Manutec Tomato Tablets, what they do and how to use them

December 9, 2024

Tomatoes are the crown jewel of a lot of home gardens, and they are also the plant people most often come in frustrated about. You water them, you give them a good spot, and they still hand you yellow leaves and two sad fruit. Tomatoes are not hard to grow. They are just fussy about being fed, and that is a different problem with a much simpler fix.

Why tomatoes misbehave

Tomatoes are heavy feeders. They want a steady supply of the right nutrients across a long growing season, and a general purpose fertiliser spread once in spring does not carry them through to the end of it. When they run short, they tell you. Yellowing lower leaves, flowers dropping before they set, and blossom end rot are all the same conversation about nutrition rather than three separate problems.

What the tablets do

Manutec Tomato Tablets are a slow release feed shaped into a tablet you push into the soil beside the plant. They carry nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium for growth and fruiting, along with calcium and magnesium, which are the two that matter most for tomatoes specifically.

Calcium is the one worth understanding. Blossom end rot, that sunken dark patch on the bottom of the fruit, is a calcium problem rather than a disease, and it usually comes from uneven watering as much as from a shortage in the soil. Feeding calcium steadily and watering consistently is what stops it, and the tablet handles the first half of that.

Why the tablet form helps

No measuring. One tablet, in the soil, done. There is no mixing and no working out rates from the back of a bag.
Slow release. The nutrients come out over weeks rather than all at once, so you are less likely to overfeed, which is the commonest way people damage a young tomato.
It goes where the roots are. Pushed into the soil beside the plant rather than scattered across the bed, so it feeds the tomato instead of the weeds.

How to use them

Push the tablets into moist soil near the base of the plant, spaced around it rather than all in one spot, and water afterwards. Follow the rate on the pack for the size of the plant, and top up through the season as the pack directs. If the plant is in a pot, feeding matters more, because there is no surrounding soil to draw anything extra from.

Shop related products

Manutec Tomato Tablets 20g. The tablets this post is about.
Manutec Magnesium Sulphate 1kg. Epsom salts, for when the older leaves yellow between the veins.
David Grays Tomato Dust 3 in 1. For caterpillars, mites and powdery mildew, which are the other three things that go wrong.
D.T Brown Tomato Grosse Lisse Seed Pack. If you are starting the whole thing from seed.

Did you know we also keep the rest of the Manutec range and other tomato food in store, and not all of it makes it onto the website. Give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what is on the shelf.

It all sits in the garden centre, and if your tomatoes are doing something odd, bring a photo in. It is far easier to diagnose from a picture than a description.