The Best Tomato Fertilizer

Tomatoes are perhaps the most prized garden fruit. Nothing compares to the taste of home-grown tomatoes—especially their commercial counterparts. However, growing these brilliant red beauties may be easier said than done. Tomato plants need some form of fertilization to bear juicy produce. No matter whether you are looking for an organic option, soil supplementation or a sure-fire fertilizer for blue-ribbon-winning fruit, there is a fertilizer for you.

Gardens Alive makes an all-natural tomato fertilizer which provides calcium, magnesium and other micronutrients. The web site asserts that tomatoes grown with Tomatoes Alive Plus produced 150 percent more tomatoes than plants not grown using the fertilizer. According to Garden's Alive website, this product should be used twice throughout the growing season, once when the tomato plant is transplanted into the garden and again just before the plant fruits.

Fertilize tomato plants the old-fashioned way with compost, calcium and bone meal. Treat tomato plants with compost and calcium, which generally comes in the form of broken eggshells, at the time of planting. Prepare the planting site by incorporating both compost and eggshells into the hole prior to placing the tomato plant. Then use both compost and eggshells to cover the plant. In addition, gardeners can apply both additional eggshells and bone meal biweekly to ensure that the soil remains rich in calcium, nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. Bone meal, specifically finely ground bone meal, will break down easily but still offers a slow-release fertilizing option and is considered an organic fertilizer.

For the gardeners looking for a synthetic fertilizer, look no farther than the king of the fertilizer, Miracle-Gro. In addition to the regular fertilizer this brand makes a specific brand of fertilizer for tomatoes called Miracle-Gro Water Soluble Tomato Plant Food. The Miracle-Gro website asserts that its Tomato Plant Food produces bigger and healthier fruit. This product can be used every seven to 14 days, the website asserts.