Show fertilizing tomatoes oes nearly doubles dou bles crop two research men of the soils department part ment at the university of wisconsin found that tomatoes need a lot of fertilizer and pay a big profit on it even on land that already is quite fertile they report that compared with unfertilized tomatoes the best treatment increased yields enough to net extra to the acre above fertilizer cost this was on the basis of the 1943 cannery price actually these tomatoes were sold on the milwaukee market at a higher price and greater return for the fertilizer most profitable of the fertilizer programs tested was a broadcast application of pounds 6 6 20 to the acre pounds 3 12 12 at the side of the row at a fertilizer cost of 2080 to the acre this treatment increased yields by 69 per cent row applications alone were not no t able to bring out top yields and were less profitable on the acre basis the 6 6 20 fertilizer which was broadcast gave just as good results as more expensive formulas containing larger amounts of either nitrogen or phosphorus these results were secured on a miami silt loarn loam soil which contains medium to high amounts of phosphorus a fair amount of potassium plenty of boron and has a reaction rea c t lon ranging from just below neutral nestr al to slightly alkaline the variety var bety of tomatoes grown was a rather late one named J T D berger and think it is possible that hat t an earlier variety would have paid off even better on n fertilizer since about one third of this crop cr OP i was iwas caught by frost before it ripened ril ened |