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Tomatoes are one of the most popular vegetables to grow, and if you want to pick the biggest, tastiest crop it’s essential to feed your plants.
Using a good liquid feed will give you sweet, ripe tomatoes for longer than controlled-release fertiliser alone, so Which? Gardening set out to see which will do the best job. Tomato feeds are also great for feeding pots of flowering patio plants, such as petunias and begonias.
Learn more about how to grow tomatoes.
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Product | Dosage | Overall score | Yield red fruit (kg) | Yield green fruit (kg) | Yield | Foliage vigour | Fruit quality | Ease of use |
Dalefoot Composts Wool Compost for Tomatoes | ||||||||
Empathy After Plant Liquid Concentrate Tomato Feed | ||||||||
Levington Tomorite Concentrated Tomato Food | ||||||||
Levington Tomorite Pour & Feed | 9.3 | |||||||
Neudorff Organic Tomato Feed | ||||||||
Thompson & Morgan Chempak Tomato Food | ||||||||
Westland Big Tom |
USING THE TABLE The more stars the better. Yields are healthy fruit from three plants. OVERALL SCORE Ignores price and is based on: yield of tomatoes 50%; foliage vigour 20%; fruit quality 15%; ease of use 15%.
Pay £36.75 for the first year and get the garden you want for less
Get this offerAdding a controlled-release fertiliser to your compost at planting time will provide your plants with the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) they need for healthy growth, but they may well be running low by the time your tomatoes start to ripen. If you haven’t added a controlled-release fertiliser, you should start giving your tomatoes a liquid feed once the first truss of fruit has formed.
Discover our best controlled-release feeds.
Most products need to be applied at least once a week, with the frequency sometimes increasing once the second truss of fruits develops; check the dilution and frequency on the product label.
Tomato feeds aren’t just for tomatoes; most have more potassium in relation to the nitrogen and phosphorus, which helps to promote flowering and fruiting. You can therefore use a tomato feed on any container-grown plants that produce lots of flowers or fruits, such as fuchsias, clematis, aubergines, cucumbers, peppers, courgettes and chillies. However, don't use it for feeding seedlings.