Wondering about "feeding" plants

Le-y

I've got Peppers, Tomatoes, Potatoes, Cucumber and Strawberries in the garden and was wondering what and when I should be feeding them.

I've picked up some Tomato feed from Poundland and was wondering

A) Whether i can give this to the other plants even though its tomato feed,
Which of the above plants need a "feed"
C) When I should be feeding them, i.e when flowers start to grow, now or when the veg start to show.

the strawberries have both flowers and strawberries already but no flowers for the toms (which are quite large plants now) or the potatoes (VERY large) or the peppers (not as big but still farily big for peppers sown from seeds).

Presumably i dont need to feed my veggie patch with anything other than water there is only salad stuff in there at the moment, lettuce, cabbage, celery and carrots.


thanks for the help

pompeii

I think your tomato food will do for all but the spuds, it may do the spuds i don't know, i have found web sites like Gardeners Question time, RHS or Grow your Own good for advice about feeding and plant care. I think most plants needs regular feeding once you have baby fruit.

annie123

watch the NPK from some £ shops, I have seen some as low as 1 2 1 which is useless,

peter_the_piper

1:2:1 is only the ratio of the chemicals NPK. They could just as easily be 10:20:10 and it would be the same ratio. If it says tomato feed it should be suitable for toms etc but probably not potatoes.

ixwood

I don't think that's right peter. 1:2:1 would be 1%/2%/1% and 10:20:10 would be 10%/20%/10%.

A few % is okay though. Manure only has a couple of % of each (but that's another story!).

Jack's_mummy

Surely 1:2:1 is exactly the same ratio as 10:20:10 I'm sure when you do ration you keep knocking off the 0 until you get to the lowest number??

Mind it has been a while since I did maths at school

BAck to the OP. I use tomato foods for almost everything like tomatos, strawb etc that need fruit swelling on them. And sometimes a quick water and feed on the flowers too

gmgmgm

Jack's mummy is correct.

Ratio 1:2:1 is the same as 10:20:10. Which is the same as 2:4:2.

robnye

i tend to use an all rounder..... save smessing about between general plant feed and specific tommie feed - my stuff seems to do ok

peter_the_piper

Try looking here it explains ratio's and percentages of nutrients. http://www.tatachemicals.com/0_products/fertilisers/npk_ratio.htm

ixwood

The relative ratio may be the same, but the amounts are different. It the % of the product. So 1/2/1 has 1 %, 2% and 1%. Very differnet from 10%, 20% and 10%.

peter_the_piper

The ratio 1:2:1 has no relation to the strength only the proportions of npk in the mix. The strength should be also given on the side/back of the box/bottle.
For example we use a balanced feed for normal use which is 18:18:18 or 1:1:1, the dilution rate for specific plants and water quality are given on the pack so the accurate feed strength is passed through the dilution system. If I want a high potash mix for flowers I would use a 16:7:32 which has the ratio of 2:1:4.