[adri123]

Just been watching loads of Beechgrove Gardens on Youtube.  And from other bits of media as well it seems to me that almost everything needs Tomorite or equivalent high potash feeding.

Should I just get a massive delivery of the stuff and give it to everything?

TIA

Adri

[mumofstig]

Use it on things that have flowers and fruit, tomatoes, cucumbers, pepper, aubergines, squash etc.

Don't use it for things that only want leaves, like lettuce, cabbage and spinach.

[adri123]

That's what I'd thought.  Nice to have confirmation though.  Ta Mum.

[Tenhens]

Just had a look online , 2.5 litres seems to be the largest amount.

[Kristen]

Just been watching loads of Beechgrove Gardens on Youtube.  And from other bits of media as well it seems to me that almost everything needs Tomorite or equivalent high potash feeding.

Last season they compared proprietary Tomato fertiliser with homemade, from Comfrey, and the Comfrey performed better ...

... so suggest you just make some of your own

Either way, Tomorite works out more expensive than Brand X tomato fertilisers, and nothing to choose between them, and granular (which you dissolve, e.g. Chempak Tomato fertiliser) is cheaper still than the liquid forms - as you are basically paying for Water & the cost of transporting it with liquid fertilisers.

[Dave NE]

Yesterday I bought 12 pieces of comfrey root on ebay for a few quid and free postage, that's me done with bought in fertilisers for ever, Dave

[mumofstig]

Beechgrove Factsheet 20 says

Comfrey liquid worked well on all the varieties
except the beefsteak variety. ‘Country Taste’
produced better results with the commercially
available tomato liquid feed.   

I wonder why that was?

The thing about comfrey is having enough space on the plot to grow it. On today's small 1/2 or even 1/3 size plots it does take up quite a big area, if you want to make a lot of feed.

[Dave NE]

I should have mentioned that I am planning on using nettle soup/tea as a feed for the first half of the year and switching over to a potash type feed there after, fingers crossed, Dave

[Kristen]

I wonder why that was?

I saw the episode and wondered if the sample size, and single-season-test, was statistically too small?

Interesting that Comfrey was a clear winner on the other Toms though, I would have expected it to be a closer race ...

[Fairy Plotmother]

Use it on things that have flowers and fruit, tomatoes, cucumbers, pepper, aubergines, squash etc.

Don't use it for things that only want leaves, like lettuce, cabbage and spinach.

Thanks Mum! I've been waiting years for a simple explanation that I can remember easily.

[andy dewar]

Last year i made nettle tea for the first time after seeing it on this site and used it on everything and had fantastic results especially toms and cucs il never by tomorite again 

[Kristen]

Last year i made nettle tea for the first time after seeing it on this site and used it on everything and had fantastic results especially toms and cucs il never by tomorite again 

Nettles are high in Nitrogen, so best suited to leafy crops.

Comfrey is high in Phosphate (as is Tomorite) so best suited to Fruiting and Flowering plants.

[adri]

Near to us there's a huge patch of wild comfrey. 

Tea for the toms etc? I think you stew it in a barrel for a couple of weeks is that right?

[mumofstig]

A thread on the different methods is here
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=114849.msg1321039#msg1321039

[Kristen]

Tea for the toms etc? I think you stew it in a barrel for a couple of weeks is that right?

Yes, then dilute to "weak tea" colour.  It stinks.

Or press the leaves to get a concentrated juice, and dilute that to same colour (less concentrate is needed via this method, and it doesn't stink, and easier to keep [e.g. in a bottle] so appropriate for start-of-next-season feeding which is generally rather early relative to the first crop of Comfrey leaves)