Lawn fertilizer hurting tomato plants?

I sprayed my lawn (hose-end sprayer) with a liquid lawn fertilizer (20-3-4) and some over-spray probably got on a few potted tomato plants. The area was heavily watered the day before.

The next day I noticed the tomato plants looked somewhat shriveled without actually being wilted or droopy.

The fertilizer contained no herbicide or weed killer. Just 20% nitrogen, 3% Phosphorus (Phosphoric acid) and 4% soluble potash. Would something like this be harmful to tomato plants?

Reply to
Some Guy
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At the peak of summer, that much nitrogen fertilizer is bad for anything. Plants are either trying to go dormant in the heat, or divert energy to surviving the heat. Fertilizing with nitrogen-rich fertilizer forces them into growth cycles, and stresses them out. Your lawn is going to need a lot of extra water now, too. This is the wrong time of the year to be fertilizing.

Reply to
Warren

This summer so far we've been cooler than normal (great-lakes area). And wetter than normal. Nothing is going dormant around here. Last summer I watered like crazy in July and August. Not this summer.

Still doesn't answer my question - that is, did the liquid lawn fertilizer hitting the leaves / stems of the tomato plants cause them to shrivel?

Reply to
Some Guy

Based upon what I've seen, some extra nitrogen will tend to make more foliage, more leaves. I'm no where an expert though... and it really is going to depend upon how much hit the leaves and how much went into the soil that covers the roots. I've noticed that tomato plants planted into the ground have roots that spread out... this is based upon a tomato plant I've taken out of a pot that was heavily fertilized with nitrogen, the roots were packed against the walls of the pot. The leaves did start curling up while inside the pot. So I washed the roots trying to get rid of the excess fertilization, and I replanted it into the ground. It did pretty well for about a month after the transplant, then I left for about 10 days and I think the heat pretty much killed it... well it's still alive, but it has no leaves on it. All the leaves grow to be small leaves and then turn turn brown and fall off.

Reply to
Jim Carlock

Probally not. But next time try liquid bloom-buster and your tomatoes will love you forever:)

Reply to
News Man

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