strawberres, tomatoes - fertilizer?

[onetrumpeter]

in our tiny little garden I have 25 strawberry crowns growing happy leaves :) but I wonder if they need fertilizer?  I'm pinching off flowers, reluctanty, in hopes that the roots systems will establish well and produce better fruit in coming seasons.  do they need fertilizer?

I've got three tiny wintersown tomato seedlings that I thought I'd lost but appear to have survived!  they have a few "true" leaves and are still just in seed starter medium.  they might need some sort of food, too, as I think the medium is just spaghnum(SP?!) or peat moss or something non-nutritive?

what sort of organic fertilizer might I use for these plants?  (or should I?)  I have compost sort of working/decomposing but it's not ready yet as there's still lots to break down.  and I just read somewhere on here a person saying "compost alone can't do it."  what are thoughts on that?

thanks, all! :)

and a random question I keep forgetting to ask: we have four sunflower seeds.  got the packet as a gift - they say they're a hybrid and "pollenless" IIRC - does that mean they won't have seeds?

[mindymom]

yes, i would fertilize both. i fertilize my strawberries only once a year, but your state extension service should be able to tell you what's needed in your area. for the seedlings most people prefer liquid fertilizers so the nutrients are available to the plant right away.

IME people who say they grow their gardens on compost alone are always talking about compost that has animal manure in it. homemade, kitchen-scrap compost will help your soil retain nutrients better, but once it's finished it has typically used up a lot of its original nitrogen content, and some other nutrients can be lost through rainfall and wind, etc.  assuming you don't have animals, fertilizer will pay for itself in terms of increased productivity.  hth

[onetrumpeter]

thanks, mindymom.  I don't know why I never remember to ask our extension office this sort of stuff!

so what type of fertilizer might be good?  all the #-#-# codes are confusing... off to google.  thanks for the ideas and tips!

[onetrumpeter]

I had posted a couple of days ago about some volunteers in my compost - had photo links and all, but that whole thread is missing and instead this older thread is nearer the top.  I hope I didn't post incorrectly/violating any rules in that post! :(

Anyway, back to the topic of fertilizer:  I picked this up at Lowes as I'd heard of "fish emulsion."  Not even sure that's the same as what I bought, but this looked good.  Then when I got home I read the fine print: "not for use in organic food and crop production."  But I can't tell why that would be... http://www.lillymiller.com/labels/Alaska/AK_Fish_Fertilizer_5-1-1_gal.pdf

is something about this not organic?  feeling continuously clueless here but at least I've got plants growing, lol! "GUARANTEED ANALYSIS:Total Nitrogen (N)5.0%0.5% Ammoniacal Nitrogen3.75% Other Water Soluble Nitrogen0.75% Water Insoluble Nitrogen*Available Phosphate (P2O5)1.0%Soluble Potash (K2O)1.0%Derived from Seagoing Fish Emulsion*0.75% slowly available nitrogen from

Seagoing Fish Emulsion"

So would you use this fertilizer?

[mindymom]

I'm pretty sure I have a bottle of that same fertilizer on my back porch, which I used for my seedlings this year.  I didn't notice the statement you mentioned, so I am really curious and hoping someone else has some response.  I know a lot of people on this board recommend fish emulsion, which is why I decided to try it.  But I am not a strictly organic gardener, so I probably would have used it even if I had seen that statement.