Maximum Yield USA 2016 June | Page 60

Fish blood and bone contain nitrogen , potassium , phosphorus and amino acids essential for regulating healthy plant growth , flowering and fruiting .”
MAXIMIZING TOMATO YIELDS

Most people would agree homegrown organic tomatoes and anything else grown with love at home organically is the tastiest and most nutritional produce we can eat , feed to our children and even teach them about . As a child I was lucky to be raised on organic produce grown on my parents quarter-acre block in suburban western Victoria where I learned from a young age about how food should taste and the importance of how food should be grown . My grandparents moved to Australia after communism fell in Romania in 1989 and lived with my family for a couple of years . Grandpa was an exceptional horticulturist ; his tomato plants produced 20 kg on each individual plant , and he grew so many pumpkins in an area no bigger than 4x6 m 2 I was always amazed . My dad filled one 5x8 ft . trailer plus a station wagon full of pumpkins and sold them all for $ 1 to $ 2 each at the local Sunday market . They went like hot cakes . My next-door neighbors were astonished and asked how my grandpa could harvest so many pumpkins in such a little area , so my dad told them the simple trick : pumpkins love vigorous root growth . My grandpa knew how to organically grow the maximum yield with all the fruits and vegetables he grew . Last season I got serious and

Fish blood and bone contain nitrogen , potassium , phosphorus and amino acids essential for regulating healthy plant growth , flowering and fruiting .”

managed to harvest just over 100 kg of tomatoes in a total area of 8 m 2 in my brother ’ s small back garden . I had enough Pasata for my friends and family for six months . Fish guts ( whole fish is fine ), composted cow and sheep manure and harvested lake weed are all excellent in organic horticulture and are sometimes available for free . Whenever I mention fish guts to people they have concerns about attracting animals and the potential for odor . I ’ ve never had a problem with either . The results from using fish guts are excellent . Fish blood and bone contain nitrogen , potassium , phosphorus and amino acids essential for regulating healthy plant growth , flowering and fruiting . If invasive fish are an issue in your local waterways , do your ecosystem a favor and use them in your garden . Try burying a whole carp under your rose plants and you will see the results . This season I am installing poly agi pipe into the ground horizontally and will try directly feeding into the root zone . I am going to put my vegetable and fruit scraps into a food processor , and then I will pour the contents into my poly pipes , which are 90-100 mm wide and about 1 m long . I recommend a one-part vegetative and one-part flower plant food from your local hydroponics shop ( easier to mix up than a part A and B plant food ). Ask for an organic product if one is available , and a product specifically used for soil gardening would be preferable outdoors . I have just started experimenting with this hydroponics-styled plant food outdoors and the results alongside all my organic applications are excellent . I feed my tomato plants once every three weeks with organic trace elements although once a month may work , too . I like to wet the ground with my tank water first then apply the trace elements with a watering can .
58 Maximum Yield USA | June 2016