One of the most valuable tools in my shed is a root feeder. I would spend the money on a Ross Root Feeder since it has proven to the best I have found. Not only do I need this to feed my fruit trees, but I consistently use it to feed plants that have plastic mulch around them like my tomatoes and melons. I just had to fertilize with nitrogen the other day and since I have the melons and tomatoes growing across a large swath of black plastic, this pretty much the only way to get to the roots.

All you do is hook up the hose, stick it in the ground, add the appropriate amount of fertilizer, in this case I added 1 tablespoon per tomato and melon plant, and then turn it on. Within 30 seconds all of the fertilizer is shot down to the roots.

A couple of things to know. First, this really only works for soluble fertilizers or you will jamb it up. Also, you should water your plants right after feeding them so that the feeding is not too concentrated. Right after doing this I watered my tomatoes and melons for about 3 hours on a drip system. Last, timing is everything. You shouldn’t do this whenever, there are specific, ideal times to fertilize. If I would have done this any later, I might ruin my harvest. Tomatoes and melons should be fertilized 4 weeks and 8 weeks after transplanting. Don’t do it any more than that.

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