Looking for the perfect mix of powerful ingredients to put in your tomato planting hole this spring to get your tomatoes off to a healthy, strong and blazing fast start?
One of the most important days in a tomato plant’s life is the day it goes in the ground. Whether you plant tomatoes in a traditional garden setting, raised rows, raised beds, or even in containers – how you plant them, and more importantly what you put in the soil along with them can both be incredibly vital to their success.
Tomato plants need healthy soil that is full of nutrients to power their growth. Especially early on – when they need to develop strong roots, thick stems and a full canopy of foliage. After all, when a plant gets off to a fast start, it has a much easier time producing blooms and a great harvest. And when it fails to – trouble can loom in the future!
So how do you make sure your tomato plants get off to a great start? For us, there is no better way to jump starting amazing growth than by loading up their planting hole with a few simple ingredients on planting day.
It is a practice we have used now for well over a decade. And with some pretty spectacular results. So with tomato growing success in mind – here is a look at five incredibly powerful ingredients we put in each and every planting hole to get our tomato plants growing like crazy!
What To Put In A Tomato Planting Hole – 5 Must Add Ingredients To Make Tomatoes Grow Fast
It’s important when adding all of the ingredients below to thoroughly mix them together with the soil as you fill the planting hole back up. This allows for the nutrients and energy from each individual ingredient to be equally distributed in the soil right around the roots of your tomato plant – where they need it most.
For us, the magic all starts with a powerful ingredient that has been our secret weapon for growing great tomatoes for years – worm castings!
Worm Castings – What To Put In A Tomato Planting Hole
If there is one ingredient we single out for really helping to get our tomatoes off to fast start, it’s worm castings. Worm castings are the manure of earthworms. And are they ever filled with organic, all-natural power!
Much like compost, the nutrients in worm castings are in a form that is ideal for tomato plants to soak in. Even better, they are easy for tomato plants to absorb quickly. All without the worry of giving plants too much energy all at once. Affiliate Link: Wiggle Worm 100% Pure Organic Worm Castings
We mix in one full cup of castings in the planting hole of every tomato plant we put in the ground. The difference they make in early growth is easy to see. In fact, we love them so much, we put castings in the planting hole of every vegetable we plant in the entire garden.
Wood Ashes – What To Put In A Tomato Planting Hole
Believe it or not, the ashes from your fire pit or fire place are one of the best things you can use when putting your tomato plants in the ground.
Wood ashes contain a large amount of two very important nutrients tomatoes need – calcium and potassium. Calcium is critical for powering cell wall growth in a tomato plant’s stems and branches. Even more, it also helps make the pollination process easier for tomato plants.
But perhaps more than anything else, calcium prevents blossom end rot. Without enough calcium in the soil, tomato plants struggle with forming healthy fruit. With blossom end rot, the flowering end of the tomato turns brown and mushy, eventually ruining the fruit. But with enough calcium – it’s never an issue.
Wood ashes also contain phosphorous or potash. Potash is important because it helps tomato plants absorb water – which both hydrates the plant and keeps developing fruit full of moisture as well. And if all that wasn’t enough, wood ash in the soil also helps absorb water too.
So how much wood ash should you add to each planting hole? We like to add about 1.5 cups for each plant to give them the perfect amount of power.
Compost – What To Put In A Tomato Planting Hole
Compost, or Black Gold as we like to call it, is a must when planting tomatoes. When our plants go in the ground, we mix in two to three cups right into the hole of every plant.
Compost is full of energy and life. And the power in compost is in a form that can easily absorb into the roots of tomato plants. In addition to its power, compost also helps to lighten the soil. It also allows the soil to absorb water for the roots of plants, while shedding away excess moisture.
Last but not least, the nutrients that come from compost release slowly. They won’t overpower your plants with too much growth. Instead, they will give a consistent dose of energy that help tomato plants thrive. Affiliate Link : Charlies Compost 10 lb Bag
Egg Shell Powder – What To Put In A Tomato Planting Hole
Egg shells are another all natural substance that are loaded with energy. Eggs shells, much like wood ashes, contain a high amount of calcium. We have already covered the benefits of calcium with tomato plants – and adding more via egg shells helps tomato plants all the more.
But in addition to calcium, egg shells also contain trace amounts of phosphorous, magnesium, potassium, zinc, iron and copper. All of which are extremely important to both early and long term growth of your plants.
But here is the key when adding egg shells – you need to first grind them into a powder. Unfortunately, adding just broken or crushed shells won’t help young tomato plants. Why? Because they can’t break down in time to give their power back to the soil.
By grinding the shells into a powder (a small, electric coffee grinder works great for this) they can absorb right into the soil. And when they do, they can give your plants their energy much faster. As for how many to add to the planting hole – we use two to three tablespoons in every hole.
Spent Coffee Grounds – What To Put In A Tomato Planting Hole
Last but not least – start saving those old coffee grounds. Why? Because they are great for your plants!
We use two to three tablespoons of coffee grounds in every single planting hole for our tomatoes. Not only are they a great source of nitrogen for young plants, they also help to hold in valuable moisture near the plant’s roots.
Coffee grounds can also absorb a tremendous amount of water. That can be important for the roots of young tomato plants to keep them hydrated as they establish in the soil. Even better, they also help to add structure and humus to the soil to make it stronger too. And again – all for free!
Here is to planting your tomato plants this year with the 5 ingredients that can power them to amazing growth – and incredible yields! Happy Gardening – Jim and Mary.
Jim and Mary Competti have been writing gardening, DIY and recipe articles and books for over 15 years from their 46 acre Ohio farm. The two are frequent speakers on all things gardening and love to travel in their spare time.
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