when to feed?

[lfcjohn]

Could you please give me some advice on when to start feeding my tomatoes, cucumbers and chilies. Am i correct in thinking that you wait for the flowers to start before starting to feed?
Also will a general tomato food be suitable for all 3 of the above?
Many thanks

[sewer rat]

Hi lfcjohn
Commiserations on the other night.
You are correct in thinking that you start to feed when the flowers have formed. Although there are specialist feds and fertilisers available for each of the veggies you mention, a general high potash feed such as Tomorite or Maxicrop will suit all three perfectly.
As to how often you feed, that was subject to quite a lot of debate on here last year, and there is no hard and fast answer - so best follow guidelines on container of whatever feed you buy.

[queen of the cobs]

I have a few lonely flowers appearing on my largest tomato plants - should I give them a little feed? Or is it best to wait till they are a little more established?

[momol]

Hi queen of the cobs,

I think it should be ok to feed them when it is at the stage of flowering ( with high potassium ) this way it will stop fertilize flower from dropping.
I did it too and several days ago has to thin down the mini tomatoes, they were too much at each tessel ( close to 9 ), it is a beef type tomato( pink brandy wine tom ).
I read it somewhere to feed them each 2 weeks but during blooming and flowering will be around 1 week or 10 days. I never been too strict with that though. Just give it a try and see which one works for yours

Happy planting,

Momol

[Dobby]

yes when they start to flower we use tom food it tells you on the back of the bottle how much to use
I think we need an industrial size

[SunnyD]

I read somewhere (possibly in 'The Vegetable and Herb Expert'), that you shouldn't use tomato feed for cucumbers - apparently it makes the fruit bitter?

Does anybody know if that's correct?

[shirlthegirl43]

I used tomato food for my cucumbers last year (F1 hybrids in the greenhouse) they weren't bitter. Thought it was the male flower thingy that made for bitter fruits?

[Dobby]

I thought it was the male flower that made it tase bitter as well thats why we got a f1
al female and marketmore

[Flummery]

Hmm. Males make females bitter? That's starting to explain one of the mysteries of life!

[andrewo]

Wait until the first truss sets, feeding doesn't really matter, if you've prepared the soil well you will get a good crop - too much feed can give you tasteless toms (the kind that hang around in cheap jewellery and jeer on bank holidays). Don't like some of the potash feeds, as they hide chemicals amongst them, if you are going to feed, when you plant out, make sure you put shredded comfrey in the hole and then feed with comfrey liquid - make your own, cheap and stinks to high heaven. Remember to put a pot in the ground next to each tom, so you can use it as a water reservoir and the water gets directly to the roots.

[pigletwillie]

I dont feed once a week but mix a 1000 litre IBC with a very weak feed solution and water from that every other day. You dont starve yourself all week and eat all of your meals on Sunday do you?

Like others have said though too much is not good and do stat when you first get flowers.