If you’ve ever grown tomatoes in your garden, you probably know that while the end product is delicious to eat, tomato plants are a little finicky to cultivate! In order to get a big crop of juicy, sweet tomatoes, sometimes you need to boost the nutritional intake of your hungry plants. The best organic fertilizers for tomatoes can help with that.
When it comes to tomatoes, it’s especially important to “build up” your soil with key nutrients and a diversity of microbes, so that a plant’s roots grow strong, and it’s flowers produce healthy fruits. Giving your garden an occasional boost of organic plant food will also help you avoid some of the common pitfalls of tomato-growing, like blossom rot or small yields.
Where to find the organic fertilizer that’s right for your tomato plants? Look no further, we’ve rounded up 6 of the very best.
Our Top Picks
  | Best Overall: Espoma Organic Tomato-Tone Gardeners love the all natural ingredients and rave about the effectiveness of the Espoma Tomato-Tone. |
  | Best Budget: Jobe’s Tomato Plant Food Fertilizer Spikes Insert a couple spikes of economical Jobe’s Tomato Plant Food Fertilizer at the beginning of the season and you’ll be good to go. |
  | Best Liquid: Urban Farm Fertilizers Texas Tomato Food If you want an effective tomato fertilizer with the convenience of a liquid, the Urban Farm Texas Tomato Food will deliver. |
  | Best Water Soluble: Dynamite Mater Magic No need to resist this little tomato-shaped wonder – it’s full of Mater Magic and a great mix of nutrients. |
  | Best Granular: Jobe’s Organics Slow Release Vegetable Granular Plant Food Jobe’s has a way with tomatoes, and this granular, slow-release plant food will take care of all your prized plants. |
  | Best Multi-Purpose: Dr. Earth Organic & Natural Vegetable Plant Food Dr. Earth’s gentle Natural Tomato and Vegetable Plant food will nourish tomatoes plus a wide array of other vegetables in your garden. |
A Closer Look: The Best Organic Fertilizers for Tomatoes
Good tomatoes comes with time, and we made sure to spend it wisely planting these top organic fertilizer picks. Read on below to see the fruits of our labor.
1. Espoma Organic Tomato-Tone
The best organic fertilizer for tomatoes overall
Brand: Espoma | Amount: 4 Pounds | Fertilizer Analysis: 3-4-6 NPK | Type: Slow Release, Granular (OMRI-Listed) | Price: 💰
The Espoma Tomato-Tone has all the characteristics of the best organic fertilizer for tomatoes: it’s easy to use, eco-friendly, and promotes consistent, impressive growth. It contains a wide variety of macronutrients and micronutrients, beneficial microbes, and an extra dash of calcium to prevent blossom rot.
And unlike non-organic fertilizers that can artificially boost growth temporarily, the Tomato-Tone’s long lasting, slow-release formula “won’t force rapid growth at the expense of blooms and tomato yield.”
Reviewers Like
- Difficult to over-fertilize
- Particularly strong root growth
- Big variety of large, healthy fruits
- Truly organic and environmentally friendly
- “I must have pulled hundreds of tomatoes”
- “This is the best tomato and vegetable fertilizer I’ve ever used”
Reviewers Dislike
- Strong smell
- Keep away from pets – dogs are especially attracted to the smell
2. Jobe’s Tomato Plant Food Fertilizer Spikes
The best budget organic fertilizer for tomatoes
Brand: Jobe’s | Amount: 3.9 Ounces | Fertilizer Analysis: 6-18-6 NPK | Type: Slow Release | Price: 💰
Jobe’s fertilizer spikes are simple and affordable, and one of the most convenient fertilizer options on our list. As you’re planting your tomato seedlings in the spring, simply insert 2 spikes per plant, 6-8” from the stem, and 1” deep into the soil. Water, wait, and in a few weeks, voila: bumper crop!
Reviewers Like
- Made in the U.S.A.
- Also work well with peppers
- Targeted to the roots, no runoff on surface of the soil
- Simplicity of sticking into the soil and forgetting about it
Reviewers Dislike
- No calcium, magnesium or sulfur
- Works best for spring planting and early season development
3. Urban Farm Fertilizers Texas Tomato Food
The best organic liquid fertilizer for tomatoes
Brand: Urban Farm | Amount: 128 Ounces | Fertilizer Analysis: 3.8 – 3.1 – 7 NPK | Type: Liquid/Water-Soluble | Price: 💰💰💰
This organic liquid fertilizer gives your tomatoes not just the macronutrients of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, but also rich micronutrients from worm castings, kelp, bat guano, mycorrhizae, enzymes and minerals. It is especially rich in calcium, which helps prevent the dreaded tomato blossom-end rot.
The Texas Tomato Food is also super concentrated and convenient. You only need one tablespoon per gallon of water, and it can also be used with other large vegetables.
Reviewers Like
- Explosive plant growth
- “Astonished at the results”
- “Great product, worth every penny”
- Tomatoes are less watery, more meaty
- Much easier than trying to work dry fertilizer into soil
Reviewers Dislike
- More expensive shipping
- The container can cause spillage
4. Dynamite Mater Magic
The best water soluble organic fertilizer for tomatoes
Brand: Dynamite | Amount: 0.675 Pounds | Fertilizer Analysis: 8-5-5 NPK | Type: Granular/Water Soluble | Price: 💰💰
Just as its name suggests, this little organic fertilizer packs a tomato-y punch. In addition to a solid 8-5-5 NPK nutrient ratio, it contains a wider variety of nutrients and additions like calcium, sulfur, and bone meal. Mater Magic is also OMRI-listed for use in organic gardens.
We noticed that the price of this fertilizer seems to vary quite a lot — shop around and you should be able to find it for well under 10 bucks.
Reviewers Like
- Feeds up to 3 months
- Great yield of large, meaty tomatoes
- Perfect if you have fewer tomato plants
- “I still have tomatoes blooming in November.”
- Also works great for plants other than tomatoes
Reviewers Dislike
- Dogs are attracted to it
- Too expensive for such a small amount
5. Jobe’s Organics Slow Release Vegetable And Tomato Granular Plant Food
The best granular organic fertilizer for tomato
Brand: Jobe’s | Amount: 1 Pound | Fertilizer Analysis: 3-2-3 NPK | Type: Slow Release | Price: 💰
This is the second appearance of Jobe’s on our list, and it’s easy to see why. Few brands can claim so much tomato loyalty. This organic, granular fertilizer is a nice slow-release option that helps boost and strengthen tomato plants’ root mass and blooms. Coming in at a gentle 3-2-3 NPK ratio, this fertilizer not only provides the basic nutrients, but also a wide variety of beneficial microorganisms.
Jobe’s Slow Release Vegetable and Tomato Plant Food is OMRI-listed, with no harmful chemicals. It’s meant to be applied every 3-4 months.
Reviewers Like
- Feeds up to 3 months
- Happy tomatoes, peppers, and other plants
- Good as a gentle boost for struggling plants
- One of the more affordable OMRI-listed fertilizers
Reviewers Dislike
- Stinky
- Subtler results
- Dogs tend to be attracted to it
- Can burn seedlings, only use on established plants
6. Dr. Earth Organic & Natural Tomato and Vegetable Plant Food
The best multi-purpose organic fertilizer for tomatoes and more
Brand: Dr. Earth | Amount: 4 Pounds | Fertilizer Analysis: 4-6-3 NPK | Type: Dry (OMRI-Listed & OIM Organic-Certified) | Price: 💰
Dr. Earth is our pick for best organic fertilizer for tomatoes and peppers — plus any other vegetables you have growing in your garden.
In addition to being free from synthetic ingredients, GMOs, or harsh manures, this ultra-natural, organic fertilizer contains a host of beneficial nutrients and microbes. Its high quality ingredients include:
- Fish and fish bone meal
- Probiotics and prebiotics
- Alfalfa meal
- Humic acids
- Potassium sulfate
- Mycorrhizae
- Kelp meal and kelp flour
- Rock phosphate
- Bone meal
This fertilizer is particularly helpful for building soil, promoting drought tolerance, and increasing harvests in organic gardens.
Reviewers Like
- Inoffensive smell
- Big bag, good value
- Good, rapid results
- Makes a good fertilizer tea
- Sustainably made in the U.S.A.
Reviewers Dislike
- Others think it’s stinky
- Some thought it led to growth of fungus or mold
- Like many organic fertilizers, it can attract dogs (and ants)
Tomato Fertilizer Terms
Pull up your chair for a little fertilizer terminology 101.
1
Organic Fertilizer
Organic fertilizers are made up of naturally occurring plant and animal-based ingredients or byproducts of natural processes (such as composting). They often promote slightly slower growth and are more gentle on plants than their synthetic counterparts. Using organic fertilizers presents no danger of mineral or chemical buildup on the surface of soil, and they are fully biodegradable, renewable substances.
2
Inorganic, Synthetic, or Chemical Fertilizer
These fertilizers are manufactured artificially. Synthetic fertilizers are usually quick-release and cause more rapid growth than organic fertilizers. They can form a chemical or salt “crust” on top of soil over time, and their synthetic ingredients can cause harmful runoff into waterways as they wash away from plants and gardens.
3
OMRI-Listed
OMRI stands for the Organic Materials Review Institute, a nonprofit organization that uses USDA standards to determine whether a product qualifies as organic. If a fertilizer is OMRI-listed, it is free of any chemical or synthetic ingredients and safe to use in organic gardening.
4
NPK
Refers to the ratio of nitrogen(N), phosphorus(P), and potassium(K) that make up the most essential building blocks of plant nutrition. Different fertilizers can have very different proportions of NPK; the ones featured on our list are specifically tailored to meet the needs of tomato plants.
Our Process
For this guide on the best organic tomato fertilizer, our team spent 5 hours researching the most popular options from over 25 brands and manufacturers big and small. We then read about one hundred and fifty user reviews (both positive and negative) to discover what shoppers thought about each organic tomato fertilizer. After comparing this data, we narrowed our list down to the top 6 organic tomato fertilizers on the market. You can count on this research to guide you to a mindful purchasing decision.
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Further Reading
