What Is The Best Fertilizer To Use On Tomatoes?

If you are growing tomatoes, you need to use fertilizers to get better harvests and bigger tomato fruits. This guide will learn you what the best fertilizers for tomatoes are, when it’s better to use each of them, and will answer your questions on tomato feeding.

This guide includes both synthetic and organic fertilizers, so you are able to choose any. Let’s start our analysis to let you the best results from your hobby.

Tomato Fertilizer: Top 6 Products

Parameter	MasterBlend	Miracle-Gro Tomato Food	Osmocote	Old Farmer’s Almanac	Dr. Earth	Miracle-Gro Shake ‘N Feed
N-P2O5-K2O	4-18-38	18-18-21	14-14-14	8-4-8	4-6-3	10-5-15
Available sizes	1 lbs. & 5 lbs.	1.5lbs. & 3 lbs.	1 lbs., 2 lbs. & 8 lbs	2.25 lbs.	4 lbs.	1 lbs. & 4.5 lbs.
Naturality	Synthetic	Synthetic	Synthetic	Organic	Organic	Synthetic
Coverage (per lbs.)	67 sq.ft.	400 sq.ft.	40 sq.ft.	111 sq.ft.	12 sq.ft.	30 sq.ft.
Frequency of use	Every 1-2 weeks	Every 1-2 weeks	Every 4 months	Every 6-8 weeks	Every 1-2 months	Every 3 months

1. MasterBlend — Best Super-Concentrated Fertilizer for Tomatoes

MasterBlend is a super-concentrated fertilizer with one of the highest content of phosphorus, which gives the plant energy to grow. Phosphorus converts nutrients into proteins and nucleic acids, which positively influence the tomato plant’s growth. Potassium which content is 38% allows for good yield and the fruit quality.

The content of calcium in this fertilizer exceeds 10%, which means that MasterBlend works well for soils with a pH level of less than 6.5.

How to use it. The manufacturer advises mix 8 oz. of fertilizer in 100 gallons of water and add calcium nitrate and magnesium sulfate (by 8 and 5 oz., correspondingly).

2. Miracle-Gro Tomato Food — Best Synthetic Fertilizer for Tomatoes

Regardless of being synthetic, this red-colored fertilizer is totally safe for plants. However, if you accidentally swallow it, immediately rinse your mouth out with water.

Miracle-Gro Tomato Food is designed for stimulating tomato harvests and making tomatoes bigger. It has most of the nutrients the plant need and is fine for decent soil, however, it’s laking calcium which enhances pollen germination; regulates some enzyme systems, and influences the growth and health of cells and conductive tissues.

This fertilizer starts working instantly and can be used every 1-2 weeks during the growing season to get better results.

The high content of nitrogen allows tomatoes for good kick-starting and makes them growing rapidly and green. The high content of potassium helps plants to remain disease-resistant. The high content of phosphorus stimulates flower and fruit production.

How to use it. For tomatoes, mix one tablespoon of fertilizer and one gallon of water and feed your plant.A pack must be kept in a dry place because the packaging is humidity-unsustainable.

3. Osmocote — Best Fertilizer for Peppers and Tomatoes

Oscomote is balanced in its nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus content, 14% for each element. This allows for the simultaneous feeding of tomato to support its growth and making the plant disease-resistant. Moreover, this content allows for more flower formation and seed production.

Since Osmocote has a high level of phosphorus, it’s better to use it when your plant requires this element. The best way to detect this is to monitor whether the leaves of your tomatoes aren’t discolored. Once you identify this problem, immediately use Osmocote to feed your plants. In turn, you can’t overdose your tomato plants with phosphorus, so don’t worry about that.

The fertilizer is very lasting, so it’s enough to use it every 4 months, which is the longest period as compared to other top-6 shortlisted fertilizers.

Use Osmocote in the spring season when your plants need the most support.

Since Osmocote is a synthetic fertilizer, don’t use it for growing organic tomatoes.

4. Old Farmer’s Almanac — Best OMRI-listed Fertilizer for Tomatoes

This odor-free fertilizer is OMRI-certified and perfectly works for growing organic tomatoes. Moreover, it’s a good fit for any plants you have, from vegetables and herbs to shrubs and trees.

Being quite concentrated, it can be used only for feeding your plant around its stem. As a result, it is quite cost-efficient.Old Farmer’s Almanac content isn’t high in any element, which means that it is good to support your plant but isn’t the best choice if you have an unbalanced pH level or some plant diseases.

5. Dr. Earth — Best Organic Fertilizer for Tomato Plants

Dr.Earth is another OMRI-listed fertilizer that can be used for growing non-GMO tomatoes. This is a fish fertilizer that can be used for both tomatoes and other plants, including container-growing ones. The disadvantage of this fertilizer is its fishy-earthy smell.

It contains such ingredients as alfalfa meal, fish, feather, and kelp. Being full of multi-minerals, proteins, and trace elements, it becomes one of the best choices of organic fertilizers. The level of humic acids equals 6%.

The coverage of this fertilizer is the lowest among the listed fertilizers but due to its efficiency, it can be used once in 1-2 months. As a result, this fertilizer is cost-efficient enough.

Being equipped with a zip-press closure, the packaging is convenient in use.

6. Miracle-Gro Shake ‘N Feed — Best Liquid Fertilizer for Tomatoes

If you are looking for a liquid fertilizer for tomatoes, Miracle-Gro Shake ‘N Feed will become the best option for you as it was initially designed for tomatoes. 

Although remaining synthetic, this fertilizer contains a lot of natural ingredients and vital micronutrients. Among ingredients in its content, there are earthworm castings, kelp, bone meal, and feather meal. Moreover, Miracle-Gro Shake ‘N Feed is one of a few fertilizers containing calcium, which prevents disorders in edible crops.

This fertilizer is quite concentrated, with enough amount of nitrogen and potassium contained. This makes the fertilizer cost-efficient enough as it lasts for 3 months.

Use this fertilizer at the beginning of your growing period to stimulate your plant’s growth.

How to use it. Do not mix with water and shake it directly onto the soil.

Buyer’s Guide

How To Fertilize Tomatoes

While the list of recommendations includes the answer to the question ‘What is the best fertilizer for tomatoes’, here we discuss the process of tomatoes feeding.

Let’s start with the necessity to feed tomatoes. Answering these questions, I’d like to ensure that you never have as good crops without fertilizer as you can have with it. 

If you only plan to grow tomatoes, I would recommend you to start feeding them from the very beginning when you only planted them. Then, while a tomato plant is growing, check up its state every few days. It’s important because leaves can change their color, you can detect the lack of fruit or fruit defection. So, it’s better to understand the reason for your problems and feed you tomatoes accordingly afterward.

And the last, what exactly fertilizer content is the best one for your soil. For this, it’s better to start with a soil test. If it is balanced, use a fertilizer with more content phosphorus. More consumption of nitrogen is possible only if you know that your soil is lacking this element. Otherwise, overdose with nitrogen can result in a lack of fruits.

What Fertilizer Characteristics do Fit Better for Tomatoes, 10 10 10 or not?

A lot of forums are full of questions on how to choose a fertilizer that fits exactly tomatoes. In fact, fertilizer characteristics are needed to be analyzed more for exact soil than for the exact plant. This means that you need to test your soil first and only then choose the right fertilizer.

What do fertilizer characteristics mean? For a 5-2-3 fertilizer, 100 lbs of this plant food contain 5 lbs of nitrogen, 2 lbs of phosphorus, and 3 lbs of potassium. Nitrogen is responsible for plant growth and crop yield. Phosphorus is the component required for photosynthesis and cell division, so if the leaves of your potato change their color, don’t hesitate to use a fertilizer with a high content of this element. Potassium is needed for reproduction and growth.