should be adding phosphorus again?
I tried to stretch my potting soil last year by adding feftilizer bone meal and lime to my much used soil from the old pots. All i got for my trouble was a pair if racoons who raided my pots and destroyed all my beloved plants. Some of those plants were from cuttings handed down through the generations. I do not recommend using bone or blood meal EVER….?
I watch you, and you often make good suggestions. I am going to offer a small constructive criticism on a one year old article. Soil tests are worth their weight in gold! Tissue test can tell you what you need “right now”!!! We are not growing great grand dad’s garden in 2024! I am old, but my garden feeds me. You Tube does not!
How often do you do the bone meal and AP fertilizer in your fabric pots? Is it every 2 weeks like I do the liquid fertilizer and fish fertilizer? Also I just watched another article where he said don’t fertilize when it’s too hot of weather? I really love your articles and advice, it has helped me very much!
I tried bone meal Natures Care organic with (6-8-0) on tomatoes in 15 gallon containers a couple years ago. I got a decent yield not like I did to start in back yard garden. Just as you said I noticed a drop each year as the plants basically strip the nutrients out of the soil they need. The bone meal instructions I got suggested not to overdo it and mix it a little away from the stalk. I was shocked when you coated the hole and root ball, but experience, results and facts matter. Trying to replenish my bordered 10′ X 20′ back garden soil for two years as I gave it a break and used it as a fire pit for tree limbs, sawgrass, ect. It may sound crazy but it seemed like in nature forest fires end up replenishing the soil for new growth. I have to till it and will add potting soil and a Manure mix. The container conversion was because of my age and the work putting up fencing because of wildlife, deer, rabbits, raccoons, and birds. An interesting an weird fact I learned tomato gardeners need to know is about the dreaded TOMATO HOOKWORM that ruined my container plants I decided to the house one year. The dreadful WASPS everyone hates I had nesting problem around the shed next to my back garden BUT I never had any TOMATO WORMS. IT JUST SO HAPPENS WASPS serve a purpose as they pollinate plants and KILL TOMATO WORMS!! How and why wasps kill them is interesting and cool like many insect attacks.
We used to dig tomato holes 2 feet deep, put them out early with sheets of plastic over them, even before last frost, and they survived just fine. THEN, with 2 feet of BELOW ground roots, they shot up and we MOUNDED them another 8 to 12 inches ABOVE the ground. Consequently, we NEVER had wilting, blossom end rot, or sun scald. One year, my older sister and I canned 10,000 quarts of tomatoes in a week’s time. NONSTOP WORK! But we ATE out of those tomatoes (the ones we did not GIVE AWAY for LACK OF ROOM!) for the next 6 years. And I would REGULARLY make myself a quart of tomato juice OR MORE per day once I discovered that the blender blade fit right up perfectly onto a quart mason jar!
😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂 “Get a small amount, a credit card, cut some lines, get a straw. Cmon! It’s the 80’s.” 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂 You had me justa gigglin. Thx. I’m 54 with a lota past 90’s memories. 3 am here in Jville, NC in a bunch of pain from Rheumatoid Arthritis. I can’t sleep and can’t move very well without my joints popping and hurting when I bend them. Finally managed to get some seeds started outside over the tax weekend. Just a few container plants and I made up a little bed for some Halloween gourds I dried seeds from. I can’t do much like I want to because I hurt so much in every joint. Maybe in can make a few dollars of some starter plants and some gourds this fall. Thx for the giggle.
I’ve researched at least a dozen or more “expert” gardeners / farmers” on YouTube.. I’ve watched dozens and dozens of articles… Probably hundreds… Now I have it narrowed down to 2… Thanks for saving me the efforts of testing my soil, as well as a test kit I trust I don’t need… Also, I’m going to take your view on adding bonemeal for phosphorus..
O just came across your articles and have watched several of them. You do what I have been taught to do by my mother, which she was raised on a farm when she was growing up. BUT you have taught me some New tips and tricks. Loving you articles the more I watch them and I share them with my brothers because they do gardening now as well. Thank you and keep up the Fantastic articles.
I’m sure there’s some Karen’s out there who are not going to appreciate the chopping bone meal with a straw joke but personally I thought it was freaking hilarious! 😂 I’ve ordered a lot of your ideas in lines of bone meal … Planting Kellogg’s breakfast tomatoes and black cherry tomatoes this year. I also am trying to get my 4 year apple trees to flower and produce fruit. Enjoy the website Happy growing!
OMG… do you think I could??? I just recently had to say goodbye to my German Shepherd just before Thanksgiving… I had her aquamated… (alkaline hydrolysis), after which they put the bones into a pulverizer, and then put them into a bag which is what I, the customer is presented with. I also bought a lovely wood box that has a picture frame on the top and her name engraved on the front. The box holds the entire bag of ‘ashes’… but I also wanted to put her collar into the box… there’s no room… UNLESS….. I could use some of my faithful companion on my tomatoes… a LITERAL memorial garden! I hope you don’t think this is gross or morbid.. it’s just pulverized bones, just like the bag you showed…
I love your dog food dish. I think all dogs should have that, at least they get to actually taste what they eat, buggers just inhale it if you put it on normal dish! And I had to laugh out loud at your lines and credit card statement, poor tomatoes, they probably would snort that bone meal if they could!
An expensive option. It won’t double production unless your garden is already suffering from a significant nutrient deficiency. I have never used bone meal and I always get great results. I think 7-10 Kg of tomatoes per plant and 15 Kgs of potatoes per square metre speaks for itself. Compost, worm compost and careful addition of bagged fertilizer works just fine.
You’re the best! After perusal what others had to say about blood meal and bone meal and when and how to use each, I didn’t get much out of them. Went to yours and it was (as you always are) full of good, clear and consiste content. You get right to the point and don’t talk about things that are irrelevant and you show us HOW you do things in your garden. I so appreciate that! EXCELLENT article!
Here in Australia we can buy a Product called “Blood and Bone” ! It is sort if light Orangey Brown similar to,Turmeric Powder colour ! I have not seen “Bone Meal” or the equivalent namesake in our Garden Nurseries here for sale ! Blood and Bone does work well for Vegetable Plants but not sure if it actually doubles the Yield of the Vegetable ! I agree with @ips2435 ! It depends on how the Plant(s) is/are looked after with Nutrients to give one the best Crop !
The key to entice more blooms is the “P” in NPK, for example the “P” stands for Phosphorus but the real ingredient is in the Phosphate which slightly less the what is say in percentage by weight for example, if you buy a 4 lb bag that contains 14% phosphorus you are getting approximately 0.47 lbs of phosphate from a 4 lb bag which is still good.
I’m curious, have you ever experimented with using your own urine to feed your tomatoes? I know the first reaction by those who have never heard to do it is one of being repulsed, till you realize that we use animal feces just fine hahaha. But I’m telling you, the difference it makes for tomatoes is phenomenal. My cherry tomatoes are all over 9 ft tall and I had to pinch their tops. Plenty of fruit clusters on all. And many of these I transplanted way too late after they were way too leggy and I didn’t think most would even survive. But they are thriving like crazy! I also use fish emulsion in the water jug. But I’m telling you, my urine is the most naturally powerful fertilizer I’ve ever used on my tomatoes. The results are astounding. It contains all 3 of npk, the ratios I do not know. But the results, I certainly do. It’s been eye opening.. I will urinate in a quart wonton soup container and dump it into a 5 gallon jug. I’ll do it every day. At end of week I dump a few glugs of fish emulsion and water to the top. Then I dump it into my quart container and use half a quart to a full quart per pot. My tomatoes are all in 5 gallon fabric pots, about 8 pots in a 5’x5′ plastic kiddie pool, all on my deck. And they are like trees at this point, all over 9ft high and producing like crazy.. I’ve never tried bone meal, beyond what might be in any powdered fertilizer I might get from time to time. But I can’t wait to give it a try next year, mixed with my tomato tone at start of season!
The second number in phosphate (P2O5) not phosphorus (P) and the third is potash (K2O3) not potassium (K). You got lucky on the first one. It does stand for Nitrogn (N). The hole oversimplification of plant nutrition is the reason gardeners in the US don’t understand plants. Any one that recommends not having your soil tested is a fool.
“WE” don’t even plant tomatoes as transplant. “I” sow seed directly into extremely well-built soil. I’m in zone 4 as well. There is ZERO need to transplant tomatoes down south there for sure. what you gain by planting transplants is mitigated by the trauma of transplanting. Doo yourself a HUGE favor and sow seed directly and get MUCH stronger root systems and therefore plants. Oh and save yourself a fortune, if you are just buying your transplants from the store. and save yourself the expense of the supplies and the babysitting time as well as the transplanting time if you sprout your own.
I went through some of your older articles to see if you ever discussed why commercial tomatoes tend to be flavorless. I couldn’t find it. I was wondering if you could do a article on that. I googled it and they said it had to do with DNA? And it’s better to go with heirloom tomatoes. What is your thoughts on this? If you’ve already done a article, maybe you could give me a link. thanks! 😃
Question: What about adding bone meal into your seeding soil mix. I start with a potting soil, mixed with worm casting soil and then perlite. 1/3 each medium. Would adding bone meal also be beneficial. PS Great presentation. I learnt so much. I do Lasagna gardening, in my third year and this year I think I will add to reconstitute the soil. Thank you
phosphorous from leaves falling in swimming pools is a major cause of accelerated algae growth, regardless of the amount of chlorine added to the water. The rare earth element Lanthanum is added to the pool water to precipitate out the phosphorous, bringing algae under control. You don’t want phosphorous in your swimming pool, but your plants definitely need it.
I been using bone meal for a long time. Here is a Diddy for ya. Collect a couple hundred pounds of bone. Build a fire and put a kettle on in filled with bone and water. Boil that water (add water often) until you can pull a piece of bone out(use tongs or a dipper) and when it is soft enough you can mill it granular and then spread on a tarp and allow to dry. Stir to dry completely. Once dry you can grind to the consistency you prefer. Much cheaper. The phosphates in bone meal are directly available to your plants once the bacteria in the soil consumes that bone meal. It takes a symbiosis between bacteria and plant roots for plants to be able to take up phosphates. Add alfalfa pellets in your hole around the roots of your tomato( 1 cup not to much) along with your bone meal. It gives your soil bacteria a food source. Keep your soil bacteria healthy your plants will show it.
Dale is the goodest boy lol. So i recall you in another article (from winter) talking about determinate and indeterminate tomatoes. Would determinate tomatoes not continue to produce (during winter) if i dig them up to overwinter? Will they not continue to do well the second year or would cloning them be a better strategy? I ask because I have other plants (Perennial Brassica) that make larger leaves (and in general better harvest) if i just clone them even though they don’t die.
Hi MG. I have a small 25×6 garden with 6 ft tall welded wire to keep the many deer out. Last year I added iPhone controlled drip irrigation manly because of access with the fence but it has been great for those times I am on vacation for half a month. I just watched this article and it reminded me about trying to insert an “injection fertilizer” feeder into my slow moving water source. Is this something you have tried? I was thinking of using the fish fertilizer I have just like the one you use. I live in the ATL area and will be on the lookout for bonemeal today as I will try to plant and get my watering system online this weekend. I just subscribed so will be looking forward to more tips. -Mac.