Chicken Manure Pellets

[Peet]

I want to try and grow some of my tomatoes in 9” pots this year. Will it be ok if I add some chicken manure pellets to the soil before planting? I will be doing this with my sweet peppers and aubergines (as recommended by Primrose) but I cannot find any do’s and donts regarding toms.

[alan refail]

Hi Peet

Go for it! I always use some under my tomatoes in the polytunnel border to boost the compost I have dug in. Works very well.

[Peet]

Is there a recommended dosage i.e. one scoop per container? I'm guessing that the toms could overdose if I'm not carefull!

[Tony Hague]

I thought the accepted wisdom was that fruiting vegetables (tomatoes, peppers) benefitted more from a high potassium (K) fertiliser, and simply produced inconvenient amounts of growth if given too much nitrogen (N, such as you get from chicken manure). Hence the availability of specialist tomato fertilisers with lower N / higher K.
Also a reason NOT to use tomato fertiliser on cucumbers - not enough N for them.

I was slightly surprised when I read the growing advice from Heirloom tomatoes, who recommend far less feeding and watering than you might expect.

[Peet]

I don't know what to do now.

[alan refail]

I don't know what to do now.

Hi again Peet

Quick answer: read the advice and make up your own mind

Longer answer: since reading this morning's posts I have been gathering further information. The pellets I use are Westland which state their composition as Nitrogen - 4.5%; Phosphorus - 3.5%; Potassium - 2.5%. As Tony points out, this shows a higher nitrogen content, but, to my mind, a reasonable potassium content.
I use approximately 50 millilitres of pellets per plant when planting out. I find the relatively high N gives a boost to the early growth of the plants, the P helps root development, and there is enough K to help flower and fruit formation. Once the plants are growing well and setting fruit they certainly need, as Tony says, higher potash feed such as diluted comfrey liquid, or a proprietary tomato feed. I use Maxicrop seaweed tomato feed. However, I feed no more than twice in the season - growing "hard" improves the flavour of tomatoes. But I grow in well composted beds in the polytunnel. Plants in pots will need greater attention and feed, but don't overfeed.

Hope this helps your decision.

Alan

[Tony Hague]

Sounds good to me. The bit about growing "hard" - not over feeding / over watering is important to me; if you do you can end up with a greenhouse full of lush green plants and tomatoes that taste like ones from the supermarket

I'm sure that Alan is right in that the higher N is OK if it is just for a bit of an initial boost.

[Johnboy]

The strange thing is that just about every gardening book says when it comes to Tomatoes "do not feed until the first truss has set."
I am of the firm opinion that there is more damage done, when growing Tomatoes, by that sentence than any other sentence in most gardening books.
Tomatoes need nutrition just the same as every other plant but the amount of plants that damn near starve to death is untold.
What the sentence should say is DESIGNATED FEEDING should not be carried out before the set of the first truss. It doesn't mean that no fertilizer should be used before the first truss has set and a few chicken pellets will do the world of good to the plant.
JB.

[Geoff]

I often wonder why we feed Tomatoes as much as we do, are we being conned by the makers of Tomorite etc.?
Fair enough feed them in pots and growbags but in a greenhouse border or outside why not prepare the soil well like you would for a normal crop then let them get on with it? I've never measured the weight per plant but it can't be that much different to Potatoes. I still feed them but not as much as the instructions suggest - must do a proper experiment one year.

[Primrose]

I normally scatter a small amount of chicken manure pellets into the borders where I'm going to plant my tomatoes and lightly fork it in before I plant them. If I were growing them in pots, I'd also do the same thing as I doubt whether the compost would have sufficient nutrients to last the plant until it had finished cropping in the autumn. The other thing I do with potted peppers, chillis & aubergines is to mix a very small amount of water retention crystals into the compost before planting . I've been doing this for a couple of years now and find it helpful in preventing the compost from drying out as my pots are kept outdoors on a fairly sunny patio. It also means that if we go away for a couple of days I have a little more leeway about them not being watered.

[Johnboy]

Hi Geoff,
I do not buy any proprietary tomato feed and rely solely on Comfrey Concentrate which I have found to be the best for producing beautifully tasting thin skinned Tomatoes. I produce the Comfrey Concentrate using the drainpipe method ad this is going all the season long. I generally end up making about 25 gallons and always keep about 5 gallons in reserve.
Making concentrate there is not the awful smell that you get with the quick fix method of adding Comfrey leaves to water. Simply awful!
Of course with concentrate you know exactly what you have given your plants.
JB.

[Tony Hague]

Johnboy - I'm sure you've described it already somewhere, but what exactly do you do with comfrey and a drainpipe - I've tried the bucket of water method and yes, it stinks too bad. I still have a lot of comfrey, and some scrap plastic pipe though ...

[Johnboy]

Hi Tony,
Bear with me and I will try and find it but I think it was on the old forum and was lost and I think it was stored on my old computer when it blew up and not backed up. You can now see the problem but I promise to get it to you shortly but probably not until the coming week.
I have masses of work and I am on a rain break at present 'cos it's absolutely hissing down at present! (just to make you lot from the south a little envious!)
JB.

[peter]

Taking a few Moderator liberties

See viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6918&p=64829&hilit=comfrey+drainpipe#p64829

Hi MM and Goldilox,
Basically the drainpipe method of making Comfrey Concentrate is as follows;
By using a length of 4"/110mm rainwater down pipe with a stop end on the one end (the bottom) with a hole drilled in the centre. By filling a 2Litre Fizzy-pop bottle full of sand and cement and inserting a wire loop big enough to attach a stout cord. This will give you the gentle pressure needed to assist in the degradation of the Comfrey.
By holding this length of pipe vertical attached to a back board with pipe clips. There should a return at the top and bottom of the backboard.
The bottom return is a shelf to stop the pipe slipping through the pipe clips and the top return with a hole in it to run the cord attached to the bottle so that you can retrieve the bottle when you need to top up with Comfrey. In turn you fix the back board either to a shed or wall at a height so that you can house and be able to easily retrieve a 5 Litre container. The top return should be high enough above the pipe for easy removal of the bottle to facilitate filling the Pipe.
The best height of pipe it 6ft but the system will work down as low as 4ft.
When filling initially having got about 1ft of Comfrey in the tube you need to pour in a pint of urine (laid previously) as as starter.
Because the degradation in done anaerobically there is virtually no smell and certainly nothing like making Comfrey Tea.
I have searched the web to try and find a photo to post without success.
I hope this explanation gives you an idea as to what I am trying to convey.
JB.

[mikepearce45]

Last year I put a handfull of pellets under each plant in the greenhouse border (ring culture) As the season progressed and the plants were reaching full height I also added a handfull of "chicken litter" to each pot.(chicken litter is the residue left after burning chicken manure in power stations but is still high in trace elements) I also added a couple of handfulls of wood ash to each pot and virtually stopped watering (twice a week) about the same time. All tomatoes were of excellent taste and I am planning the same treatment for this year's crop - assuming the plants to not succumb to chocolate spot virus (please see my post under the disease heading)