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When the tomato seeds are sown, sprouted and dived, it’s time to think about feeding the young seedlings.

If the correct, fertile soil for seedlings is selected, then it is quite possible to expect that the nutrients in the soil will be enough for a certain time, until about 3-5 true leaves appear on the seedlings. Thus, if you dive tomato seedlings in the phase of 1-2 true leaves, then the first feeding can be done in 10-14 days. But again, these are all approximate dates, because it is not known exactly when the nutrients will be exhausted in the soil, no one will conduct a soil analysis.

From visual landmarks, you can understand that there are no longer any nutrients in the soil by the color of the foliage and by the general development of the plant. If the foliage on the tomatoes has become paler, or has begun to turn yellow, wilted, the plant hardly develops, then the seedlings urgently need to be fed. It should be noted that a similar state of seedlings can be not only due to poor soil quality, but also due to improper care, for example, when the soil is waterlogged or if watering is not timely and the soil is too dry, with a lack of light, etc.

But whether someone is lying so delays the first feeding. Therefore, when picking seedlings in the phase of 1-3 true leaves, the first top dressing will not be too late to do in 10-14 days (it is possible after 7). In total, in the seedling period, I do 3 top dressings with the same interval between them (10-14 days).

How to feed tomato seedlings?

Personally, for myself, I have long decided on a fertilizer for seedlings, and for the last few years I have been using only this fertilizer. It suits me, because the plants respond well to it, and develop well. A balanced fertilizer for seedlings should contain not very high proportions of macronutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. In one of the fertilizers I liked, the content of nutrients is 16:16:16 + IU, in the second: 17:8:22 + IU. Both performed well in relation to seedlings.

Why not use higher proportions of nutrients and increase the concentration of the nutrient solution?

Since the plant is small, in the seedling period it does not need to form a flower brush, ensure the setting and growth of fruits, it also does not have a huge green mass that needs to be fed, and the indicated proportion of macronutrients is quite enough.

You can not increase the concentration of the nutrient solution, so as not to burn the delicate and thin roots. «Overfeeding» seedlings can lead to the death of the plant. The visual factor of «overfeeding» seedlings may be an uncharacteristically dark color of the foliage, which, first of all, will indicate an excess of nitrogen. The preparation of the nutrient solution should be done in accordance with the instructions on the fertilizer package. And do not forget the simple rule “it is better to underfeed than to overfeed”.

Friends, I deliberately do not indicate in the article the names of the fertilizers that I use for my seedlings, because, in one of the articles in which I shared my experience in growing vegetables in great detail: about how I sow, when and how I dive, what I fertilize, I got caught a rather strange comment that I am not a gardener, but some kind of marketer or representative of a seed company and I am advertising fertilizers! To be honest, I was discouraged. I didn’t answer, and I didn’t block it either, because it became very interesting to me what other ingenious conclusion this commentator could give out, but I concluded that such commentators need and want to wish: firstly, to become gardeners themselves, start working in the beds , start your own channel and show the result of your activities, and it’s better not to comment on other people’s articles at all,

What do you think: what should be done with such commentators?

If you are interested in knowing what fertilizer I use for my seedlings, then there is a separate article on my channel dedicated to this topic, inexpensive and effective fertilizers.

Friends, how do you fertilize your seedlings and what seedling fertilizers do you use? Share your experience, secrets and observations in the comments.

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