What did I do to these poor tomatoes?

[headfullofbees]

That is not early blight (Alternaria) IMO. It is a watering issue I believe. Chicken manure is a good nitrogen source but you need a balanced diet for your tomatoes and you need organic matter in the soil too. Next year incorporate good compost into your soil and heavily mulch around your plants. Use a good commercial organic fertilizer or make you own out of manures, blood meal, bone meal, fish emulsion, kelp meal etc. Learn about making compost tea. Only water when the soil is dry down to about 3 inches and/or when the plants are wilted and droopy in the mornings. When you water them really give them a good soaking, usually about every 7-10 days.

Chicken manure is a good all-rounder, are you thinking chicken blood?

 

[Chuck]

Chicken manure is a good all-rounder, are you thinking chicken blood?

I mean't blood meals and other meals so as to make your own fertilizers but somehow lost my train of thought. Probably too many adult beverages. Composted chicken manure is great although back in my younger years I managed to burn up a lot of plants by using it too fresh. I also think that straight composted chicken manure does not have the needed volumn per square foot of growing space to achieve an excellent soil texture so as to allow proper aeration and moisture retention in the soil.

 

[headfullofbees]

I mean't blood meals and other meals so as to make your own fertilizers but somehow lost my train of thought. Probably too many adult beverages. Composted chicken manure is great although back in my younger years I managed to burn up a lot of plants by using it too fresh. I also think that straight composted chicken manure does not have the needed volumn per square foot of growing space to achieve an excellent soil texture so as to allow proper aeration and moisture retention in the soil.

Here in the UK, one can buy pelleted chicken manure:

 

[MrsJones]

I mean't blood meals and other meals so as to make your own fertilizers but somehow lost my train of thought. Probably too many adult beverages.

That's funny.

 

[Chuck]

Here in the UK, one can buy pelleted chicken manure:

Here too. It is what I use. There are a bunch of different kinds available in different NPK ratios. The one I use mostly is a 4-2-3. This year I did something different on my melons and used another brand with a ratio of 6-12-8 and it worked. for the first time I had a good melon crop. But still, just using the fertilizer or chicken manure by itself isn't enough. It is enough for plant nutrients but I think fertile soil needs more than just NPK. It needs other organic matter to feed the microbial life in the soil in order for the NPK to be available to the plants.

 

[headfullofbees]

Chicken manure is usually high in other nutrients and trace elements, for example, it is high in calcium (9%) which makes it very good for tomatoes, especially if you use it when preparing the soil, along with woodash.
Chicken manure is also a very positive help when combatting early blight, because part of the nitrogen is immediately available to the plants, and can give them the boost to fight through alternaria.
And we both know that it is availability, rather than plain numbers, which is important, don't we?