"Start out by growing tomato seedlings in seed starting trays.  When the first true leaves appear, transplant the tomato seedlings into individual pots (three inch) and bury the entire seedling up to the top two leaves (strip off the other leaves).  When the plants are 3-4 inches high,  go up 6-inch pots, again burying everything so the stem sprouts numerous roots.  If the weather is slow to warm up, you may end up repotting three times.  It is important that you NEVER allow a tomato plant to become rootbound in a pot or quit growing rapidly.  If a tomato transplant is slowed in growth, it never puts out much more in the way of primary root growth.  Experienced growers have found that tomato transplants (even those put out in the ground) have about 8 weeks from germination to form their root structure.  Beyond that,  it will produce hair roots, but not much more and that is why adding Mycorrhizae fungi to such plants will help ensure more nutrients are brought into the plants."

(The above paragraph is copyrighted by Doreen Howard, 12/27/2000 doreenh@ticon.net and is reprinted here with permission.)

T&J note:  If you are NOT starting your own tomato plants it will be difficult for you to predict whether or not a commercially grown plant was allowed to become root bound before it was transplanted into larger sized pots.  More often than not, commercially grown plants sold at most retail outlets are root bound when you purchase them.  What Doreen has written above is significant because root structure development on a root bound tomato plant will slow down significantly and will not recover.  When BioVam is applied to such plants, the mycorrhiza fungi can grow several inches out into the soil from the roots of such plants.  That hyphae is fragile and is thinner than a human hair.  If a thick, nutrient rich, organic mulch is applied around your plants, soil disruption that breaks up the hyphae network and additional fertilizer additions will be unnecessary.

Natural Organic Products that Work!

Our Affordable Gardening Supply Products, which we call Natures Own Growing System, include Product Brochures, BioVam Mycorrhiza, Biosol Mix 7-2-3 Organic Fertilizer, Planters II Trace Mineral Fertilizer, Yucca Extract, Microbe Tea Brewing Kits, Pre-Brewed Microbe Tea, Bio-Peat moss and mushroom compost, Zeolite, Organic White Gold Bar Soaps, Just Like Sugar Natural Sweetener, and Spider Elimination Kits (spider traps). Most of these products are used to grow high brix plants which are high in plant nutrients (mineral and vitamin) content.

People interested in these products are back yard gardeners, farmers, farm crop management, flower growers, home and garden supply companies, house plant growers, landscapers, lawn care companies, plant nursery owners, organic farming, organic gardening, urban gardeners, and those who wish to pursue container gardening methods. Those interested in bettering their diets and health use our products to grow highly nutritious foods. 

The application of these products supports agriculture soil in general but has many specific applications on this web site for arborvitae, artichokes and asparagus, apple trees, asparagus fern, black leaf fungus on quaking aspen trees, bulbs and flowers, cactus, celery, chard, chrysanthemum, citrus trees, cotton, cosmos, cucumbers, eggplants, fairy rings in lawns, frost protection on Asian pear fruit trees, garlic, growing fruit trees, herbs, lettuce, maple trees, melons, necrotic ring spots in lawns, onions, pansy, peas, pears, promotion of earthworms in the soils, potatoes, pumpkins, raspberries, radishes, red hot chili peppers, rose plants, turf grass management of blue grass and all other kinds of grasses, spinach, stone fruit, strawberries, sugar cane, tomatoes, wine grape, vine and vineyard management, zucchini and squash of all kinds, many different vegetables and several thousand other specific plants - virtually everything grown on farms and in gardens aimed at plant and root enhancement. Numerous pictures are present in a variety of exhibits.

Contained in these products are soil life forms that are often found in some compost tea brewing kits but are much more effective in our BioVam Mycorrhiza product and our Microbe Tea Brewing kits. Organisms like, mycorrhiza fungi (endomycorrhiza fungi and ectomycorrhiza fungi), nitrogen fixing bacteria, phosphorous solubalizing bacteria, and bacteria that out compete plant pathogens are found in our BioVam product. Nitrogen fixing bacteria, cellulose eating trichoderma fungi, and many beneficial soil organisms are found in our Microbe Tea Brewing Kits.